musica Dei donum
Concert reviews
"Leopold's favourites"
Castello Consort
concert: Nov 13, 2024, Utrecht, Pieterskerk
Dario CASTELLO (bef. 1600-1644):
Sonata IV à 2;
Sonata VI `a2;
Leonora DUARTE (1610-1678):
Sinfonia de 1. toni à 5;
Sinfonia de 12. toni à 5;
Sinfonia IV & VII à 5;
Nicolaes A KEMPIS (1600-1675):
Symphonia I à 3;
Symphonia II à 4;
Symphonia VII à 2 supra Ciaccona;
Symphonia VII à 2 supra ut re mi fa sol la;
Abraham VAN DEN KERCKHOVEN (c1618-1701):
Intonazione;
Biagio MARINI 1594-1663):
[Suite] (grave; balletto III e corrente; balletto I; sarabanda; sonata à 4; ritornello);
Marco UCCELLINI (1603-1680):
6 Symphoniae;
Philippus VAN WICHEL (1614-1675):
Sonata III;
Sonata V à 3
Elise Dupont, Sakura Goto, violin;
Anne-Linde Visser, bass violin;
Matthijs van der Moolen, sackbut;
Emma Huijsser, harp, recorder;
Guilio Quirici, theorbo
It cannot be appreciated enough when an ensemble pays attention to music that is little-known, but deserves to be. That was - at least partly - the case with a series of concerts by the Castello Consort. I heard the second in the series, taking place in the medieval Pieterskerk in Utrecht. The Castello Consort was founded ten years ago, and to celebrate its tenth anniversary it is planning to make a CD with 17th-century music from the Low Countries. That was also the subject of the concert.
In this case the term 'Low Countries' referred to the southern part, which was at the time under Spanish rule. The concert was entitled 'Leopold's favourites'. In 1647 Archdule Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614-1662) travelled to Brussels, to take up the post of Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Like all members of the Habsburg dynasty, he was a great lover of music, which was more than just an instrument of representation. He took his own chapel with him, which included such famous masters as the violinist Biagio Marini and the organist Johann Caspar Kerll. Local composers were in one way or another connected to the court in Brussels.
The Italian style, which had emerged around 1600, disseminated quickly across Europe, and also reached the southern Netherlands. Music printers started to publish music by Italian composers, and local composers followed in their footsteps and adopted the Italian style. The concert was a nice mixture of pieces by composers who are well-known, such as Dario Castello - who gave the ensemble its name - and the violin virtuosos Marini and Marco Uccellini, and by composers from the southern Netherlands, who only may turn up now and then in anthologies. Not many music lovers, not even in the Netherlands, may have heard of Nicolaes a Kempis, Philippus van Wichel or Abraham van den Kerckhoven. And then there was Leonora Duarte, who took a special place in the programme, as she was a member of a Jewish-Portuguese family which had settled in Antwerp and played a major role in music life.
It was not surprising that the two sonatas by Castello were the most brilliant pieces. Not that much is known about him, except that he was the director of the wind ensemble of St Mark's in Venice. Two sets of sonatas of his pen are known, and in many cases he indicates which instruments should be used. However, it was common at the time to leave it to performers to decide which instruments to use, as most sonatas of the time were written in such a way that they could be played on a variety of instruments. One of the two sonatas was performed on two violins, whereas the other was played on violin and sackbut.
The latter instrument played a major role in the programme, and this documents the evolution of the sackbut from an ensemble instrument, often used to accompany singers or to replace a low voice, to an instrument that was given virtuosic solo parts. That was amply demonstrated by Matthijs van der Moolen, who delivered brilliant performances of some highly demanding parts. His performances also attested to the evolution in the playing of this instrument: renaissance and early baroque brass instruments are among the most complicated.
The pieces by local composers showed a full command of the Italian style. Philippus van Wichel, for instance, had internalized the modern Italian style of playing the violin in the Sonata III from the collection Fasciculus Dulcedinis of 1678. One could easily take that for a sonata by a born Italian. It was given an excellent performance by Elise Dupont. She and Sakura Goto were shining in two symphonias by Nicolaes a Kempis. One was based on the hexachord (a sequence of six notes: ut re mi fa sol la) and the other on a basso ostinato, the ciaconna. Such pieces had to be included, as they were among the most popular forms of the 17th century. And especially the latter was a quite exciting piece, played with flair and energy by the two violinists, to the driving support of Anne-Linde Visser, Emma Huijsser and Giulio Quirici.
I already mentioned Leonora Duarte: her family not only played an important role at the music scene in Antwerp, but she herself was also active as a composer: she wrote seven fantasias, which show the influence of English consort music. Some of them have been recorded on viols by the ensemble Transports Publics, but this concert showed that they can well be played in a different combination of instruments.
Some features need to be mentioned. First, the concertante bass parts of the pieces included in the programme can be played on various instruments. They were mostly performed on sackbut, but in the Sonata V by Philippus van Wichel it was played on the bass violin. I was happy to see this instrument in the ensemble, as too often performers play the cello. However, the instrument we know as the 'baroque cello' made its appearance only in the last quarter of the 17th century in Italy. In earlier music string bass instruments were either the viola da gamba or the bass violin. A second feature was the use of a harp, which is not that often used in music written outside Italy. But given the strong Italian influence in the southern Netherlands, its participation was certainly right, and Emma Huijsser is a fine specialist on this instrument. She also played the recorder, in particular in the more light-hearted pieces.
Among these were a sequence of short pieces by Biagio Marini in the middle of the programme, played as a kind of suite, and bringing some relaxation into a programme dominated by serious stuff. It was also with such music that the concert ended. A series of six short symphoniae by Marco Uccellini were played by the entire ensemble in different combinations of instruments. That was good fun and a nice way to close a highly compelling evening of music from the southern Netherlands wrapped in the Italian style.
The ensemble has started a crowdfunding campaign for the recording of a disc with this repertoire. I urge the reader of this review to consider contributing to it. The Castello Consort and the music they are planning to record deserve it.
Johan van Veen (© 2024)