Solo Works of the
First Italian Cellist-Composers. Elinor Frey, baroque cello; Esteban La Rotta,
theorbo and baroque guitar; Susie Napper, baroque cello. Passacaille 993.
As far as I can see, this 2013 release, La Voce del Violoncello (“The Voice of
the Cello”), is only the third album from Canadian cellist Elinor Frey, and
it’s the first one in which she goes it mostly alone. Although Ms. Frey may not
yet be in the class of a Casals or a Rostropovich, she displays a commendable
command of the cello and an obvious joy in playing the instrument that foretell
a promising future.
As I’ve mentioned before, choosing what music to include
on any album can be chancy. If you opt for popular items that you know the
public enjoys, you risk going head-to-head with a catalogue full of formidable
competition. If you choose to record more obscure, more modern, more
experimental, or more avant-garde material, you risk not selling a disc. Here,
in an album of solo works from the first Italian cellist-composers, Ms. Frey
has chosen a reasonable middle ground. She has recorded twenty-three tracks
representing some of the earliest-known compositions for the violoncello,
following the genre over nearly seventy-five years from the mid-seventeenth
century to the early eighteenth, by which time the cello had become popular
enough to spread throughout Europe and produce star performers of international
repute. More important, the music Ms. Frey has chosen is accessible and
charming, and she plays it expertly on an unnamed Klingenthatl-style baroque
cello from the late-eighteenth century, accompanied on a few numbers by Esteban
La Rotta, theorbo and baroque guitar, and Susie Napper, baroque cello.
Since Ms. Frey is just becoming known, a word about her:
To quote from her biography, her honors include “the U.S.-Italy Fulbright
Scholarship, where she studied baroque cello with Paulo Beschi in Como, Italy”
and grants from the SSHRC (the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council)
and the Canada Council for the Arts. She received a Doctor of Music degree in
2012 from McGill University and additional degrees from the Mannes College of
Music and the Juilliard School. So, yes, she knows what she’s doing.
Ms. Frey begins this musical journey through the early
baroque cello with Tromba a Basso solo
by Giuseppe Colombi (1635-1694), only it’s not a solo since Mr. La Rotta
supports her with a bass realization on the theorbo. If you’re not sure what a
theorbo is, it’s a now obsolete bass lute with two sets of strings attached to
separate peg boxes, one above the other, on the neck. It produces a sound that
complements the cello nicely. (I’ve gotten to know and enjoy the theorbo from
my attendance at concerts by the Philharmonic Baroque, where my wife and I have
become quite attentive to and appreciative of the theorbo playing.) Anyway, you
can hear a moment of the Tromba a Basso
solo below and get the idea. It’s a delightful work, delightfully
performed.
Next, we hear two
caprices by Giuseppe Maria Dall'Abaco (1710-1805), which sound a little more
formal than the preceding Colombi piece yet have a sort of Bach-like feel to
them. Ms. Frey invests them with a lively, rhythmic cadence that keeps our
attention.
After that is a
brief, anonymous sonata, followed by two toccatas by Francesco Paolo Suspriani
(1678-1753). The sonata possesses a graceful lilt that makes it appear at once
serious yet playful. Perhaps it's Ms. Frey's playing that imparts the latter
quality. The Suspriani toccatas seem a little more solemn to me than I'd like,
despite Ms. Frey's efforts to the contrary. Nevertheless, she ends the program
with two more of Suspriani’s toccatas that close the show in fine, robust
spirits.
And so it goes, with
further pieces by Domenico Galli (1649-1697), Giovanni Battista Vitali
(1632-1729), and Giulio Ruvo. Given the nature of the music and the early
composition dates, you might expect a good deal of repetition or sameness, but
Mr. Frey ensures that we take nothing for granted. Her style is continuously
flexible and spirited, with an emphasis on creativity, clarity, and precision.
Among my favorite
tracks on the disc were the aforementioned Tromba
a Basso solo for its invention, plus Galli's Sonata No. 5 for its purely entertaining variations; Vitali's Passa Gali for its regal sophistication
(and again its theorbo); Ruvo's folksy, lyrical dance numbers; and Vitali's Bergamasca, not only for Ms. Frey's
playing but for the baroque guitar accompaniment.
I don't try to label
albums as the best of anything because I've never been able to determine just
what that means without sounding pompous or pretentious; however, I do know
what I like, so I can say without hesitation what appeals to me. Come next January,
I know I shall be listing La Voce del
Violoncello among my favorite albums of the year.
Padraig Buttner-Schnirer recorded, edited, and mastered
the disc for Passacaille Records, recording it at the Pollack Hall, McGill
University, Montreal, Quebec in 2012. The cello emerges cleanly defined, clear,
and richly resonant, as do the accompanying instruments. The miking is
relatively close, so the sound is big, yet there is a pleasant ambient air
around the instruments as well, making them resound fully throughout the room.
Indeed, it is this warm, resonant bloom that makes the sound so appealing, yet
it in no way distracts from the lucidity of the instrumental sound.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
