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"Still und lieblich"

InAlto
Dir: Lambert Colson

rec: Jan 2024, Sint-Truiden, Begijnhofkerk
Ricercar - RIC 464 (© 2024) (58'37")
Liner-notes: E/D/F; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Giovanni GABRIELI (1554/57-1612): Udite chiari e generosi figli (C 121); Augustinus KERTZINGER (1610-1678): Dialogus inter Marian et Peccatorem; Orlandus LASSUS (1532-1594): In convertendo [2]; Lectio VI (Quis mihi hox tribuat) [1]; Quid facies veneris [1]; MORITZ, Landgrave of Hesse (1572 - 1632): Paduana del Ottone Landgravio; Pavana del Francisco Segario; Georg OTTO: Deutsches Magnificat; Michael PRAETORIUS (1571-1621): Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort [3]; Giovanni Felice SANCES: Nel regno d'amore; Heinrich SCHÜTZ (1585-1672): Siehe, wie fein und lieblich ist's (SWV 48); Thomas SELLE: O liebes Hertze [4]; O, Unglük [4]

Orlandus Lassus, [1] Selectissimae cantiones, quas vulgo motetas vocant, partim omnino novae, partim nusquam in Germania excusae, 1568; [2] Lectiones sacrae novem quatuor vocum, 1582; [3] Michael Praetorius, Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica, 1619; [4] Thomas Selle, Deliciarum Juvenilium, [1634]

Alice Foccroulle, Anne-Kathryn Olsen, Hanna Ely, Lucie Minaudier, soprano; Bart Uvyn, Andrea Gavagnin, alto; Sean Clayton, Vincent Lesage, Peter de Laurentiis, Adriaan de Koster, Lieven Termont, tenor; Joachim Höchbauer, Geoffroy Buffière, Pieter Stas, bass
Lambert Colson, recorder, mute cornett; Friederike Otto, Jamie Savan, mue cornett; Guy Hanssen, Charlotte Van Passen, Bart Vroomen, Valerio Lewandowski, sackbut; Krzysztof Lewandowski, bassoon, sordun; Mira Glodeanu, Ortwin Lowyck, violin; Layal Ramadan, viola da gamba, violone; Jonas Nordberg, theorbo; Joseph Rassam, harpsichord, organ

When the historical performance movement emerged, its representatives continued to play the instruments that were generally used, such as the flute, the oboe and the violin, but then their pre-romantic counterparts, either original instruments, copies of historical instruments or instruments that were restored to their original state. However, with time several instruments were rediscovered that had entirely disappeared from the music scene. One of them was the cornett.

The cornett was still used in the 18th century; Johann Sebastian Bach prescribed it in some of his cantatas. However, its heydays were gone; in St Mark's in Venice the last cornett was replaced by an oboe in the 1690s. During the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century the cornett was the most revered instrument (alongside the violin). One of the reasons was that, more than any other instrument, it was able to imitate the human voice, at the time considered the supreme instrument. The cornett played instrumental music, but also participated in performances of vocal music, either supporting the voice (playing colla voce) or replacing it.

One of the main players of the cornett in our time is Lambert Colson. With his ensemble InAlto he has made a number of recordings in which the cornett figures prominently. But he is not only a player, but also a researcher, and the disc under review is the musical counterpart of his research which resulted in a doctorate. The booklet includes liner-notes which are a summary of the results of his research.

Colson focused on one particular kind of cornett, known as the mute cornett, known in German as stiller Zink, which explains the title of this disc. Michael Praetorius, whose treatise Syntagma Musicum is an important source of information about instruments and performance practice of the time around 1600, states: "The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett, but which is hollowed out of the instrument, has a sweet and tender sound. It is called the mute cornett for this reason." The starting point of Colson's doctoral thesis were four mute cornetts which are kept in Leipzig and were once used at the court of Hesse-Kassel. In comparison with string instruments, relatively few wind instruments from ancient times have been preserved, and they are mostly not in playable condition,. If they are, they are too precious to be used in performances and recordings. Therefore players like Colson use modern copies.

Taking this into account it is remarkable that no fewer than 325 cornetts from the past have been preserved. Colson does not mention it, but one may assume that few, if any, are good enough to be played. Of these, 53 - just over fifteeen percent - are mute cornetts. They came in different types: the four Kassel instruments are of two different sizes. It is known that the court in Kassel obtained cornetts from Venice. The players had three types of cornett at their disposal: the 'standard' instrument, a longer instrument sounding one tone lower, and a smaller instrument sounding a fourth higher than the standard cornett. In the early 17th century the Kassel court had no fewer than 30 mute cornetts. This indicates that they played an important role in performances and were frequently used.

