Svitlana Shabaltina, Eugenia Cherkazova - Harpsichordion (2021)
BAND/ARTIST: Svitlana Shabaltina, Eugenia Cherkazova
- Title: Harpsichordion
- Year Of Release: 2021
- Label: Da Vinci Classics
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: flac lossless
- Total Time: 00:48:34
- Total Size: 303 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. Sonate für zwei Tasteninstrumente in F Major
02. Quintet No. 2 in C Major: III. Allegro
03. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: I. Allegro
04. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: II. Andante
05. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: III. Presto
06. Pièces de clavecin, Troisième Suite: No. 16, Le Coucou
07. Quintet in D Major, G.448: IV. Fandango
08. Histoire du Tango: I. Bordel, 1900
09. Histoire du Tango: II. Café, 1930
10. Histoire du Tango: III. Nightclub, 1960
To cite one example among many, Biagio Marini wrote “Per ogni sorte d’stromento musicale” (“for all kinds of musical instruments”) on the title-page of his collection of “Diversi generi di Sonate, da Chiesa, e da Camera, A Due, Trè & à quattro”, published in Venice in 1655. In so doing, he was not only realizing a commercial operation, in order to enlarge the public of the possible purchasers of his music, but he was also bearing witness to a practice which was common at least throughout the Baroque period.
This practice is that of transcription, of adaptation; of “appropriation” (if one wishes to use the definition by Johann Gottfried Walther in his organ version of Concertos by Italian composers), or of “accommodation” (to cite the manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach’s A-minor Concerto BWV 593 after Vivaldi, as compiled by Johann Friedrich Agricola).
This practice consists in the habit to reuse and elaborate one’s own works or those by other composers, adapting them for new occasions and new instruments.
What is done here by Eugenia Cherkazova and Svitlana Shabaltina, with a repertoire ranging from Daquin’s Baroque to Piazzolla’s twentieth century, is therefore not an extemporaneous operation. Rather, it is the re-statement of a typically Baroque habit. This was not exhausted by the reproduction of pieces on a different instrument or with a different ensemble; rather, it presupposed an important intervention of adaptation by the performer.
The two performing musicians realise this task masterfully. They manage with great freedom the freshness of an ensemble which is very seldom heard in concert halls. They use fully the resources of their instruments, offering a new and captivating viewpoint on famous composers (such as Daquin, Boccherini and Piazzolla) and on others who are almost unknown to the audience, such as Piazza or Bortniansky.
The variety of the pieces, of the characters, of the timbres (especially thanks to the accordion, which “colours” the various compositions with a skilled and lively management of the stops) is noteworthy.
This ranges from Piazza’s Sonata, proposed in a version which could have been an original one (with a small organ instead of the accordion), up to the pieces by Bortniansky, Corrette and Boccherini. Here the harpsichord plays the original score faithfully, while the accordion resumes the parts of the instrumental ensemble. There is Daquin’s Coucou, played practically at the unison: here the accordion gives shades to the piece by wisely combining the registers; there is Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango, where the harpsichord replaces the guitar and the accordion performs the flute part, without forgetting its close kinship with the bandoneon, the instrumental protagonist of the Argentine tango.
The pieces’ adaptations have been entirely realized by the performers, starting with the original versions, and with the exception of Boccherini’s Fandango. Here, the musicians’ starting point was Andreas Staier’s version for two harpsichords.
This CD is very pleasurable to listen to. The two musicians’ perfect understanding appears evidently, along with their habit to play live: these provide the recording with a warmth and liveliness which are not always found in CD recordings.
The two instruments are used with great freedom. However, in spite of the modernity of some effects (such as the use of the “bellows shake” by the accordion), the performers’ interpretive self-awareness and their sensitivity allow them to constantly maintain a noteworthy stylistic and formal coherence.
