The PHOENIX Ensemble in the Israeli premiere of J-Ph. Rameau's complete chamber music





In a program titled “Tradition and Innovation”, Ensemble PHOENIX opened its 2015-2016 season with the Israeli premiere of the complete collection of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Pièces de clavecin en concerts”. Performing them were Geneviève Blanchard – Baroque flute/piccolo, Noam Schuss-violin, Marina Minkin-harpsichord and PHOENIX founder and musical director Myrna Herzog-viola da gamba. This writer attended the performance in the Ran Baron Hall of the Lin and Ted Arison Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv, on September 8^th, 2015.

 Best known for his operas and solo harpsichord music, J-Ph. Rameau (1683-1764) composed only one collection of chamber music works, but this work stands alone as a masterpiece and a groundbreaker in the chamber music genre. There are five trios – the composer referred to them as “concerts” - each having three movements, apart from the second, which comprises four.  Rameau worked on them from 1737 to 1741, taking the initiative of giving each instrument an independent role; they were inspired by Gaspar LeRoux and Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville, both of whom had published harpsichord pieces with violin accompaniment. Rameau wrote: “I have given them the form of little suites for harpsichord, violin or flute, and viol or second violin”; he considered the collection to be predominantly pieces for solo harpsichord. Interestingly, he published them in score form, not common at the time, to allow each player to follow all parts.

 As to the various extra-musical titles of pieces, the composer devised them with the help of his friends. How truly programmatic they are remains unclear, but the titles certainly serve an important purpose: they offer the listener a glimpse into the composer’s rich imagination, to members of his circle and into the lifestyle of wealthy musical patrons enjoying the arts and life’s delights, in general. The PHOENIX players also made it clear from the outset that these were no suites of stylized and impersonal courtly dances, no music that might float past the ears of noble society.  And the pieces are not as abstract as how we might nowadays conceive the “chamber music” genre. These “concerts” are a genre unto their own in every way, inviting the listener to ponder Thamas Kouli Khan, hero of a pseudo-historical novel set in Persia in La Coulicam (1^st concert), musical acquaintances such as in La Laborde (a harpsichord child prodigy  who later wrote a book on the harpsichord in which he denounced equal temperament tuning as a vice!), La Boucon (a prominent woman harpsichordist), La Forqueray, La Marais and La Cupis (Marie-Anne de Cupis, a brilliant dancer, appeared in performances of several of Rameau's operas. She was the first woman to execute the entrechat quatre, to wear ballet slippers, the calf-length ballet skirt and the now standardized tights), patrons of the arts (La Livri, La Poplinière) and even a place - Le Vezinet - a picturesque countryside town in the environs of Paris, a location offering much to delight  visitors. The collection does include some dance movements – the menuet, tambourin  – as well as a few character pieces – L’agaçante (the annoying one), La timide, L’indiscrète, La pantomime..

 The strength of the PHOENIX performance was the artists’ in depth enquiry and insight into each and every movement of the concerts, an exceptionally rich and motley collection of pieces - French music spiced with some Italian flavors. In their study of them, the concept of each piece has undergone fine chiseling to result in splendid execution of Rameau’s huge range of ideas, from the elegant rondeau of La Livri (1^st Concert), its delicate, sedate and aristocratic melody (a “tombeau” dedicated to the Comte de Livri who had died that year) fashioned by the flute (Blanchard), to the folksy drone of pipes and heavy-footed enjoyment of La pantomime (4^th Concert), punctuated by some small musical comments. Reference to folk music was also represented by the two tambourins (3^rd Concert), the tambourin being a lively, duple Provençal dance form much liked and used by Rameau.  Here, Blanchard played the melody on piccolo, reminding the listener that the tambourin would have originally been played on a small flute. In La Cupis (5^th concert), flute and viol duet and converse gracefully, the viol (Herzog) utilizing the high register to meet the graceful flute at certain moments, at others, returning to support the harpsichord bass line.  Rameau’s musical portrait La Forqueray (5^th Concert) is a true masterpiece; in this gregarious fugue (celebrating the wedding that year of the great player and composer, Rameau’s friend) there was much give and take between harpsichord (Minkin) and violin (Schuss).  The fine teamwork in L’agaçante (2^nd Concert), with its opposing registers and unpredictable phrases punctuated by small pauses, made for interesting listening.  We also receive an introduction to Monsieur Alexandre-Jean-Joseph Le Riche de La Poplinière, an especially rich tax-farmer and patron of the arts, at whose Paris mansion the best of chamber music was performed and heard. (Rameau, who received financial support from La Poplinière, was idolized by him and, it seems, also by his wife.) I enjoyed the jolly and slightly pompous description of the gentleman in La La Poplinière (3^rd Concert) as the players halted here and there to allow the M. de La Poplinière to pose…or was he bowing?

