Sonate a quattro: Ensemble Diderot
A lovely disc, its focus on the lesser-known Sonata a quattro entirely laudable.
When is a sonata for four not a sonata for four? in the Baroque, of course, where Trio Sonatas are similarly à 4 (cos continuo). Here is a sequence of Sonate a quattro, brilliantly performed by Ensemble Diderot on the Audax label.
The Sonata a quattro emerged in the first half of the 18th century. It mirrors the "perfection" of four-part choral writing (think SATB, think chorales). Examples of Telemann's Quadri have been considered here at Classical Explorer (SOMM set). The booklet quotes Quantz in his Versuch einer Anwesung, die Flöte traveriwère zu spielen:
A quartet or sonata with three concertante instruments and a bass is actually the touchstone of a real counterpoint. Its vogue has never been great; hence its nature might not be known to many.
Johann Adolphe Scheibe (1706-78) is also quoted, from that writer's Der Critische Musikus:
Connoisseurs and good masters of music also recognise from such pieces not unjustly the strength of a composer
Goldberg? Yes, that one: Bach pupil (and W. F. Bach pupil!) Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-56). Goldberg was court musician to Count Hermann Karl von Keyserling (the famous insomniac), and he it was who premiered Bach père's famous set. There are some remarkable turns of harmony as the result of linear processes in the opening Largo. It segues perfectly into the fugue of the second movement:
Exuberant fugues, all the rage in Berlin at the time, are represented by this prime example, and Ensemble Diderot captures the joy of counterpoint to perfection. The onward pulsations of the short Grave provide dark shade, before counterpoint once more blossoms in the Giga:
When it comes to Telamann Sonate a quattro, you might remember a post on a whole disc of them on SOMM with the London Handel Players. There is blissfully no overlap: here, wie have TWV 43:a5 (so, the fifth example in A-Minor from the 43rd volume of the calatloge - Werke Verzeichnis - of Telemann's works).
The Italianate elements here are interesting: the opening Grave is notably less "heavy" than Goldberg's slow movements. And listen to the exuberance of the "horn calls" in thirds in the second movement, whose closing Adagio section comes in with a screeching of the brakes!:
The third movement Allegro is pure Telemann, an exegesis of purest joy, ceding to a remarkable Largo e staccato and what is known as "ligature e durezze": a style originating in in the Kingdom of Naples (so, Naples and/or Catalonia) in which dissonances "resolve" into a other dissonances. It is a remarkable movement, what with its chard-like staccatos. Good old Telemann, he never (rarely) disappoints:
There is omething about Johannes Proamsohier's articulation (he is both director of Ensemble Diderot and first violin) that makes the first movement of Handel's Sonata in G-Major, Op. 5/4 (HWV 359) sound so perfect.
As so often, the nusic is hewn from elsewhere in Handel's output: the Passacaglia, Gigue and Minuet come from the music for Terpsichore. First, though, a dignified "A tempo ordinario" topped by an Allegro non presso, again beautifully articulated.
Here's the "Passacaille," lovingly given by Ensemble Diderot, and rather more reletlessly in its Terpsichore incarnation by Lanterna Magica:
... and here's teh Gigue, lovely and chamber-like via Ensemble Diderot an, in one of Centaur's finer releases, by the "Concrt Royal Orchestra":
The piece is closed by a short, bright Menuet that acts in maximal contrast to ...
... Fasch's da chiesa Sonata in D-Minor, FaWV N:d3. No doubting the D-Minor-ness here (only the first Allegro, in the relative F-Major, offers light). Fasch it was who inspired this post, The Genius of Johann Friedrich Fasch, while his Concerto for Flute and Oboe was part of the AAM's Leipzig's Got Talent concert at Milton Court. Elements of the second movement are almost orchestral in demeanour:
The Largo is beautifully tender; the finale is glowing embers of D-Minor. For more Fasch via Musical Gloria, try their disc Fasch's Oboe: Music at the Zerbst Court.
It was Musical Gloria, again, who offered Classical Explorer's previous mention, in a concert in a rather snowy Edinburgh. One can hear again this composer's contrapuntal slant in the opening Un poco Andante (some lovely decorations, alive with energy here):
How joyful the instruments' interactions in the central Allegro un Poco Moderato, the very epitome of the galant style:
The finale delights in inter-voice chatter but holds a remarkable moment of suddenly frozen time:
A lovely disc, its focus on the lesser-known Sonata a quattro entirely laudable. Fascinating to have some Goldberg there, too!
The disc is available from Amazon here. Streaming below, except for iDagio here.