I am also glad to point out, by way of conclusion, that the cooperation between Eugenia Cherkazova and Svitlana Shabaltina goes beyond their performances and discographic productions. It also includes the didactic aspect, in which Professor Shabaltina’s support to the accordion class of the Conservatory of Kiev, as concerns their work on the early repertoire, is really praiseworthy. While it is now widely common to play seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music on the accordion, performers (not only among the accordionists) frequently lack the cultural elements necessary for a deep comprehension of a repertoire which is temporally distant from us and difficult to interpret. The cooperation with early music specialists is therefore indispensable in order to acquire self-awareness and to interpret Baroque music in a credible fashion.
An applause to these two musicians, therefore, for the cultural operation they are developing and for their magnificent performance!
Album Notes by Giorgio Dellarole
Translation by Chiara Bertoglio
Little is known about Gaetano Piazza, though recent studies by Luca Civelli have shed new light on the long life of this composer who was mainly active in Milan. His skill as an organist is testified by the fact that he was appointed chapel master to various churches (including some of the most important ones in Milan), and that he maintained this prestigious role in up to five churches at the same time. He wrote several operas, performed in many important cities (such as Pavia, Naples, Milan etc.), and was highly appreciated as a teacher. The famous German composer and musician, Johann Paul Schulthesius, wrote about him in very enthusiastic terms, and Piazza was also held in high esteem by Padre Martini, the learned Franciscan of Bologna.
His life has many points in common with that of Dmitri Bortniansky, a Ukrainian composer who was Piazza’s junior by several years, but who had intense relationships with Italy. Bortniansky had studied with Baldassarre Galuppi, a Venetian composer who spent some years in St. Petersburg, and later he came to the Peninsula where he enjoyed considerable success in the field of operatic music. In Italy he had also the opportunity to familiarize himself thoroughly with the styles of Catholic church music, and this experience proved very important for the development of his own “serious” style. Even though Orthodox liturgical music proper did not include the concertato style which was so popular in Western Europe, in his capacity as the Choir Director of the Imperial Chapel he wrote many sacred (non-liturgical) works which reveal his fascination for the Italianate style.
A pattern similar to Piazza’s life is found also in the professional itinerary of Michel Corrette, who is also remembered as a prolific composer and a skilled teacher. Corrette wrote several pedagogical treatises, for the performance of diverse instruments (such as the violin, flute, cello, viola, keyboard, mandolin, guitar, double-bass, bassoon, harp and recorder!). His output includes many works for the theatrical stage (ballets and divertimenti), sacred music and a high number of instrumental pieces, which bear witness to the variety of his musical interests and to his deep knowledge of the specificities of several instruments.
By way of contrast, the talent of Louis-Claude Daquin was best expressed in the field of keyboard music. He was a famous and appreciated organist, and he crowned his career with the post of First Organist at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. He had been an exceptional child prodigy (something also Bortniansky is remembered for): already at the age of 12 Daquin had obtained a job as organist in the prestigious Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. His interest in the field of sacred music is revealed by his numerous liturgical works, including a Psalm (Beatus vir) he composed and conducted at the age of eight. His skill at the keyboard was also displayed in his activity as a harpsichordist and in the high number of keyboard works he left, including the enormously popular Coucou (“The Cuckoo”) recorded here.
The instrument favoured by Luigi Boccherini was still another, i.e. the cello. Indeed, Boccherini was one of the first great cello virtuosi in history, and his fame reached stellar heights during his life. He came from a family of musicians and dancers, and his large musical output includes numerous quartets and quintets (not only for strings). This contributes to earning him pride of place as one of the greatest representatives of the Italian chamber music school, at a time when this specific genre was practised mostly in Northern Europe. His familiarity with the Spanish musical idiom (represented by his Fandango in this recording) is due to the years he spent in Spain, as an appreciated performer and composer.
The cultural characterization of the fandango, one of the most popular dances of the eighteenth century, parallels that of the tango in the modern age. Piazzolla (who is credited to be the composer who gave full artistic dignity to this genre, and brought it to the concert halls) traces an itinerary of the development of tango music from its origins at the beginning of the twentieth century, to its most modern flair in the Sixties.
