musica Dei donum
CD reviews
"Motets napolitains"
Anthea Pichanick, contralto
Les Accents
Dir: Thibault Noally
rec: July 16 - 19, 2019, Paris, Église luthérienne Saint Pierre
La Música - LMU 019 (© 2020) (66'03")
Liner-notes: E/F; lyrics - translations: E/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Leonardo LEO (1694-1744):
Turbido caelo mare furentes;
Nicola Antonio PORPORA (1686-1768):
Regina caeli;
Alessandro SCARLATTI (1660-1725):
De tenebroso lacu;
Totus amore languens
Naples was one of the main musical centres of Italy and even of Europe in the first half of the 18th century. Patrick Barbier, in his liner-notes to the disc under review here, comes up with an interesting observation with regard to the dissemination of the Neapolitan style across Europe. He refers to the excellence of the various conservatories, which had the best teachers any upcoming musician could wish to have, and as they turned out many more musicians than could find a job in Naples, many of them were forced to leave the city and to look for employment elsewhere. It brought them as far away as St Petersburg and London. He sees here a strong contrast with the Ospedali in Venice, where the students - mostly orphans - received an excellent musical education, but never left the institution.
Given the importance of Naples as a centre of music and a breeding ground of composers and performing musicians, it is rather surprising that the repertoire written in Naples and by composers educated in the city, for a long time has received relatively little attention. Of all the composers of the second half of the 17th century, Alessandro Scarlatti was virtually the only one whose music was performed. Pergolesi was the dominant figure in recordings of Neapolitan music of the first half of the 18th century. Some other composers, such as Leo, Porpora, Mancini and Durante, were certainly known, but little of their output was performed and recorded. In the last decades much has changed. Especially the research and recordings of Antonio Florio have brought some interesting compositions to light, in particular from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In 2019, the Festival Early Music Utrecht was entirely devoted to Neapolitan music. Today, the catalogue includes quite a number of recordings with music by Neapolitan composers, who were hardly known some decades ago.
Considering that opera played a key role in Neapolitan music life and that there were only a few composers who did not write any music for the stage, it does not surprise that this part of the repertoire has received most attention. However, the composition of sacred music was also of great importance. There were many churches and chapels in Naples, which needed music for the liturgy. The Chapel Royal, connected to the court of the Spanish, and later Austrian viceroys, and from 1734 onwards the kings of Naples, was one of the centres of sacred music.
Alessandro Scarlatti was among those who for some time were employed by the court. On this disc he is represented with two motets which are among the better-known parts of his oeuvre and have been recorded before, for instance by the male alto Gérard Lesne. Motets of this kind were not always exclusively intended for the liturgy, as their texts were often non-liturgical. They may also have been performed in a domestic environment, as part of private worship, or in aristocratic palaces.
Totus amore languens is included in a collection of motets, published by Roger in Amsterdam in 1707/08. It is one of a number of motets which Scarlatti wrote for the feast of the Blessed Sacrament. The text has its roots in the mystic tradition of the Middle Ages which was still very much embraced in the Catholic Church of Scarlatti's time. It begins with the phrase: "All languishing from love, all aflame with ardour for the sacrament of the altar (...)". In the penultimate section, the text says: "Away with you, o worldly feasts, away you vanities, I do not seek you, I do not desire your pleasures". The word "not" is repeated a number of times, and the fast tempo and lively rhythm emphasize the desire expressed in the text.
Next follows De tenebroso lacu, a motet which has come down to us in manuscript. It is about the souls in the purgatory who call out to the living to pray and work for the appeasement of their sufferings. This is the kind of stuff which was dealt with in oratorios in the 17th century. This is an example of a piece which may have been intended for extra-liturgical performance. It opens with repeated descending motives in the strings, playing staccato. Dissonances illustrate the word "purgentes" (suffering). The urgency of the incitement "Levate ergo fideles" (Give relief, o ye faithful) is illustrated by a fast tempo. There are quite some melismatic passages in this section. The piece ends with a clear reference to Psalm 129 (130), De profundis: "Out of the deep we cry, we renew our sad call, sighing and beating our breast". The text is illustrated by descending (de profundis) and ascending (nos clamamus) figures. The setting of the words "suspirantes et plangentes" include general pauses, and on the word "dolentes" the voice goes up and down, with frequent melismas and chromaticism. In this section Scarlatti returns to the descending motifs in the strings from the first section.
