Anthologie Sonore Vol. 3 – Works by Mozart, F. Couperin, L. Couperin, Handel, Leoninus, Pérotin – Yves St-Laurent YSL 78 1485 (59:51, complete contents listed below ) [78experience.com] **** :
The third in the series L’Histoire de la Musique par le Disque, Yves St-Laurent features music extending over six centuries, the 78 rpm shellacs having been processed by Yves St-Laurent’s using audio tubes equipment from Denis Pelletier. No dates accompany the individual compositions, but that the originals derive from electrical shellacs remains obvious but not distracting.
This set proceeds in reverse chronology, opening with Wolfgang Mozart’s 1778 Concerto in C for Flute and Harp, conceived for a Paris aristocrat and his daughter. As a special type of sinfonia concertante, it remains unique in the Mozart catalogue, given that he considered the harp as a variation of plucked keyboard. Conductor Cloez (1890-1970) opens the first movement Allegro quite briskly, the string line both accented and fluid. Gaston Crunelle (1898-1990) and Pierre Jamet (1893-1991) cooperate in a seamless flurry of brilliantly transparent pyrotechnics for their respective instruments, while the unnamed orchestra urges the energies along. Even the solos’ cadenza does not slacken in momentum, with Crunelle’s high tessitura matched by the lush sonorities from Jamet’s active harp. The F Major Andantino, a terse theme and four variations, sets a mood of aristocratic leisure, in which the flute trills rise into a rarified aether, supported by an equally diaphanous harp part. The finale, a Rondeau in classic, palindromic sonata-form, conforms to Mozart’s patented, energetic formula, given that it in last appearance, the initial theme sounds in the parallel minor. This version, new to me, makes a sleek, aerial impression for anyone curious to hear Mozart’s finesse in a “double concerto.”
Harpsichord virtuoso Mme. Pauline Aubert (1884-1979) addresses François Couperin’s Quatre portraits from Book IV of collected pieces (1713). Each of the selections portrays a distinct personage, in physique or character, as, for example, La Visionnaire appears to engage a monumental ego. The first two pieces, Les vieux Seigneurs and Les jeunes Seigneurs, counterbalance each other. The last of the selections, La Convalescente, offers sections of filigree thoroughly derived from the lute or virginal tradition. Mme. Aubert, a Landowska pupil, embodies a discographic history and musical accomplishment worth pursuing.
Returning to strict chronology – the Couperin should follow the Handel now considered – a talented trio performs the Sonata in E Minor for Oboe, Violin, and Klavier. Louis Gromer (1893-1980), oboe; Étienne Pasquier (1905-1997) cello; and Marcelle De Lacour (1896-1977) play a sonata di chiesa in which the oboe clearly dominates the texture. A somberly expressive Adagio leads to a jaunty Allegro in rural style. The ensuing Largo proves quite plaintive, rich with chromatic turns for Gromer’s instrument. The finale, Allegro, exerts a rather four-square approach to a dance impulse, touched by Handel’s innate sense of pomp.
The music of Louis Couperin (1626-1661), his own Quatre Pièces pour clavecin (c. 1660), proffers a stylized, courtly affection. Ruggero Gerlin (1899-1983) plays, first, Couperin’s staid Chaconne, investing the strict polyphony and ostinato bass a degree of lassitude. The Spanish impulse is confirmed in the next piece, Branle de basque, a sprightly dance that moves in contrasting registers. The two concluding pieces, a broad Pavane and brief Passacaille, affirm the austere aspect of courtly musical convention; no one yet has ever clearly distinguished the ‘chaconne’ and ‘passacaglia’ as distinct entities, since their procedure remains the same.
Denver-born conductor Safford Cape (1906-1973) made a career in Belgium, specializing in Medieval music, of which Leoninus (c.1150-1210) and Pérotin le Grand (c. 1160-1230) remain archetypal examples. Their approach to polyphony includes building lines above the tenor – the organum – and its duplum and triplum modes. Despite the designation “orchestre” in the accompanying booklet, the two vocal works proceed a cappella, rich in the church modes of pious, inflected devotion. That the singers achieve a degree of sustained, vocal purity warrants the price of admission.
—Gary Lemco
Anthologie Sonore Vol. 3
MOZART: Concerto in C Major for Flute and Harp, K. 2991
F. COUPERIN: Quartre portraits au clavecin2
HANDEL: Sonata in E Minor; 3
L. COUPERIN: Quatre Pièces pour Clavecin;4
LEONINUS: Deum time, Organum duplum5
PÉROTIN le GRAND: Diffusa est gratia, Organum triplum6
1Gaston Crunelle, flute, Pierre Jamet, harp, Gustave Cloez cond. Orch.
2Pauline Aubert, clavecin
3Louis Gromer, oboe, Étienne Pasquier, cello, Marcelle De Lacour, clavecin
4Ruggero Gerlin, clavecin
5F. Anspach, duplum, E. Jacquier et F. Mertens, organum, Safford Cape cond. Orch.
6F. Anspach, triplum, E. Jacquier, duplum, F. Mertens et Georges, organum, Safford Cape cond, Orch
