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Reviewer: Bertil
van Boer When it comes to the last word in the Baroque concerto grosso, George Frédéric Handel’s set, the 12 works constituting the op. 6, published in their ultimate edition in 1741, may be considered iconic. There are lots of recordings out there of these lively and intricate pieces, including one I’ve always liked, the late Christopher Hogwood’s 1993 version on L’Oiseau-Lyre, though Trevor Pinnock’s renditions from 2000 on Archiv are also fine. So, with this abundance out there, I confess to being puzzled when this disc by the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester came across my desk, as this is hardly a work that needs to be revisited just yet. The jacket blurb, however, claims that this recording “is cast in a whole new light … in a recording faithful to the great shifts in performance practice of recent decades.” OK, but what does that mean? Our knowledge of performance practice has, to be sure, evolved and continues to expand our horizons in terms of how this sort of music was (and perhaps should be) played. Conductor Michael Hofstetter is certainly no stranger to the works of the period, and so my interest was piqued. A bit more discovery reveals that, here in 2015, we are dealing not with a complete version of the op. 6, but rather only four of the concertos, with the one written for Alexander’s Feast thrown in for good measure. Moreover, it seems to have been done in a live recording back in 2010, so any “great shifts” must have occurred before then. So, the puzzlement continued, for surely things have continued to evolve over the half decade since this was recorded. But, as I always say, let the music and its interpretation speak for itself. As the music is quite well known, little needs to be said here about the works in question. Handel certainly crafted some very fine pieces that are quite traditional in format, with the traditional Corellian concertino of a pair of violins and a cello alternating with a fuller string ripieno. The only difference is that the composer cast these pieces in a more expansive five-movement format with stylized dances that seem to hint more at the Baroque suite than a traditional four-movement concerto grosso; the Alexander’s Feast work is more conventional. In the second edition, Handel also added a couple of oboes (and one presumes a bassoon at the bass) and doubled the violins, giving them more of the sound of his usual orchestra; the Kammerorchester, however, reverts to strings only for this recording. Handel’s orchestra was relatively large, roughly three or four times the size of the Kammerorchester, so the sound back then was full and powerful. That is not to say that their modern descendants don’t come up to snuff in terms of sound, for the group does offer a robust rendition, especially since these are all modern instruments (which by themselves have increased instrumental volume). The result is somewhat mixed, in my opinion, especially since we have the benefit of numerous period instrument performances for comparison. The tempos are all quite strict and precise, and the ensemble reflects the well-known discipline for which the orchestra is renowned. The performances, therefore, are crystal clear, with a precision that brings out each and every note of Handel. The downside of this is that the phrasing seems to have been regularized, giving each work a sort of mechanical sameness to my ears. Even the ornaments are so precise that one looks in vain for some deviation that Handel probably anticipated. In short, the Kammerorchester does a fine job of performing these concertos with a clarity that brings out each and every note. But the tempos and phrasing leave something to be desired, for I find the performances static, and given that there is a danger with this sort of music of it becoming ordinary, this is not something that particularly makes me excited. If you want precision and clarity in a performance on modern instruments, then you might find it here, but for myself, anticipating a new interpretation of these iconic works, I would rather have something a bit more rustic and unpredictable. | |
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