Leonard Link

Monteverdi Teatro d'amore - a puzzle solved

I've commented on this new recording several times.  I remain obsessed with it. My one slightly negative comment is that if one is interested in following scores, one has to do lots of work figuring out where the various tracks come from, because the insert booklet is curiously vague about sources.  After a fair amount of detective work, I have been able to compile a directory to the recording for score readers:

1.  The Toccata is of course the familiar opening music from the opera L'Orfeo.  I have the Novello vocal score edited by Denis Stevens, where this appears on pages 1-2 of the music.

2.  Ohime ch'io cado.  This is one of three songs that Monteverdi contributed to an anthology of songs published by Milanuzi in 1624.  A contemporary score containing this song is Claudio Monteverdi "A Voce Sola" published by Ricordi, distributed in the US by Hal Leonard Music.  This song is on page 1 of the publication.

3.  Pur ti miro.  This duet is the finale of the opera, The Coronation of Poppea.  I have the Novello vocal score, edited by Alan Curtis, in which it appears starting on page 256.

4.  Damigella tutta bella.  This is from Scherzi Musicali, page 40 in Vol. X of the Complete Monteverdi edition published by Universal-Edition.

5.  Amor - Lamento della Ninfa, Rappresentativo.  This is from the 8th Book of Madrigals, on page 306 of the widely-available Dover edition.

6.  Si dolce e 'l tormento.  This is another solo from the 1624 Milanuzi anthology, and appears in Ricordi's "A Voce Sola" on page 18.

7.  Sinfonie & Moresca.  This is a suite of instrumental excerpts from Acts II and V of L'Orfeo.  In my Novello vocal score, this begins with the Sinfonia at the beginning of Act II, p. 39, continues with instrumental music from the end of bar 54 (p. 42) to bar 64, continues from the end of bar 134 (page 47) to bar 142, then jumps to the Moresca that concludes Act V on pages 147-148.   It makes a very lively continuous dance sequence.

8.  Interrotte speranze is from the 7th Book of Madrigals, on page 94 in the Universal-Edition publication.

9.  Chiome d'oro, also from the 7th Book of Madrigals, appears on page 177.

10.  Oblivion soave is a brief solo from The Coronation of Poppea, beginning on page 179 of the Novello vocal score with the brief recitativo followed by the aria.

11.  Hor che 'l ciel e la terra.  This is from the 8th Book of Madrigals, p. 39 in the Dover score.

12.  Tempro la cetra, from the 7th Book of Madrigals, page 1 in the Universal-Edition score, including the extensive instrumental introduction and postlude.

13.  Ballo.  With no more than the name to go on, this took a bit of detective work. It is the instrumental portion of Ballo delle Ingrate from the 8th Book of Madrigals, beginning on page 350 of the Dover score.  Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata do some improvising here based on the bare outline provided in the score.  In fact, they do lots of improvising of instrumental accompaniment throughout the recording.

14.  Con che soavita is from the 7th Book of Madrigals, p. 137 in the Universal-Edition score.

15.  Vago augelletto is from the 8th Book of Madrigals, p. 230 in the Dover score.

16.  Zefiro torna - Ciaccona.  This is generally labeled as part of the Scherzi Musicali but Universal-Edition does not include it in Vol. 10 of the complete edition, where the bulk of the scherzi musical are published.  Instead, it is in the 9th Book of Madrigals, vol. 9 of the Monteverdi Complete Edition published by Universal-Edition, which I have on order.  In the meantime, I was able to download a very neat transcription from the internet.

Puzzles solved.

Next to Normal - The Cast Recording

I saw a performance of Next to Normal several months ago, and thought it was a brilliant and thought-provoking show, even though I normally don't care much for rock music.  I was impressed enough, however, to pick up the original Broadway cast recording when it became available a few weeks ago, and have just finished listening to it.

