Concert: Archetti Baroque String Ensemble (11/03/2013)

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco, CA

11/03/2013

Archetti Baroque String Ensemble
Carla Moore, Jolianne von Einem, David Wilson, Alicia Yang, violins
Anthony Martin, viola
Elisabeth Reed, cello
John Dornenburg, violone
Davitt Moroney, organ & harpsichord

Masters of the Italian Concerto - in England

Corelli : Concerto Grosso in F major, Op.6-2
Geminiani : Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op.7-2
Handel : Concerto Grosso in B flat major Op.6-7
Avison: Concerto Grosso No.1 in A major, after Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas
Handel : Concerto in F major for Organ and Strings, "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale"
Hellendaal: Concerto Grosso in D major Op.3 No.5

Archetti Baroque String Ensemble這場音樂會是聽完Elaine家中音樂會之後緊接著趕去聽的下一場。Archetti的音樂會，分別在2010和2012年就已參加過兩次，所以對於他們的風格和演出曲目都已有一定的瞭解。

這場音樂會，Archetti同樣將重點放在絃樂協奏曲，除了一首Handel的風琴協奏曲之外，剩下清一色是大協奏曲。這場音樂會曲目的共同主題為英國的協奏曲，除了大協奏曲的始祖Corelli是沒去過英國的，其餘的作曲家不是英國人，就是從歐洲大陸到英國定居的。

Corelli的作品六大協奏曲在十八世紀時傳到了英國，受到前所未有的歡迎。絃樂協奏曲在英國立刻成為最潮的創作曲式，這個熱一直燒到十九世紀。這也使得許多歐洲大陸的音樂家接踵而來，紛紛到英國試試成名的運氣。音樂會第一首Archetti就表演了Corelli的一首協奏曲，作品六的第二首。Archetti的成員都是灣區有名氣的古樂音樂家，許多都是出色的獨奏家，大家湊在一塊兒，也是素質相當高的樂團。他們的演奏精鍊，音樂中該表現的時候會適時抓住機會，雖然整體風格對我而言屬內斂，但同時，他們的表演仍然能令我好好欣實。

十八世紀英國最有名的作曲家當屬韓德爾了。來自德國的韓德爾於1712年後在英國長期住了下來，更於1727年成為英國公民。他最膾炙人口的音樂(皇家煙火，水上音樂，彌賽亞)，都是在英國時寫的。韓德爾除了是位一流的作曲家，也是位聰明的生意人。對於英國人的音樂口味，他相當熟悉。他所寫的大協奏曲，和Corelli一樣，正好也是作品六，不知道是巧合還是有意～～

Archetti這場音樂會表演了兩首韓德爾的曲子，更可說是突顯出他在十八世紀英國音樂所扮的角色。第一首是上述的作品六的一首大協奏曲。這首特別的地方，除了第二樂章的賦格的開頭主題是14個重覆的音，是這首曲子跳脫了傳統大協奏曲的形式，沒有獨奏樂器群(concertino)，是真正的絃樂合奏曲。  

第二首是一首風琴協奏曲。好巧不巧，正好是Archetti三年前那場音樂會表演過同樣的「布穀鳥與夜鶯」協奏曲。這首的第二樂章有「布穀」的音樂小三度動機，是該曲的最大賣點。(同樣的音樂也出現在他作品六第九號的大協奏曲之中，不過「布穀」的主題遠不及風琴版的明顯。) Davitt Moroney在彈到「布穀」的時候，也都刻意停頓，果然從觀眾裡傳出一些笑聲。第二樂章和第三樂章間有段Organo ad libitum的即興時間，Davitt在風琴上也展現出一段他的即興能力。雖然少不了他學者派的風格，但演奏紮實是肯定的。只是，三年之後還是彈同一首，不免讓我有點小失望。希望下一次的Archetti音樂會曲目有點新花樣吧～～