This fascinating musical itinerary, from the Baroque to the Galant style, and up to modernity, reveals the (quite literally) unheard-of possibilities of this uncommon duo, and the rich variety of sounds it can produce.
01. Sonate für zwei Tasteninstrumente in F Major
02. Quintet No. 2 in C Major: III. Allegro
03. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: I. Allegro
04. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: II. Andante
05. 6 Concertos. No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 26: III. Presto
06. Pièces de clavecin, Troisième Suite: No. 16, Le Coucou
07. Quintet in D Major, G.448: IV. Fandango
08. Histoire du Tango: I. Bordel, 1900
09. Histoire du Tango: II. Café, 1930
10. Histoire du Tango: III. Nightclub, 1960
To cite one example among many, Biagio Marini wrote “Per ogni sorte d’stromento musicale” (“for all kinds of musical instruments”) on the title-page of his collection of “Diversi generi di Sonate, da Chiesa, e da Camera, A Due, Trè & à quattro”, published in Venice in 1655. In so doing, he was not only realizing a commercial operation, in order to enlarge the public of the possible purchasers of his music, but he was also bearing witness to a practice which was common at least throughout the Baroque period.
This practice is that of transcription, of adaptation; of “appropriation” (if one wishes to use the definition by Johann Gottfried Walther in his organ version of Concertos by Italian composers), or of “accommodation” (to cite the manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach’s A-minor Concerto BWV 593 after Vivaldi, as compiled by Johann Friedrich Agricola).
This practice consists in the habit to reuse and elaborate one’s own works or those by other composers, adapting them for new occasions and new instruments.
What is done here by Eugenia Cherkazova and Svitlana Shabaltina, with a repertoire ranging from Daquin’s Baroque to Piazzolla’s twentieth century, is therefore not an extemporaneous operation. Rather, it is the re-statement of a typically Baroque habit. This was not exhausted by the reproduction of pieces on a different instrument or with a different ensemble; rather, it presupposed an important intervention of adaptation by the performer.
The two performing musicians realise this task masterfully. They manage with great freedom the freshness of an ensemble which is very seldom heard in concert halls. They use fully the resources of their instruments, offering a new and captivating viewpoint on famous composers (such as Daquin, Boccherini and Piazzolla) and on others who are almost unknown to the audience, such as Piazza or Bortniansky.
The variety of the pieces, of the characters, of the timbres (especially thanks to the accordion, which “colours” the various compositions with a skilled and lively management of the stops) is noteworthy.
This ranges from Piazza’s Sonata, proposed in a version which could have been an original one (with a small organ instead of the accordion), up to the pieces by Bortniansky, Corrette and Boccherini. Here the harpsichord plays the original score faithfully, while the accordion resumes the parts of the instrumental ensemble. There is Daquin’s Coucou, played practically at the unison: here the accordion gives shades to the piece by wisely combining the registers; there is Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango, where the harpsichord replaces the guitar and the accordion performs the flute part, without forgetting its close kinship with the bandoneon, the instrumental protagonist of the Argentine tango.
The pieces’ adaptations have been entirely realized by the performers, starting with the original versions, and with the exception of Boccherini’s Fandango. Here, the musicians’ starting point was Andreas Staier’s version for two harpsichords.
This CD is very pleasurable to listen to. The two musicians’ perfect understanding appears evidently, along with their habit to play live: these provide the recording with a warmth and liveliness which are not always found in CD recordings.
The two instruments are used with great freedom. However, in spite of the modernity of some effects (such as the use of the “bellows shake” by the accordion), the performers’ interpretive self-awareness and their sensitivity allow them to constantly maintain a noteworthy stylistic and formal coherence.
I am also glad to point out, by way of conclusion, that the cooperation between Eugenia Cherkazova and Svitlana Shabaltina goes beyond their performances and discographic productions. It also includes the didactic aspect, in which Professor Shabaltina’s support to the accordion class of the Conservatory of Kiev, as concerns their work on the early repertoire, is really praiseworthy. While it is now widely common to play seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music on the accordion, performers (not only among the accordionists) frequently lack the cultural elements necessary for a deep comprehension of a repertoire which is temporally distant from us and difficult to interpret. The cooperation with early music specialists is therefore indispensable in order to acquire self-awareness and to interpret Baroque music in a credible fashion.
