Early Music News & Reviews

The usual objective in such projects by period ensembles is to peel away layers of interpretive accretions laid on by conductors and modern orchestras to reveal what Beethoven originally had in mind. Not, of course, “what Beethoven heard,” for his deafness had advanced to the point where he could only discern faint sounds at the Ninth’s unveiling at the Kärtnertor Theatre in Vienna on May 7, 1824. The composer was onstage to set tempos, but the conducting duties were covered by others.

The album centers on the lute as both an heir to tradition and a living, breathing instrument. It features Ronn McFarlane (lute), Brian Kay (vocals and komuz, a fretless stringed instrument), Willard Morris (colascione, a relative of the bass lute), and Mattias Rucht (percussion).

In "La Mascarade,” the Norwegian theorbo player and baroque guitarist Rolf Lislevand gives us a personal statement that mixes not only two composers but also two instruments: theorbo for the music of Robert de Visée (mostly taken from the 1699 Vaudry de Saizenay manuscript) and baroque guitar for the music of Francesco Corbetta.