Nicola Antonio Porpora has become best-known for his activities as a singing teacher. Among his pupils were some of the most famous castratos, such as Farinelli. He also wrote much music for the stage, which is only starting to be discovered. His sacred music has received little attention, and therefore it is not surprising that his setting of Regina caeli included here, appears on disc for the first time. It is full of long melismas, and its brilliant vocal part bears witness to his knowledge of the voice and its possibilities. Listening to it without paying attention to the text, one would not guess that it is a liturgical work.
The same goes for the motet by Leonardo Leo, that opens the programme. He was a pupil of the famous Conservatorio S Maria della Pietà dei Turchini, which he entered in 1709. Probably his first composition, a sacred drama, was performed in the conservatory in 1712 and again at the palace of the viceroy which suggests it was a great success. It was an early indication of Leo's stature as a composer of operas and sacred music. He wasn't only composing operas for Naples, as he received commissions from other cities as well, such as Venice, Rome, Florence and Milan. In Naples he had to take a backseat for a while when he was overshadowed by Vinci and Hasse. But when the former died and the latter departed, he became the main composer in Naples. Turbido caelo mare furentes has the form which became more or less the standard in 18th-century Italy: two arias embrace a recitative, and the piece closes with an Alleluia. The two arias have the length of opera arias of the time: 6'15" and 11'45" respectively. The text includes only minor religious references, such as the first line of the recitative: "Burning heavenly wrath which harrows my miserable heart with rightful dread beyond measure, cease, oh cease!" The first aria could figure in an opera or secular cantata without any problem: "On the troubled sea, in the turbulent sky, the waters roar, the wind whistles, stormclouds gather and tempests rage". Tempest and a rough sea were often used as figures of human life and unhappy love. This piece has all the features of an operatic storm aria, and Leo shows his credentials as an opera composer here. The second aria is very different, as the text suggests: "Answer the call of my distress, beloved heavenly breeze, in my great and awful suffering come in serenity to me". This is a much more intimate piece, and here Leo focuses on text expression.
To be honest, I was rather sceptical when I started listening to this disc. I was not impressed by Anthea Pichanick's contribution to Hervé Niquet's recording of Handel's Messiah. I did not particularly like her voice, and I was offended by her incessant and pretty wide vibrato. That is not entirely absent here: in particular Porpora's Regina caeli suffers from it. It seems that it turns up when she has to sing in a fast tempo, as is the case in that piece. However, it is much better in the other pieces. Especially in the slower arias, Pichanick strongly reduces her vibrato, and it is mostly rather narrow, which makes it less problematic, even though it still is regrettable. There is much to enjoy here, though. The opening aria of Leo's motet is brilliantly done, and in the closing aria, she shows great sensitivity in her treatment of the text and the affetti it aims to communicate. Likewise, the closing aria of Scarlatti's De tenebroso lacu is performed with great subtlety, which brings out its expression to the full. I like Pichanick's dynamic differentiation within phrases and her dynamic shading on long notes. In her ornamentation she never falls for the temptation to rewrite what the composers have written. In the course of the time I spent listening to this disc, I started to really like her voice. She is a real contralto, and there are not that many of that kind.
I also should not forget to mention that in her personal notes in the booklet, she pays tribute to the above-mentioned Gérard Lesne. "These two motets [by Scarlatti] have already been magnificently recorded by Gérard Lesne, and we would like to pay tribute here to a musician who has done so much for our understanding of this repertoire". This is very sympathetic and so well deserved!
It remains for me to say that Les Accents is excellent in its delivery of the instrumental parts.
Despite my reservation with regard to in particular Porpora's motet, I would like to recommend this disc, as overall the performances are quite good. And Leo's motet is a wonderful piece which receives its premiere here.
Johan van Veen (© 2021)
Relevant links:
Anthea Pichanick
Les Accents