 The heart of the “Pièces de clavecin en concerts” is the harpsichord, its fully written-out obbligato part demanding and virtuosic. Marina Minkin’s reading of it was secure, interesting and brilliant in execution. The viol part, however, is also extremely challenging; from his instructions to the viol player, it is clear the Rameau was well aware of some of the impossibility of his demands! Herzog imagines it may have been played by Forqueray. She was playing on an original Andrea Castagnery 7-string French viol, built in 1744, three years after the concerts were published. The Baroque expertise of all four artists took the pieces beyond that of technical know-how, recreating the evocative selection of musical vignettes in all their intricate detail. Altogether, the ensemble’s careful and strategic consensus on such elements as tempo, ornamentation, doubling and inégal playing made for a result that was stylish, personal, convincing and enormously enjoyable.  

 

 

Barrocade closes its 2012-2013 season with the sound of chalumeaux and "La Serva Padrona"



Barrocade – the Israeli Baroque Collective – concluded its 2012-2013 concert season with “La Serva Padrona”. This writer attended the concert in the auditorium of the Weil Cultural Centre, Kfar Shmaryahu, on June 11^th 2013. Founded in 2007, Barrocade, mostly performing and rehearsing without a conductor, performs Renaissance- and Baroque music, however, not limiting its repertoire to those styles; its wide repertoire includes folk music, modern music and jazz.  Under the musical direction of Amit Tiefenbrunn, Barrocade also collaborates with guest artists and conductors and enjoys the support of the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport.

The June 11^th concert fell into two distinct sections, the first being instrumental, opening with Francesco Geminiani’s (1687-1762) Concerto Grosso for two flutes, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, ‘cello, strings and continuo in d minor, opus 7/4. Born in Luca, Italy, and having had Corelli as one of his teachers, Geminiani moved to London, where he took the concert scene by storm with his brilliant violin playing, concerti grossi and violin sonatas; there, he also built up a fine reputation as a teacher, concert promoter and theorist. His opus 7, published in 1746, shows him moving away from Corelli’s influence and developing his own style. Middle voices became more expanded, the composer recommended extroverted ornamentation and he took more interest in including wind instruments. Here, for the first time in Israel, we heard two guest artists - Michal Lefkowicz and Ido Azrad - playing the chalumeau – a single-reeded instrument played in the late Baroque and early Classical periods; a brief experiment, the chalumeau quickly evolved into the clarinet and basset horn of Mozart’s time. In Geminiani’s work, there was much cheerful banter between flutes (Geneviève Blanchard, Idit Shemer) and violins (1^st violinist Shlomit Sivan, Yasuko Hirata) between concertino and ripieno. Emphasizing the work’s invention, interest and originality, the players presented it with refined beauty.

Fine entertainment was in store with the work of yet another violin virtuoso – Dutchman Willem de Fesch (1687-1761). His Concerti opus 5, published in Amsterdam in 1725, atypical in that they feature a pair of transverse flutes, reflect the simpler, more lyrical style coming into vogue at the time. We heard Idit Shemer and Geneviève Blanchard in the flute roles. Their playing was crisp yet singing, presenting detail and interest, always elegant. Yizhar Karshon’s harpsichord spreads and transitions added grace to the performance.