The show works very well as a recording.  One can control the volume of the music, so the "rock" aspect becomes less oppressive than in the theater, and it even struck me on listening that the second act has less of a "rock" aspect than the first act.  It helps to have a synopsis and libretto in the booklet, since one might have a hard time figuring out what is going on in the plot without it.  The cast is wonderful, although I could have wished that Jennifer Damiano and Alice Ripley, the two women in the cast, had more distinguishable voices, since one can easily be fooled listening without the libretto as to who is singing at any particular time.  As with the live performance in the theater, I was much taken by all of the cast, but especially by Aaron Tveit, who plays the "ghost" son with such wonderful fervor.  HIs big solo number, "I'm Alive," still totally knocks me out whenever I hear it.

Congratulations to Tom Kitt (composer) and Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics) for a marvelous accomplishment with this show.  Treating a serious issue in a Broadway musical is a big challenge, and they meet the challenge here.

NY Philharmonic - Summertime Classics Finale - Bolero & Other French Delights

The last program for this summer's installment of the NY Philharmonic Summertime Classics Series conducted by Bramwell Tovey was titled "Bolero and Other French Delights," but the odd thing about the program, which I heard Thursday night, was how "un-French" it really was.  That is, all of the composers were French, but they were all treating subjects from outside the country.  Bizet's Carmen, from which we heard the March of the Toreadors and two arias, is set in Spain.  Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila, from which we heard the Bacchanale and one aria, is of course set in the Holy Land of the Middle East.  Berlioz "Le Corsaire" Overture is inspired by the privateers of the Mediterranean Sea.  And, finally, Ravel's Bolero also has a Spanish flavor.  There were two encores, and the first, by an Italian composer, provided the only French place connection on the program!  An aria from Cilea's Adriana Le Couvreur, which is set in Paris.  The second encore was Berlioz's Hungarian Dance from The Damnation of Faust, which is of course intended to invoke Hungary!  (Berlioz wrote it, supposedly, on Liszt's recommendation that he write something with a Hungarian flavor for a concert tour to that country.)

Despite all these geographical and ethnographical oddities, it was a terrific concert.  Indeed, the best of the four, I thought.  Perhaps it is just that this particular aggregation of musicians, many NYP regulars but also many substitutes and temps used to fill out the orchestra for this summer series, had now been playing together for almost two weeks through various programs and had really come together quite nicely under Tovey's genial leadership.  It occurred to me while listening to Bolero - a repetitious work during which one's mind tends to wander - that this was the "real thing" - that is, that this was the truly gorgeous NYP at full cry.  All the big moments in this concert were stunningly well played.

Denyce Graves, a mezzo-soprano familiar to New Yorkers from her work at the Metropolitan Opera, sang the various arias.  She seemed to take the opportunity of singing with an orchestra on her own (as opposed to being part of an ensemble on the operative stage) to really go wild with her interpretations, very individualistic and perhaps beyond what a firm-handed operative conductor would have allowed.  It was great fun, and she projected fantastically well in a sometimes problematic hall.  Indeed, when she provided the spoken introduction for the St. Saens and Cilea arias, her voice projected quite clearly through the hall without any need for the microphone that Tovey was otherwise working like a pro.

Due to the format, there is not actually a lot of music on these programs.  Starting late, stretching out the intermission, speaking between numbers, and bringing the entire show in at under 2 hours (unlike the typical subscription concert these days, which tends to run about 2 hours and 15 minutes), doesn't leave much time for actual music.  Even with the two encores factored in, they finished under the 2 hour mark and the total amount of music played barely surpassed an hour.  This was understandable given the circumstances - two different programs in one week does not leave enough rehearsal time to do justice to 2 full-length programs - and in fact this concert did not feel unduly short, unlike some of the prior ones in this series.  This was a "lazy" program in the sense that everything was very mainstream and most of the music had been played relatively recently by the orchestra.

