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| Jochewed Schwarz,Ashley Solomon,Gilat Rotkop (Yitzhak Hochmann) |
"Telemann in Paris", a concert of
Baroque music on period instruments, took place at the Jerusalem Center for
Near Eastern Studies on May 18th, 2025. The program comprised a selection of
Telemann's works alongside those of his French contemporaries. Performing them were
Jochewed Schwarz - spinet, Gilat Rotkop - bassoon and Ashley Solomon (UK) - Baroque
flute.
France was always present in the music of Georg Philipp Telemann and in his mind, with
allusions and references to French music in many of his works. In 1737,
Telemann travelled to Paris. Living in
the heart of the Marais quarter with the greatest harpsichord player of the
time, Antoine Vater, he had the opportunity to meet the most prominent
instrumentalists and composers of Paris, his new French friends including
Guignon, Blavet, Forqueray, Mondonville, Naudot, Bodin de Boismortier, Campra
and Clérambault. While in Paris, Telemann composed and received the royal
privilege to publish at Ballard (publisher of Lully and Rameau's
music), thus perpetuating his strong bond with the city.
The Jerusalem program opened with Michel
Blavet's Sonata No.3, Op.2, “La Vibray”, for flute and basso continuo. A
musician who had influenced Telemann, Blavet was one of the most outstanding
flautists of his time. His compositional oeuvre consisted almost
exclusively of music for his own instrument. Appearing in print in 1731,
Blavet's Op.2 Sonatas attest to the Italian model. However, in order to remain
in step with the French mindset, Blavet inserted "portraits" of sorts -
pieces either bearing the name of an actual or fictitious person or a title
evoking a quality. So, who is La Vibray? Probably a French aristocratic lady, I
would imagine. Ashley Solomon's playing of the solo line highlighted the grace
and agility of "La Vibray", its (her) elegance inviting suave
ornamentation. Playing a Palanca flute made by Martin Wenner, Solomon continued
with one of Telemann's Fantasias for Solo Flute, a cycle published in 1727
that has had a great influence on the flautist and recorder player’s world.
Telemann himself was a fine flautist, which explains his understanding of the
capabilities of the instrument and his ability to write idiomatically for it.
Solomon's playing of the A minor Fantasia, with its movements of differing
tempi, moods and styles, unfolded as a bold, personal musical adventure, albeit
in miniature. Another Telemann work on the program was the Methodical Sonata in
E minor, TWV 41:e2. Having left behind the limitations of responsibility
towards a single sovereign, Telemann was now catering to a more open musical
public. The idea behind the Methodical Sonatas (1728) was to provide amateur
musicians, of which Hamburg had a thriving community, with guidance on High
Baroque ornamentation of differing stylistic conventions, mainly those of Italy
and France. (Telemann provides these guidelines for each of the slow first
movements.) Indeed, the sonatas themselves are considerably more attractive
than their collective title might suggest. In the artists' finely-chiselled and
delicately detailed performance of the E minor Sonata, Solomon's intuitive
feeling for Telemann’s idiom is present throughout, as he and his fellow
players express the work's playful ideas as well as its touching sense of
melancholy, as in the third movement marked "Cunando" (cradling).
And to three works of François Couperin.
"Les goûts- réunis" (The Tastes Reunited), incorporating
elements of the Italian style, were composed for the entertainment of the aging Louis XIV. The artists' playing of Concert No.13 of the collection was
effectively contrasted, exuberant and full of dignity and beauty, also
characterised by a hint of the nostalgia heard in other Couperin
works. Concert No.13 was bookended by Schwarz's refined playing of two pieces for harpsichord. Couperin le Grand's 240 keyboard pieces
provide a fascinating portrait of the composer's time, presenting musical vignettes of his friends
and enemies, of important court personalities as well as of people outside of Couperin’s
immediate circle. Schwarz's elegant Italian trapezoidal William Horn spinet (inspired by a
spinet of the Italian building school of the 16th century) made a robust
statement in the fine acoustic space of the auditorium. Written in the
arpeggiated style brisé, her playing of the (enigmatic) piece titled "Les
Barricades Mystérieuses" (The Mysterious Barricades) was haunting and
compelling in its seamless scheme and shifting colour palette. Richly
ornamented, "La Ménétou" describes French harpsichordist/composer
Françoise-Charlotte de Senneterre Ménétou (1679-1745), who had been a student
of François Couperin. Another keyboard solo on the program was the lavishly
ornamented Chaconne in F by Gaspard Le Roux, the latter composer being one of the most
enigmatic of the late 17th century. The piece is replete with courtly
mannerisms but not overlaid with formality. How pleasurable it was to call in
on Jochewed Schwarz "in her private music room".
After the death of King Louis XIV at the
end of the Baroque era, the rising of the bourgeoisie opened up new opportunities
for composers in Paris. Joseph Bodin de Boismortier met the demand for works
with a vast amount of gallant, easily-playable chamber music, which he also
published himself (a practice rare till then.) Playing on a copy of an
Eichentopf bassoon (1750) by Olivier Cottet (Paris), Gilat Rotkop gave much
lively support to the basso continuo roles throughout the evening. Now, in
Boismortier's Trio Sonata in E minor Op.17 No.2, she and Solomon engaged in
lively, precise and articulate dialogue, the three artists giving elegant
expression to the intricate subtleties of the work's three pint-sized movements
and to the composer's keen interest in the technical and tonal characteristics
of all three instruments. For an encore, we heard the Largo cantabile from
Antonio Vivaldi's Trio Sonata in A minor RV 86 for flute (treble recorder)
bassoon and continuo in A minor RV86, indeed, a virtuoso movement for the
bassoon!
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