Passacaglia - Boismortier: Suites and Sonatas - Early Music News

In Eighteenth-century London it was common for musicians to earn their living with little or no patronage. Handel is the extreme example of a composer who enjoyed great success with no official post. In France the situation was different. The dominance of court and the nobility meant that it was very brave for Boismortier to reject the patronage to which most musicians aspired. it was a considerable achievement for him to achieve financial as well as artistic success.

Boismortier's music combines French and Italian elements with a liberal peppering of folk-related idioms. Some of the music on this CD sounds utterly French, but there are other moments where he sounds closer to Telemann. The last movement of his A major suite for harpsichord arouses my curiosity because its middle section sounds uncannily like an elaboration of the tune we know today as the British National Anthem God Save the Queen, but which dates from 1736 - nine years before Thomas Arne's inclusion of that tune as God Save Great George our King in his performances at Covent Garden made it famous as an expression of patriotic sentiment during the 1745 rebellion.

Passacaglia comprises Annabel Knight and Louise Bradbury (recorders), Reiko Ichise (viola da gamba) and Robin Bigwood (organ and harpsichord). They are joined for two works by Eligio Quinteiro, playing guitar and theorbo. Part of the success if this CD lies in the variety of the continuo group. The similarity of sound between the organ and the organ and recorders means that the organ sound fleshes out the harmony of the trio sonata texture effectively but unobtrusively in several of the sonatas. Passacaglia have made some very wise choices of continuo instrument: the first sonata sounds right with organ continuo, the second with harpsichord, and the third with guitar, while the combined effect is one of great variety. This is shown particularly well a little later in the CD, where the solo harpsichord suite is framed by a trio sonata with organ continuo and one of Boismortier's very effective sonatas for two treble instruments without continuo. It's a measure of the skill of Boismortier (and of Passacaglia) that it is necessary to listen very carefully to be sure that there really are only two instruments playing for this sonata.

Few sounds are more stereotypically French than the sound of bass viol and continuo. In the Diverses Pieces de Violes Op 31, Boismortier shows his impeccably French credentials, sounding remarkably like Marin Marais, and ably supported by the very effective continuo combination of theorbo and harpsichord. At the opposite end of the spectrum of cultural conventions, the last movement of the E minor trio sonata seems to inhabit the same world of energy and gypsy-like vitality as the last movement of Telemann's celebrated concerto for recorder and flute &'#151; also in E minor.

Passacaglia have done Boismortier a great service by releasing this CD. His sensitivity to commercial reality means that some of his music was aimed at the amateur market, and, in our own time, this has gained him an undeserved reputation for 'easiness'. Here they put the record straight with music of a very high quality, played with great taste and musicianship. Wise programme planning also means that the experience of listening to the CD is one of being led through a wide variety of musical pastures: this is a delight in itself.

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