Philarmonica
Le Consort
rec. 2023 at the Christuskirche, Paris, France
Reviewed as a stereo 16/44 download with PDF booklet from Outhere
Alpha Classics 1011 [72]
This recording recreates the soundworld of the small ensemble in restoration England, with music by the leading local light, Henry Purcell, an influential Italian visitor to London, Nicolai Matteis, and the mysteriously named Mrs Philarmonica.
For a more thorough examination of the works and their significance (and more importantly, a more positive view of the recording overall), you would be well served to also read my colleague Johan van Veen’s review. His is a more knowledgeable and experienced eye to cast over this repertoire; my response is that of the interested listener who has struck a few absolute gems in early Baroque chamber music (review), but also a lot of music, while undeniably pleasant, which has been, to my ears, fairly generic and undistinctive. This disc unfortunately falls into the latter category: thirty-three short movements across which I struggled to discern much difference, apart from obvious tempo changes (Purcell’s Trumpet Tune being the only one to stand out). This may, in part, be explained by a quote from the booklet notes which describe the music as “an eccentric type of Anglo-Italian melancholy”. Such an atmosphere pervades much of the seventy-one minutes.
Le Consort is a French ensemble with two violins, cello and keyboards, augmented on some of the Matteis pieces by a third violin. Tonally, they are very good, and while Johan extolled their playing, I felt the faster movements needed a little more dynamic variation as they sounded similar to the slow movements, with simply more notes per unit time. This is not the first time I have had this response, so it is presumably a style of playing early Baroque chamber music that doesn’t resonate with me.
The booklet notes spend much of their three pages discussing the impact of Nicola Matteis in Britain during his time there after the Restoration. What is exceedingly frustrating is that we learn essentially nothing about Mrs Philarmonica, who apparently “flourished” in the second decade of the 18th century. I understand that nothing is known about her – is it actually known definitely that she was a woman, I wonder? – but the music didn’t appear out of thin air, so some discussion of its origin would have at least provided some context.
During the course of writing this review, it occurred to me that this was the second occasion in the last year or so that Johan and I have had quite different responses to the same recording, and for the same reasons: the earlier one was Adriatic Voyage on Delphian (my review ~ Johan’s). So if you did sample that disc and liked it, you will probably like this one, and vice versa. As for me, I am starting to think that I would be better served sticking to the handful of discs of this type of music that have really delighted me.
David Barker
Previous review: Johan van Veen (December 2023)
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Contents
Nicola Matteis (c1649-1699)
Suite in G minor: Andamento malinconico
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Sonata in G minor (Z 807)
Mrs Philarmonica (fl 1715)
Sonata III in G minor
Nicola Matteis
Suite in C minor
Henry Purcell
Trumpet Tune
Mrs Philarmonica
Sonata VI in G
Nicola Matteis
Diverse bizzarrie sopra la vecchia sarabanda o pur ciaccona
Mrs Philarmonica
Sonata V in C minor
Henry Purcell
The Queen’s Dolour (Z 670) (attr)
Nicola Matteis
Suite in A minor
Mrs Philarmonica
Sonata IV in B minor
Nicola Matteis
Suite in G minor
Henry Purcell
The Prophetess, or The History of Dioclesian (Z 627):
Two in one upon a ground
Nicola Matteis
Maniera italiana