With the series over, I want to congratulate Tovey and the Philharmonic on a very pleasant two week run of concerts, but to be slightly critical at the end over their having pretty much deserted what I thought most enticing about earlier renditions of Summertime Classics - the search for listener-friendly novelties.  That was pretty much abandoned.  Everything played was out of the standard list of greatest composers and the central orchestral repertory, if one takes into account pops concerts, etc.  Much of the repertory had been played by the orchesta in recent seasons, some of it in the summers led by Tovey in fact.  The hall seemed pretty full for all the concerts I attended, which suggests that if the hall is available they will want to do this again next year.  I would suggest a little more imagination in programming, a return to some of the adventurousness of earlier season would be most welcome in this quarter.

Naxos Alert: Bax Music for Piano and Orchestra

Keep an eye on new releases from Naxos.  Every month they are pouring out more new releases than any other classical label, of greater variety than anybody else and -- most of the time -- of superb quality.  To top it off, at a time when the once-great major labels have fallen mainly to recycling old material or recording a handful of celebrity artists in either mainstream repertory or "crossover" material, Naxos continues its bold exploration of the ignored byways of the classical repertory.  The one draw-back is that occasionally their eagerness to record just about everything they can get their hands on with affordable musicians can lead to performances that are tentative and less than immaculate, because they are not the result of extensive experience with the repertory and extended rehearsal.   Just the same, however, they frequently make available music that would be otherwise hard to find, at bargain prices.

A prime example of the merits of the label is the recent release of two major works for piano and orchestra by Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953), a British composer of the pastoral inclination.  His large-scale Symphonic Variations of 1916-18 and smaller-scale Concertante for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra of 1949 make excellent disc-mates, and Ashley Wass, James Judd and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra have produced gorgeous performances that do full justice to the colorful, rhapsodic nature of the music.  The phrase that always comes to my mind when I'm listening to Bax is "gorgeous wash of sound."  The sound of a Bax orchestra in full cry is totally distinctive once experienced, and totally thrilling for the sheer depth of beauty.  I wouldn't say that he wrote the most memorable tunes, and if there is structural rigor, I don't hear it, but for sheer sensuous pleasure there are few composer who come close.

Naxos has produced a fine-sounding recording at the Concert Hall Lighthouse in Poole, UK, in May 2008, and provides the usual detailed and informative program notes.  The entire production is first-rate and worth acquiring, especially at the bargain price.

NY Philharmonic Summertime Classics: From the Danube to the Rhine

The third installment of this year's Summertime Classics series at the NY Philharmonic, conducted by Bramwell Tovey, features central European music under the title "From the Danube to the Rhine."  Although the composer picks are safely mainstream - Johann Strauss Jr, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss - the repertory is a bit less common than the previous two concerts.  For a Strauss overture, they picked Zigeunerbaron rather than the ubiquitous Fledermaus.  For the Liszt Concerto, we had No. 2 rather than the more popular No. 1.  For the Brahms, we had two of the less frequently encountered Hungarian Dances, Nos. 4 & 10 (with the most frequently encountered one as an encore at the end), and from Richard Strauss the extended Rosenkavalier Suite generally attributed to former NYP music director Artur Rodzinski as arranger.  Most of the program had not been played by the Philharmonic in recent seasons.  So this was a refreshing change.

And the program was very well played.  Simone Dinnerstein made her NYP debut in the Liszt.  Although conductor Tovey said in his introduction that the second concerto was the better of the two in terms of structure and sophistication, I've always found it the less interesting.  Despite its clumsiness, the first concerto just has better tunes and its bombast is more entertaining.  But No. 2 can be a pleasant piece to hear, and Dinnerstein was a persuasive interpreter.  She produces a very beautiful sound from the piano, which is a prerequisite for success in this music and not as frequently attained as one might hope.  I enjoyed hearing her, and so did the rest of the audience, to judge by the strong ovation.  Too bad this format does not seem to leave room for soloist encores.  They should think about changing that...

The Strauss overture and Brahms dances were played with suitable flair, and the orchestra sounded like they were actually having fun.

With the Rosenkavalier suite, we were in a different world entirely.  This is big league orchestral writing by Strauss, who was a master of orchestration beyond dispute.  I found myself thinking again and again that this was the kind of music for which the large symphony orchestra was invented - the big, colorful late romantic effusion of emotion.  It was all quite wonderful.

