Harpsichord at the Holidays
Christmas Carols Past and Present
Elaine Funaro (Arabasque Recordings, 2011)
Every holiday season there’s a hunt on for merging old with new when it comes to Christmas music. As much as I’ve tried to immerse myself in baroque pieces from the Christmas season, their novelty to me makes it difficult to feel the same associations that I have with our contemporary culture’s reliance on English carols and secular songs too.
This release from Elaine Funaro is not new but it’s new to me and I thought it worth a mention in case you hadn’t ever come across it. I found this recording courtesy of Qobuz where many of Funaro’s recordings can be found.
The 70 minute recording features a diverse selection. Without liner notes I’m in the dark about some of the pieces; the opening pieces are called Sonatino 1, 2, and 3. These short pieces borrow familiar melodies in arrangements that are certainly weaved with fresh cloth, you might think, until you hear quotations from baroque literature. As a set it’s clever and is an apt appetizer for what’s next on the album.
The next section is called “A Baroque Christmas” and incudes favorites such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. There’s sensitive playing from Funaro throughout, who can summon the mechanical machine sound of her harpsichord with technical solidarity. She humanizes her performances, however, with appropriate uses of rubato, pauses, and rallentandos. Her style with the familiar pieces is different enough to be enjoyable in their novelty and the stylings of these arrangements for me toggle between pure baroque transportation and some more contemporary influence; What Child is This, with its modal harmony, for me takes me back to some more contemporary uses of the harpsichord in popular music in the late 1960s. The drone bass that opens The Coventry Carol is interesting, a texture that isn’t necessarily reminiscent of any particular baroque piece I could put my finger upon, but it’s evocation of a hurdy-gurdy is not out of baroque style. Adeste Fideles evokes for me the style of Handel. The runs take is someplace else, all done in great spirit.
The next section is entitled Keyboard Carols. Again, Funaro takes us on a cultural journey that is, for me, the highlight of the album. I am assuming these renditions are her own and they’re each miniature delights. The harmonies she introduces us to in Greensleeves are so fun.
The album ends with a set of French pieces: La musete, Carillon ou Cloches, Quand Jesu Naquit a Nöel, Nöel Etranger, and Nöel Suisse. The references here are not familiar to me, save for the recreation of bells.
In conclusion, for this fan of baroque repertoire, of the harpsichord and of traditional Western holiday traditions, this album hit the right spot in its novelty, smart performances, and new directions with familiar pieces. Check it out!
