Reviews by the editorial staff of Early Music America. Have a new recording or book? Submit it for consideration.
Bezuidenhout Continues Mozart Series
These are vibrant interpretations with a full-blooded orchestral texture and plenty of forward motion, and the solos are characterized by the artist’s customary imagination in phrasing. The engineering presents a well-delineated sound stage throughout, and careful miking picks up the pianist’s playing-along in opening tuttis, a nice combination of intimacy and grandeur.
A Stimulating Spin on Handel’s Life
The Lives of George Frideric Handel more than accomplishes its goals. Well-written, richly documented, and colorfully presented, David Hunter’s unique spin on what we know about Handel, or thought we knew, is a valuable addition to the early-music library.
Tafelmusik Concludes Beethoven Journey
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.
Ayreheart Savors Folk And Art Music
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).
Lislevand Plays De Visée and Corbetta
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.