And pity the impatient who just jumped up and scampered out as the final chords were dying -- they missed the encore, a splendidly vivacious run through the familiar 5th Hungarian Dance.  Patience, friends, patience....  (And the NYP could reconsider their practice during the regular season of eschewing encores... these tasty extra morsels are very much appreciated by the audience, and can include repertory not normally encountered on regular symphony programs, precisely because they are short and the fashion these days is to play one long, serious works on regular subscription concerts - a fashion I decry from time to time.)

Thanks Maestro Tovey, Dimone Dinnerstein, and NYP for a wonderfully entertaining evening.  Can you top this later in the week with the French program?  We'll see and hear....

NY Philharmonic Summertime Classics - Independence Day Special

Tonight we had the first of two performances of the special “Born on the 4^th of July” program in the NY Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series, the second to be presented on the day itself.  Sort of funny that the NYP decides to observe Independence Day with a Brit on the podium and a French-Canadian piano soloist, but the music was all-American without a doubt: Gershwin, Copland, and Sousa.  Every one of them, of course, the son of immigrants, and that point should be reiterated in this country which has all too often in recent years been hostile to the foreign-born...

We began the concert with a mystery.  The program book listed the opening number as “Strike Up the Band,” from Strike Up the Band, so naturally I expected to hear an arrangement of that song by one Rose (not otherwise identified than by the last name in the program listing).  But that’s not what we heard at all, and the program note was no help here.  It sounded to me like we heard either the overture to the show, in an orchestration by Mr. or Ms. Rose, or a medley of songs from the show by the same.  The familiar strains of the song “Strike Up the Band” brought up the tail end of the arrangement, but was preceded by an array of attractive tunes in different tempi and styles.  It would be nice for them to tell us correctly what we were hearing.

Then came Variations on “I Got Rhythm” for Piano and Orchestra, a piece Gershwin wrote to perform on a concert tour on which he would also be performing Rhapsody in Blue.  Since Rhapsody in Blue is shorter than a full-length concerto, the addition of the Variations would make a sequence of substantial length to take the place of a concerto on a program.  By the time he wrote this, Gershwin had progressed from depending on an arranger to doing his own orchestrations, and he left a fine orchestration of this piece.  But for some reason not explained in the program notes, the Philharmonic decided to use an orchestration by one Schoenfeld (first name and gender not specified in the program).  And, of course, when we then had Rhapsody in Blue to round out the first half, we had the traditional orchestration by Ferde Grofe, who was the staff arranger for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, a jazz band that played the first performance.  (Grofe did two orchestrations – the jazz band version for Whiteman, and then a symphonic arrangement that was used when the NYP and other orchestras took up the piece.)

Which means  we had over half an hour of Gershwin’s music, none of which was orchestrated by Gershwin, and the only instance of arranging discussed in the program book was Grofe’s involvement with the Rhapsody.   Gershwin enthusiasts have come to prefer the composer’s own orchestrations where they exist, so it was disappointing that the Philharmonic did not go with the original on the Variations.  And we could have used some enlightenment on what we were hearing for Strike Up the Band, but because that came first on the program, there was not a word about it by Tovey, who narrates these concerts with remarks between pieces but never says anything prior to the first piece, for some reason....

On Tuesday night, following the first concert in the series, I mentioned that ensemble was a bit loose as Tovey and the orchestra were becoming reacquainted and the substitutes and temporary players who made up a part of the orchestra were becoming integrated into the mix.  I predicted things would improve, and they have.  Tonight they were excellent, in NY Philharmonic class.  Hamelin, who has made a bit of a specialist of seeking out jazzy piano music by classical composers (sample his recordings of Kapustin) was just fine in Gershwin, if not as totally uninhibited as some American pianists to the manor born, and Stanley Drucker, principal clarinetist in the final concerts before his retirement, was excellent in his solos with one tiny exception – that famous upward schmear that starts the Rhapsody actually hit a road bump just towards the top....  Well, it added a bit of spontaneous flavor.  It was a privilege to hear him playing this repertory tonight.