另外二位來自歐洲本土的作曲家，有之前在部落格上都曾介紹過的，義大利的Geminiani和荷蘭的Hellendaal。Geminiani和韓德爾算同輩，而Hellendaal算是晚一輩的作曲家。Geminiani寫得最好的大協奏曲，應該是他的作品三。晚年時，他的聲望已不如從前；他的作品七大協奏曲正是這時期寫的。和前期的音樂相比，Archetti表演的Geminiani作品七第二號協奏曲的音樂點子其實更多，和聲演進更有變化，還有很多半音階的運用。兩首快樂章，對位性質重，音樂的張力，更被Archetti襯托出來。而由大提琴先開場的第三樂章的行板，也非常美麗。Geminiani的作品七當時因為不夠平易近人而聽眾反應冷淡。當然，我認為，就算是今天，大家仍然會偏好Corelli和Handel的大協奏曲。曲高和寡的道理，是不變的。

Hellendaal的那首，算是他作品三裡我最喜歡的一首吧。看到在曲目單上，心裡算是有點高興。其中，第二樂章，絃樂合奏的部份小提琴有許多要拉三絃甚至四絃的部份，是聽起來相當過癮的一段。而第三樂章的Larghetto算是變奏形式，簡單的主題和節奏，歷經無數的轉變，實在是相當優美。而終樂章是大協奏曲裡罕見的進行曲，精神抖擻，讓人印象深刻，更是結束音樂會的好選擇。

我沒有忘記提及唯一在英國土生土長的作曲家Avison。曾和Geminiani學習過作曲，所以不難想像他是大協奏曲的推崇者。在我目前的認知裡，Avison甚至應該是寫過最多大協奏曲的作曲家，但很可惜地，今天也是最被人遺忘的一位。今天的僅存的名氣在他當時將Domenico Scarlatti的幾首鍵盤奏鳴曲，改編成為大協奏曲。這在他老師Geminiani將Corelli的作品五小提琴奏鳴曲改編成大協奏曲時就有了先例，只不過Avison不像Geminiani一樣那麼乖乖地按照原譜來。大家也知道，Scarlatti大部份的奏鳴曲為AB二段式，而且大部份速度偏快。為了能放進大協奏的一般框架中，慢樂章裡Avison有時可能只取了音樂的一部份，有時則是添加了一些自己的東西。Archetti演奏的是第一首就是很好的例子，第一和第三樂章是以K91奏鳴曲的幾段作為藍圖的。

一場以大協奏曲為主的音樂會，難免會因為性質過於相似而感覺缺乏點變化。儘管如此，Archetti的表演俱有足夠的活力，加上他們挑選的一些曲目是走小眾路線，使得這場音樂會對我仍然是有享受的地方。

This Archetti concert immediately followed Elaine's house concert, literally. In fact, catching this concert included driving across the city from the west side to the Japantown area. I've attended two Archetti concerts in the past, once in 2010 and another in 2012. Therefore, I was familiar with their overall style and concert program coming into this one as well.

Besides the Handel organ concerto, the remaining pieces on the program were string concertos, concerti grossi to be exact. The theme of this concert was the Italian concerto in England, and other than Corelli who has never been to England, all the other composers featured were either English or ended up settling in England.

Corelli's Op.6 concerti grossi was a huge success in 18th-century England, further shifting the Englishes'  musical taste from the French to Italian. String concertos quickly became one of the most popular genres, and a generation or two of composers came to England to try and establish a career there. The first piece of Archett's program was a Corelli concerto, a gesture of paying homage to the founder of the concerto grosso. Archetti's members are well-established early musicians of the Bay Area, many of them even renowned soloists. Putting them together definitely resulted an ensemble of a high caliber. As I have stated before, they are a polished group, shaping and pushing the music at the right moments. Although overall I might still characterize their playing as polite, at the same time they still deliver enjoyable performances.