The programme of this disc includes nearly all the music found in Kassel that includes parts specifically written for mute cornett. It opens and closes with large-scale pieces written in the Venetian polychoral style. It starts with a piece for two choirs by Giovanni Gabrieli. He had no connections with the court in Kassel, and this piece may have been brought there by his German pupil Heinrich Schütz. It is a madrigal, apparently intended for performance at New Year's Day 1600. Each choir represents a group of characters: Tritons and Nereids respectively, each of which sings a stanza; in the third the two groups join.

Schütz himself is also represented, with a motet he wrote for his brother Georg, at the occasion of his wedding in 1619. The text is Psalm 133: "Siehe wie fein und lieblich ist's daß Brüder einträchtig beieinander wohnen!" - How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! The scoring specifically mentions the mute cornett as the upper instrumental voice (which can be replaced by a violin). This indicates that it has to imitate the tenderness mentioned in the text.

Whereas it is well-known that Schütz was a pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, far less known is his first teacher: Georg Otto, who was Hofkapellmeister in Kassel from 1586 until his death. In this capacity he not only taught Schütz, but also his employer, Landgrave Moritz. Otto's oeuvre has been hardly explored to date; his Deutsches Magnificat, a setting of Martin Luther's translation of Mary's canticle, is scored for twelve voices in three choirs, and written at the occasion of the birth of Moritz's son Hermann in 1607. The scores mention three cornettists, which play in the second choir, together with a tenor voice. One technical problem in this piece could be solved thanks to suggestions in Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum. Given the musical interest of Landgrave Moritz and his role in the career of Schütz, it is nice that two of his instrumental pieces are included here. (Weser-Renaissance Bremen devoted a complete disc to his oeuvre).

A composer one does not expect in repertoire from Kassel is the Italian Giovanni Felice Sances. Nel regno d'amore is a secular work, which was commissioned by the court after the then Kapellmeister Michael Hartmann and Moritz's successor Wilhelm IV had attended an imperial gathering in Regensburg, where they heard music by, among others, Sances. Colson suggests that, given that Hartmann was a cornettist himself, the mute cornett was included in the score on his behalf.

That is all there is from Kassel. The remaining works are from elsewhere. That goes, for instance, for the Dialogus inter Mariam et Peccatorem, which is written by a certain A.K., probably Augustin Kertzinger, a Benedictine monk, and Kapellmeister in Prague and Vienna; the piece has been preserved in Kromeriz library. This explains the Catholic content: a sinner asks Mary for mercy, as she is "a refuge for all sinners". The piece is divided into stanzas, which are separated by instrumental ritornellos, played by mute cornett and sackbuts and by strings respectively.

Two pieces in the programme are from the time that the stile antico reigned supreme. The inclusion of two sacred pieces by Orlandus Lassus is inspired by Praetorius: he suggests the way In convertendo could be performed, which has been followed here. It is notable that Lassus' treatment of the text is very expressive, like some of the madrigals of the time, and clearly pointing in the direction of the style that was to conquer Europe after 1600. From a much later time are two secular songs by Thomas Selle, who from 1641 until his death was Musikdirektor in Hamburg. Colson does not specify whether the scoring specifically mentions the mute cornett.

Considering the importance of Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum for Colson's research and his decisions regarding performance practice, it is fitting that the programme closes with a work from his pen, a setting of a well-known hymn by Martin Luther. Hymns take a central place in Praetorius' oeuvre, and he has written this arrangement for three choirs. In this performance the first choir is scored for soprano and three mute cornetts, with a bassoon in the bass part.

As one may have understood, this is quite fascinating stuff. I would recommend anyone purchasing this disc to read the liner-notes carefully, as they give much information about the mute cornett and its important role in Central Europe in the 17th century. The programme performed here is a perfect and eloquent illustration of the results of Colson's research. Whereas the piece by Schütz is fairly well-known, the rest of the programme is probably new to nearly anyone interested in this kind of repertoire. Each piece is well worth listening to, and that is also due to the way it is performed here. InAlto has already showed its qualities in previous recordings in which instrumental music dominated. Here we get mostly vocal music, and Colson has brought together a highly-qualified ensemble of singers, who deliver excellent performances.

Johan van Veen (© 2024)

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