After intermission, we had a fine performance of the orchestral suite drawn by Aaron Copland from his ballet Appalachian Spring, then some Sousa marches, two listed in the program, one for an encore.  As soon as I saw the program, I knew what the encore would be.  The listed marches were “Hands Across the Sea” – a relative rarity – and “Washington Post.”  Well, how can you do an Independence Day concert without “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” and so it was...  A fine send-off and a great evening from Tovey and what passes for the NYP at these concerts.  (Actually, the proportion of substitutes and ringers seems a bit smaller this year than last.  Perhaps in the current economy more of the orchestra regulars wanted to make some extra bucks playing this gig....)

Celebrating the 4th (a day early) with Ives and Ormandy

There is a bit of a mystery here.  I posted an item with this title on the blog this morning, and this evening it seems to have disappeared, so I will try to reconstruct it now. 

I try to celebrate Independence Day by listening to Charles Ives's 4th of July each year.  This year, I had waiting to be heard the new release from Arkivmusic.com of the mid-1970s recording of Ives's Holidays Symphony by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  I had this in the original LP release, but during the 1970s RCA was making lousy LPs and I had not cared for the original.  My experience with this reissue series has been that the remastered recordings from that period are extraordinarily good, and so it proved with this release.  Both the Symphony and the Three Places in New England, also recorded at about the same time, sound spectacularly good on this CD, and Ormandy provides an unusually romantic view of Ives, different from the mainstream of Ives performances, that is worth hearing.  I heartily recommend it.

Have we hit a new mark for performing Monteverdi's popular repertory?

My reaction to the new release in the ongoing series on Chandos by the British early music vocal group, I Fagiolini, of Monteverdi madrigals, under the title "Sweet Torment", prompts me to ask this question. 

I've been a fan of I Fagiolini for quite a while, and actually have an old Monteverdi recording by them on some obscure independent label from the 1980s.  A few years ago they began this series on Chandos, now up to volume 3.  Unlike some of the other groups that are systematically recording each book of madrigals published by Monteverdi, I Fagiolini's director, Robert Hollingworth, puts together mixed programs drawn from the various published books, as well as occasional madrigals that Monteverdi contributed to anthologies or that have shown up in manuscripts.  Each program provides a very well-filled CD, and gives a good conspectus of Monteverdi's exploration of the form of semi-popular vocal music of his time, arranged to provide a diverse program.  When instrumental accompaniment is needed, there is a group called Barokksolistene to accompany on period instruments.

I've enjoyed the series so far, but the recent release of a similar mixed-Monteverdi program by Christina Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata on Virgin Classics, which fortuitously overlaps in repertory with several items on this new I Fagiolini disc, prompts me to ask whether Pluhar has rendered I Fagiolini's approach "old-fashioned," if that term can be used for comparative purposes here.

It's just that L'Arpeggiata is so much more entertaining.  Their faster pieces are faster, the slower ones slower and more affecting, the instrumental accompaniments more imaginative (Monteverdi did not always specify in his publications exactly what instruments were to be used, and allowed for plenty of variation by performers), and the singing by Pluhar's soloists puts Hollingworth's soloists in the shade on almost every account, fine as they are heard on their own.

And that's the point.  Had I never heard Pluhar's disc, I would be very happy with Hollingworth's Volume 3.  But Pluhar has raised the bar for enjoyable performance of Monteverdi madrigals, at least to my thinking.  Even conceding that three of Pluhar's tracks are totally non-comparable because of her decision to provide a modern-sounding "swing" to the accompaniment, the overall effect of her recording raises the musical and dramatic impact of these pieces so much that they make poor I Fagiolini sound like sticks in the mud - but only by comparison.  Heard on its own, this third volume of Monteverdi on Chandos makes a distinguished addition to the series.

I'm wondering whether Pluhar's recording will cause other early music performers to rethink their approach to Monteverdi and his contemporaries?  It should....