Arguably the most famous musician in 18th century England was Handel. He permanently settled in England after 1712 and in 1727 became a naturalized British citizen. His most famous compositions today (Water Music, Music for Royal Fireworks, Messiah, to name a few) were all written after he moved to England. Other than being a first-rate composer, Handel was also a savvy businessman. He fully understood what the English people wanted to hear, and just like Corelli, he produced a set of 12 concerti grossi, which coincidentally was also his Opus 6.

Archetti played two Handel pieces in this concert, really highlighting Handel's importance in the musical life of 18th century England. The first was a concerto grosso from his Opus 6 mentioned above. One of the most notable features of the piece is the theme of the fugual 2nd movement, which leads off with 14 repeated notes - what a simple and yet effective idea. The other notable feature is the lack of a concertino group, making its texture closer to that of a Vivaldi string concerto.

The second piece was an organ concerto. Turns out, this was the same exact "Cuckoo and Nightingale" concerto they played three years ago when I first attended their concerts. The "cuckoo" part of the concerto appears in the 2nd movement, with the minor third motifs popping up in organ solos. (The same material appears in his Op.6 No.9 concerto grosso, but the "cuckoo" themes are much less pronounced and not as extensive as the organ concerto version.) Davitt's pauses for the "cuckoo call" was clearly effective, as you could hear chuckles coming from the audience. And once again, there was an ad libitum section between the 2nd and 3rd movement, which Davitt filled with a solid yet scholarly improvisation. The overall performance was good, but personally I was a little letdown by having to hear the same organ concerto after 3 years. There were at least a dozen other organ concertos Handel wrote, and I'm sure it wouldn't have been hard for them to prepare one.

The other two composers originating from mainland Europe were Geminiani of Itay and Hellendaal of the Netherlands, both whom I've written about before. Geminiani was a contemporary of Handel, while Hellendaal technically counts as one a generation younger. In my opinion, Geminiani's best set of concerti grossi was probably his op.3. Later in his life, his reputation as a composer faded, and his compositions didn't quite captivate the audiences the way his earlier works did. His set of op.7 concerti grossi belong to this group of later works. The 2nd concerto played this afternoon, frankly speaking, had very interesting musical ideas. It had some daring harmonic progressions and a lot of chromaticism. The two fast movements are highly contrapuntal and intense, something that Archetti did well to bring out. The third movement andante which opens with the cello, on the other hand, couldn't be more lyrical. It has been years since I have listened to a recording of Geminiani's op.7 (by the modern instrument ASMF), and I was genuinely surprised to be reacquainted with it. I found it to be the most interesting piece in the program, but I also understood why the English audience of the time didn't "sit well" with it.

The Hellendaal concerto was arguably my favorite concerto of his op.3. I was delighted to see it on the program. The 2nd movement has triple-stopping and even quadruple-stopping for the violins, a rather awesome section of the piece. The Larghetto is a type of variation form, with the opening theme repeated, morphed, and regurgitated, which is delightful at times. And in the final movement, we encounter a rare March (Hellendaal has another one in his 3rd concerto as well), extremely uplifting in nature, and a fitting piece to end the concert.

Of course, I did not forget the only English-born composer on the program - Charles Avison. He was a pupil of Geminiani, and it's no surprise he was an advocate of the concerto grosso genre. To the best of my knowledge, Avison probably is the most prolific of concerti grossi composers, and sadly he's also one of the most neglected. Today his small fame rests on his arrangement of a set of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas into a set of concerti grossi. Precedent can certainly be found in his teacher's arrangement of Corelli's violin sonatas into concerti grossi, but Avison takes even more liberties in his arrangements, sometimes omitting large chunks out in order to fit the music into a concerto grosso framework. The concerto Archetti played is a good example, as the 1st and 3rd slow movements both get their material from the same K91 sonata.

A concert mainly consisting of concerti grossi can lack variety because of homogeneity of the program. Despite this, Archetti's playing is vibrant, and their music selection of lesser-known pieces is interesting enough, that I must say that I still derived pleasure out of this concert.