COMPOSERS: Corbett,D & H Purcell,Finger & Handel,Haym,Keller,Paisible,Pepusch,Williams
LABELS: Avie
ALBUM TITLE: A Noble Entertainment
WORKS: Music from Queen Anne's London
PERFORMER: Parnassian Ensemble
CATALOGUE NO: AV 2094
The core of this programme is
nine trio sonatas/suites for two
treble recorders and continuo,
their sameness relieved by a cello
sonata, a recorder duo and a Purcell
harpsichord suite. The playing
is admirably neat – intonation
virtually flawless, ensemble taut, and
decorations stylish. The opening
trio by William Williams is wittily
‘in immitation [sic] of Birds’ while
the last, Handel’s only recorder trio,
HWV405, throws into high relief the
difference between true inspiration
and commendable craftsmanship.
Recorded sound is crisp and
immediate, though sometimes
over-emphasising the cello. Peter
Holman’s notes are a model of
accessible, relevant scholarship.
High points include the Purcell
Suite played on a fine harpsichord,
a copy of a Netherlands instrument
which had been imported to Paris and
enlarged. Its silvery tone adds pathos
to Purcell’s poignant upward leaningnotes.
The cello sonata, by Nicola
Haym, opens with strikingly dolorous
double-stopping, followed by a 36-
second throw-away allegro.
The other pieces – by Corbett,
Pepusch, Keller, Finger – are seldom
more than trifles. Each section
of their short binary movements
flash by in a few seconds, too brief
to make a deep impression. They
continue, though, to provide ‘a Noble
Entertainment’ as readily now as for
the public audiences of early 18thcentury
London. George Pratt