NY Philharmonic Summertime Classics 2009 Begins

Last night, members of the NY Philharmonic and others performed the first in a series of four programs collectively presented under the title Summertime Classics. Each of the programs is presented at least twice, some three times, all under the direction of Bramwell Tovey, a British conductor and composer who has been leading these programs since they began in 2004, intended to fill a gap in the orchestra's schedule between the end of its regular subscription series and the beginning of its summer travels and vacation interludes.   I say "members of the NY Philharmonic" because it is not unusual to see some relatively unfamiliar faces on stage, as many of the principals are off elsewhere, resulting in second and third chair people getting their day in the sun and regular replacements and temporary subs showing up in profusion.  (Indeed, last year I was rather indignant at the proportion of the ensemble on stage who were not really members of the NY Philharmonic, but I'm a realist - these concerts would not be economically viable at the prices on offer with the usual contingent of the full orchestra.)

The idea behind this series, I had thought, was to provide a few weeks of high quality light classical entertainment for the first few weeks of the summer.  One of the things I particularly liked about the earlier Summertime Classics series was the inclusion of novelties - audience-friendly pieces that tend not to show up on a regular season programs - and the occasional premiere.  Well, perhaps the NY audience is just not adventurous enough where novelties are concerned, because there are none this year, presumably reflecting a judgment that ticket sales last year weren't where they should be.   So no it's pretty much all hard-core standard repertory, some of it lighter and more likely to be found on pops concerts, but nothing in these four programs that could be called a novelty.  Indeed, the first program, titled "Russian Fest" is so relentlessly mainstream that EVERY PIECE ON THE PROGRAM HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY PLAYED BY THE ORCHESTRA DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS.  (Yes, I intended the on-line effect of screaming by using capital letters.)  This might as well just be a two week extension of the regular season, but with fewer rehearsals and a slightly lower quality orchestra.

And so, when Mr. Tovey addressed the audience after playing the first piece, Tchaikovsky's Polonaise from Act II of Eugene Onegin, introduced himself, spun out his usual shtick of razzing the latecomers who were being seated, and gestured to the orchestra, which he referred to as "the great New York Philharmonic", I immediately thought, "Yeah...???"  I suppose of the NY Philharmonic engages a particular sub or replacement to play a concert, it nonetheless remains the NY Philharmonic... but...

With so many subs and ringers on the stage, you don't get the same quality of playing that the brand name "New York Philharmonic" normally signifies.  Don't get me wrong.  Last night's concert was well-played, they would not hire unqualified people for this gig, but it lacked the high polish, the high finish, the precision and the excellent balances and distinctive solo playing (with some exceptions, of course) that one normally enounters at the Philharmonic, honed by seasons of playing together week in and week out.  Less rehearsal than they normally have for a concert program may enter into it as well, of course, since they are preparing the equivalent of about 1-2/3 concert programs per week instead of one.  (The normal concert in the regular season runs, with intermission, about 2 hours and 15 minutes these days.  These concerts tend to run 1 hour and 45 with pre-programmed encore included and some verbal commentary from the podium eating into the playing time.)

Each program features at least one guest soloist.  Last night we had Vladimir Feltsman playing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.  I think he was still settling into the notes and the collaboration last night, as things were not as tight as one would expect them during the regular season. Feltsman is a pro - I've heard him play this piece to better effect in the past - but the performance reflected the casual nature of the series.  By Thursday night's performance (this program gets played thrice), things should be ship-shape, I would predict.  It was not a bad performance by any means, just a bit loose, and orchestral balances with the piano less fine-tuned than one might hope for.

After intermission, I noticed that Stanley Drucker was sitting in the principal clarinet chair, a pleasant surprise, since I assumed his retirement was effective at the end of the regular season.  Maybe he's just playing an extra gig?  At any rate, that upped the ante on the clarinet solos in the remaining pieces, three dances from Khachaturian's Gayane Ballet, and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture.  Drucker sounded great, as always, and the entire orchestra sounded more engaged and "together" in this half of the program, although I could have used more intensity in R&J.  The encore was a less-than-whiplash rendition of the Trepak from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, which I believe we heard as an encore on this series last year as well...