Of special interest was G.P.Telemann’s Concerto for two chalumeaux TWV 52:d1. The chalumeau lacks forte potential and has a range of less than two octaves, but it’s broad, ‘cello-like timbre and woody sound must probably have been what allured Telemann to write for it. In fact, Telemann (1681-1767) used the instrument in a wide variety of musical genres between 1718 and 1760. He never wrote for the bass chalumeau and virtually ignored the soprano instrument (popular in Vienna). In this work, we heard Michal Lewkowicz and Ido Azrad playing alto- and tenor chalumeaux. Both these young Israeli artists have studied and performed in Israel and Europe, excelling both on modern clarinet and on historical instruments. Some of the concerto consists of unaccompanied chalumeau duets, with the orchestra entering to support focal ideas. The work opens with a serious homophonic utterance, setting the mood of the work.  Lewkowicz and Azrad recreate the work’s pathos with its “sighing” figures and chromaticism. The slow movements were economical and treated expressively, the dark, somewhat muted sound of the chalumeau underlining the atmosphere. Fast movements also retained the work’s basically solid mood together with hearty playing. The Barrocade players created a dignified and elegant timbral environment against which to hear the intimate, cantabile sound of the chalumeaux.

Following the intermission, Barrocade presented a more-than-semi-staged performance of G.B.Pergolesi’s (1710-1736) “La Serva Padrona” (The Servant Turned Mistress) to a libretto of Gennaro Antonio Federico (after Jacopo Nelli’s play of the same name) with soloists soprano Revital Raviv and baritone Oded Reich and actor Yehuda Lazarovich. The Intermezzo, originally performed between the acts of Pergolesi’s opera seria “Il Prigionier Superbo” (The Proud Prisoner), was published in 1731 and uses stock characters of the commedia dell’arte. Pergolesi’s score calls for a chamber orchestra of strings and continuo. Barrocade’s version of the work shortens some of the recitatives and gives Vespone, Uberto’s servant (originally a silent part for the actor) the role of narrator, speaking a witty, clever and wordy text written in Hebrew verse by playwright Rachel Ezouz.

With the Barrocade players seated at the left of the stage, the right half served as a theatrical space with minimal props. The three characters are in costume. Uberto (Oded Reich), wearing a dressing gown and long night woolen nightcap, looks every bit the crotchety old bachelor. Revital Raviv looks girlish as Serpina, the scheming young servant girl; she enters carrying a feather duster. The story is as flighty as its characters, with Rachel Azouz’ whimsical texts describing the characters, their idiosyncrasies, Uberto’s stupidity, Serpina’s cunning and her underhand plan to win over Uberto. Serpina does this by introducing him to a new suitor of hers (Vespone, sporting an eye-patch, wearing a brown safari helmet, long overcoat and carrying a sword and shotgun). The same artists performed this piece two years ago, but the current production was a much more polished presentation. There was much more use of the stage and movement; the singers’ fluency and diction made colorful use of the Italian words and sounds to illuminate the text, themselves and the comical tension between the two characters. In addition to much fine and articulate singing, vocal and verbal agility, Raviv and Reich’s amusing and well-coordinated gestures gave the comedy’s theatrical dimension refreshing energy. Serpina (her name translates as “Little Snake”) came across as mischievous and sensual but warm, Uberto as naïve, nervous and hilarious. Listening to actor, story-teller and musician Yehuda Lazarovich on stage means that those present will not miss a word of the text. With a glint in his eye, he seems to be confiding in the audience as he brings home the absurdity of the characters in hand…and of us all. Kudos to Lazarovich, Raviv and Reich for their own effective stage production.

Remarkable in its vocal melodic suppleness and vivacity, for its syllabic patter songs, octave jumps and comical idiom, the entr’acte piece’s orchestral dimensions are, however, modest. The Barrocade instrumentalists gave the score a delicate but pacey reading, keeping musical flow on target. Some audience members began humming along, proof of their enjoyment and how accessible and charming this music is. This was still preferable to hearing the ring of their mobile ‘phones! The theme of “La Serva Padrona” is timeless, a source of amusement and still appealing to today’s audiences. The Barrocade Collective ended its 2012-2013 season with plenty of good music, a smile and the wink of an eye.