MUSICA ALCHEMICA
Conservatorium Theatre, Griffith University, South Bank
Wednesday November 20, 2024
(L to R) Lina Tur Bonet, Kenneth Weiss, Giangiacomo Pinardi, Marco Testori)
Apart from some weirdness in presentation, this recital finished off Musica Viva’s Brisbane year quite neatly. The ensemble of four in this Alchemical current incarnation makes a congenial collegium in itself, even if the dynamic balance favours the top line. Mind you, the group’s personnel has changed radically over the years, not least in its participating numbers. But these touring players show a reassuring expertise and their leader worked hard to give the product plenty of Baroque spice through her attack and frequent flights of virtuosity, climaxing in an energetic demonstration of skill in Corelli’s La Folia Violin Sonata in D minor.
Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet founded Musica Alchemica some time ago; I can’t be more precise because its genesis seems to have been brought about for an undated performance or two of Handel’s Alessandro under Alan Curtis – which must have taken place some time before the American harpsichordist’s death in 2015. Still, I’ve no idea when Bonet herself was born; to be fair, I can’t find out the birthday of her ensemble’s archlutenist Giangiacomo Pinardi, either. Kenneth Weiss, the Alchemica’s American harpsichordist, is 61 and cellist Marco Testori is 54; Pinardi looks as though he’s more a contemporary of Weiss but it’s unfair to judge on appearances, isn’t it?
For the recital’s first half, Bonet began and ended with two of Biber’s Rosary Sonatas, opening with The Annunciation No. 1 and finishing with The Crucifixion No. 10. Between these, we heard a Sonata a 2 by Cima, Schmelzer’s Sonata Quarta in D Major, and Muffat’s familiar Passacaglia in G minor for harpsichord solo with its 23 variants that involves repetitions of each one (not universally applied). Corelli began and ended the post-interval content, starting with the Op. 5 G minor Violin Sonata, concluding with the afore-mentioned Op. 5 No. 12. In the centre came Telemann’s Cello Sonata in D Major, a solo lute Toccata by Piccinini and Westhoff’s little Imitazione del liuto, with Bonet keeping to a pizzicato account of the melody (obvious, given the piece’s title) while Pinardi took the underpinning in this gentle 40-bar miniature.
Speaking of weirdness, Bonet began her Annunciation by entering from the rear of the theatre and slowly progressing down the stalls’ aisle during the Preludium, joining her confreres onstage for the Aria and Variations, then the submediant-dominated 11-bar Finale full of fierce razzle-dazzle. Cima’s small-scale sonata for violin and violone gave us an amiable exercise in fleshed-out continuo and lashings of florid ornamentation. In my 1958 Erich Schenk edition, the work takes on the nature of a suite halfway through with a sarabande and gigue doing the rounds before the composer moves to a gradually accelerating sectional set of concluding pages. One of my lasting memories of this is Testori’s use of his cello as an unwieldy guitar for the opening strophes. Mind you, he could have maintained the impersonation for much longer as Cima uses the same 4-note descending bass sequence for three-quarters of the work’s length.
But the performance wound up being another Bonet showpiece across the final presto. Something of a relief, then, to experience Weiss’s measured, faultless articulation in the Muffat passacaglia. More than other interpreters I’ve heard, this musician employs rubato to keep the score elastic rather than plodding and predictable, so avoiding rhythmic tedium. Then it was back to Biber in G minor with a nearly comprehensible explanation of the scordatura tuning that makes the set of 15 sonatas so remarkable in its changing of timbres. Once more, a triumph for Bonet with an unexpectedly arresting depiction of the three crosses positioned at the start and an impressively fierce 10-bar earthquake simulation to bring the sonata to a close.
But Bonet is celebrated for her unique approach to these sonatas which have not only gained in performative intensity under her hands but also enjoy a solid fleshing-out, thanks to the timbral complexity that comes with this trio of mobile and responsive escorts. Much the same level of authoritative embellishment emerged in the Corelli G minor Sonata which was loaded with rapid flashes of fioriture, especially in the two Adagio movements. The second of these, if I remember, cut back participation to violin and harpsichord, which change of textural character made for a welcome relief. and a minor point that impressed came through Testori’s cello line which enjoyed an occasional burst of unexpected independence/exposure.
This player’s volume didn’t carry that well to the back of the hall from where I heard this program’s second half. You could enjoy his warm account of the Telemann sonata’s first Lento, which progressed with hints of majestic instancy while avoiding laboriousness. Still, the instrument’s gut strings’ output was frequently undercut later by the archlute/harpsichord continuo, although these supporters obligingly recessed themselves in the ensuing Allegro. For the 21-bar Largo, Testori’s backing dropped back to Pinardi who maintained a fine discretion with both musicians allowing each other a noticeable freedom of rhythm.
Pinardi then performed what I assume was one of the eight toccatas from Piccinini’s second volume of Intavolatura di liuto. This sounded much like a free fantasia in character, the performer treating the score’s bare bones with an intriguing originality in his approach to tempo and dynamic, the whole concluding in an audibility-challenging pianissimo. Further gentillesse came with the Westhoff 6/4 versus 4/4 duet, engaging for its embrace of the intimate and so prefiguring the night’s flamboyant finale.
The last sonata in Corelli’s Op. 5 collection consists of 23 variations on the well-known La Folia or Les follies d’Espagne theme. The composer distributes his varying technical demands across the whole sequence and Bonet led the charge with impeccable musicianship and authority. But, to be honest, I found this offering sounded like over-gilding the period lily – and a compressed one, at that, while Corelli rang his changes on the violinist’s bravura and drive, double-stopping her way to an applause-rousing last gasp for this event.
Bonet is very well-versed in the Corelli Op. 5 as she recorded them with Musica Alchemica in 2017 (you can hear the whole set on YouTube) and framed her recital around these and the Biber works to invite us over ground that is very familiar to her. I know she recorded the Westhoff Imitazione in 2020 and possibly this program’s particular Cima sonata on a CD that involved some other instruments than those appearing on this night (harp, double bass).
But there’s nothing to say that you can’t go over old triumphs; pretty well everyone we see on the concert stage-platform does the same, even if that makes you admire even more those artists who are on an unending exploration of repertoire and present you year after year with music that they are shaping in front of you, rather than refining works that they have been playing for years. True, Bonet has to hone a changing ensemble to cope with her program choices and her own musicianship and skill never falter; well, they didn’t last Wednesday night. And, without doubt, there’s great pleasure to be derived from observing a musician at the top of her game.
O'Connell the Music 