I've been a Tovey fan for many years, but I thought he was in less than splendid form last night.  Maybe it's just that it takes a few more days to jell after a year's absence, especially with a fair number of subs and ringers in the orchestra.  I look forward to Friday night, by which time they should be old pals and firing on all cylinders.  Also, they tend to be "up" for the 4th of July program, full of Gershwin and Sousa.  I'm eager to hear what the extraordinary Canadian pianist, Marc-Andre Hamelin, has to say in Gershwin.  And perhaps by Friday Tovey will have revved up his patter a bit, which was kind of flat last night.

Plucked Genius - Christina Pluhar

My recent obsession with a Monteverdi recital disc on Virgin Classics, "Teatro d'Amore," focused originally on the work of Philippe Jaroussky, the astonishing male sopranist (sometimes labelled countertenor) who is one of the solo and ensemble singers on that great recording.  But as I listened again and again, and compared the performances to other, more conventional, recordings of this repertory, I came to focus on the work of Christina Pluhar, the director of the instrumental ensemble L'Arpeggiata, whose work is central to the success of the disc.

Pluhar takes a refreshing approach to this repertory, emphasizing its roots in dance rhythms and embracing the opportunity for sonic "color" provided by the old instruments of the period when they are played with vigor and without inhibition.  I decided to explore her work further.  Pluhar and ensemble have produced a series of estimable recordings for the French independent label, Alpha.  Alpha recordings are physical works of art in addition to their musical qualities, presenting very high quality reproductions of period art on their covers, sumptuous packaging (which I must dismantle, alas, to accommodate the large binders in which I house my CD collection), and detailed notes which, unfortunately, are sometimes less than fully informative about the provenance of some of the music, as they tend to speak more generally about the repertory than specifically about every piece on the recording.

But, setting aside these issues of physical presentation, Pluhar's recordings for Alpha have proven to be quite extraordinary.  Some are centered around the work of a particular composer, others around a particular genre.  They are all put together with the utmost imagination, to provide contrasting moods and build their tension with some relaxation towards the end.  They are best heard as a unified program, although individual numbers and favorites can be sampled and repeated with pleasure.

The strong points that I've noted in the Virgin Classics Monteverdi album are all present in the Alpha albums devoted to music of Stefano Landi and Giovanni Kapsberger - marvelously fluid and rhythmically alive instrumental work, full of color and life, and solo singing that combines the communicative sensibility of pop music with a keen appreciation of period style and a willingness to improvise in order to bring contemporary life to ancient verses and melodies.  In other words, Pluhar understands that one of the important functions of music is to ENTERTAIN, at the same time seeking to engage the emotions.  And she understands that period music must be performed with imagination, not the stilted literalism that has too often afflicted the performance of what is usually called "early music".  (Early music is obviously a relative term.  To the young virtuosi of today, Shostakovich might be considered "early music", but the term generally refers to music composed during the Baroque period or earlier.  Monteverdi is late Renaissance-Early Baroque.  Some have sought to extend the early music label into the 19th century by performing music of that time on instruments (or copies of instruments) of that period, such as the "original instruments" Beethoven symphony cycles by such as Norrington, Hogwood, Gardiner....) Trying to come up with a comparison to other performers, the one that comes to mind first is Jordi Savall with his various period instrument ensembles, but Pluhar goes him one better with the spirit of improvisation that hovers over all her work.

Some of the most exciting recordings by Pluhar and her group are those devised thematically rather than by composer, particularly the album devoted to The Tarantella and the marvelous album of dance music called "All' Improvviso."   But then, I think you can't go wrong with any Pluhar recording I've heard so far.  The woman is an absolute genius at putting together the elements of a recorded musical program, and her own work on the harp and the theorbo, used mainly as continuo instruments, is of the highest order.

For information about her work and her group, see www.arpeggiata.com.  There are plenty of Pluhar performance clips on youtube. And do seek out her recordings.