An applause to these two musicians, therefore, for the cultural operation they are developing and for their magnificent performance!
Album Notes by Giorgio Dellarole
Translation by Chiara Bertoglio
Little is known about Gaetano Piazza, though recent studies by Luca Civelli have shed new light on the long life of this composer who was mainly active in Milan. His skill as an organist is testified by the fact that he was appointed chapel master to various churches (including some of the most important ones in Milan), and that he maintained this prestigious role in up to five churches at the same time. He wrote several operas, performed in many important cities (such as Pavia, Naples, Milan etc.), and was highly appreciated as a teacher. The famous German composer and musician, Johann Paul Schulthesius, wrote about him in very enthusiastic terms, and Piazza was also held in high esteem by Padre Martini, the learned Franciscan of Bologna.
His life has many points in common with that of Dmitri Bortniansky, a Ukrainian composer who was Piazza’s junior by several years, but who had intense relationships with Italy. Bortniansky had studied with Baldassarre Galuppi, a Venetian composer who spent some years in St. Petersburg, and later he came to the Peninsula where he enjoyed considerable success in the field of operatic music. In Italy he had also the opportunity to familiarize himself thoroughly with the styles of Catholic church music, and this experience proved very important for the development of his own “serious” style. Even though Orthodox liturgical music proper did not include the concertato style which was so popular in Western Europe, in his capacity as the Choir Director of the Imperial Chapel he wrote many sacred (non-liturgical) works which reveal his fascination for the Italianate style.
A pattern similar to Piazza’s life is found also in the professional itinerary of Michel Corrette, who is also remembered as a prolific composer and a skilled teacher. Corrette wrote several pedagogical treatises, for the performance of diverse instruments (such as the violin, flute, cello, viola, keyboard, mandolin, guitar, double-bass, bassoon, harp and recorder!). His output includes many works for the theatrical stage (ballets and divertimenti), sacred music and a high number of instrumental pieces, which bear witness to the variety of his musical interests and to his deep knowledge of the specificities of several instruments.
By way of contrast, the talent of Louis-Claude Daquin was best expressed in the field of keyboard music. He was a famous and appreciated organist, and he crowned his career with the post of First Organist at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. He had been an exceptional child prodigy (something also Bortniansky is remembered for): already at the age of 12 Daquin had obtained a job as organist in the prestigious Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. His interest in the field of sacred music is revealed by his numerous liturgical works, including a Psalm (Beatus vir) he composed and conducted at the age of eight. His skill at the keyboard was also displayed in his activity as a harpsichordist and in the high number of keyboard works he left, including the enormously popular Coucou (“The Cuckoo”) recorded here.
The instrument favoured by Luigi Boccherini was still another, i.e. the cello. Indeed, Boccherini was one of the first great cello virtuosi in history, and his fame reached stellar heights during his life. He came from a family of musicians and dancers, and his large musical output includes numerous quartets and quintets (not only for strings). This contributes to earning him pride of place as one of the greatest representatives of the Italian chamber music school, at a time when this specific genre was practised mostly in Northern Europe. His familiarity with the Spanish musical idiom (represented by his Fandango in this recording) is due to the years he spent in Spain, as an appreciated performer and composer.
The cultural characterization of the fandango, one of the most popular dances of the eighteenth century, parallels that of the tango in the modern age. Piazzolla (who is credited to be the composer who gave full artistic dignity to this genre, and brought it to the concert halls) traces an itinerary of the development of tango music from its origins at the beginning of the twentieth century, to its most modern flair in the Sixties.
This fascinating musical itinerary, from the Baroque to the Galant style, and up to modernity, reveals the (quite literally) unheard-of possibilities of this uncommon duo, and the rich variety of sounds it can produce.
Year 2021 | Classical | FLAC / APE
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