Foreign Masters
Max Volbers (recorders) pairs with harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen to record an album of baroque pieces for recorder and basso continuo. I’m more familiar with von Heißen, but here he’s found an able and virtuosic partner in Volbers.
It’s refreshing to hear just two instruments in these works, as often pieces for solo instrument are accompanied by both a keyboard and a bowed instrument. The disc opens with a familiar piece by Handel, his D minor sonata from opus 1, HWV 367a. The pair has a good sense of rhythm and where the beat lies. In a movement like the third, marked Furioso, von Heißen is on top form, who sounds to me as if he has the more challenging part between the two musicians. Volbers, meanwhile, has a consistent sound across the gamut, which speaks to the strength of his instrument having the requisite volume in the instrument’s lower register.
Volbers changes instruments to a higher-register recorder for the solo track, labeled Cibell by Sigr. Baptist. It’s in this track that we notice how close the microphone is to the instrument; the sound of the artist taking breaths doesn’t bother me, but there is something to be said about how the instrument comes across when captured so closely. The effect seems diminished when von Heißen joins him in the Alberti piece, arranged by Volbers for recorder. But naked, we get a very close inspection of his instrument and its timbre, complete with its overtones. When he breathes and leaves space for his next attack, we get a bit of the ambiance of the room. I am a fan of close recordings, usually, but here, I think it might have been best to back off a few centimeters.
But that Alberti? The opening movement has enough drama brought about by both musicians, von Heißen reaching into the lower register of his instrument, while Volbers goes for the high notes. It’s well done.
The second movement is fast and showcases excellent technique by both musicians.
The next piece takes on what I sense is an Irish flavor, taken up by von Heißen, Case your Funning by Johann C. Pepusch, before Volbers comes in penny-whistle style with a sopranino recorder. The technical requirements for the flute aren’t shy, and it’s well executed.
Von Heißen switches to organ for the Giuseppe Sammartini piece, a G minor work from his opus 13. Given the year of this piece, it’s obvious Sammartini is comfortable with the high baroque style.
Trading the solo light with Volbers, von Heißen takes a long piece by William Babell for his solo, entitled Vo fa guerra. The piece is an extended essay on Handel’s aria by this name from his opera Rinaldo. We might best label it a capriccio, and as far as capriccios go, it’s virtuosic as one might imagine. The only thing I’m in want of here is to be closer to the harpsichord. Instead of moving us closer to the artist, the instrument stays put, giving us the effect that we’ve moved our seat position.
The suite performed by both musicians by Jacques Paisible is rendered with what I like to call “special effects” on the recorder, an ornamentation style that extends the color of the recorder. I like these effects and rendered throughout the album we might grow tired of them; instead, I think Volbers applies them in good taste.
It’s been done before, maybe first by Franz Bruggen? But they tackle the opus 5 no. 12 sonata by Corelli, the famous variations on La Folia. Maybe moreso than any of the other pieces on the recording, does Volbers feel comfortable on this one. The flash and soul are equally present. Von Heißen seems to push the tempo in spots that one might think are too taxing for the recording, but both hold on with both hands and make it work with splendid results. I also like the variety of both the organ and harpsichord used to vary the piece’s mood. Volber’s playing with dynamics in this piece, too, I thought was admirable.
I did not have access to the booklet for this recording, released on Berlin Classics, this past September. I think the theme, which I’m guessing is to present music popular in London by “foreign masters,” is not a bad one, seeing the variety of what’s presented here. For me, it was a combination of familiar pieces (the Handel and Corelli) with pieces that were new. This, combined with the variety of flavor with the “bonus” pieces included, I think made a strong recital concept.
My only reservations with this album has to do with how it was captured by the engineers; and for that criticism, it’s very slight. In real life, I don’t think a recorder’s sound, in most registers, rivals that of a harpsichord. (As a point of comparison, I might recommend von Heißen’s recording on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi with his colleagues from 4 Times Baroque, for a sound that that’s more immediate and captures better the acoustic of the room. The title is Caught in Italian Virtuosity and was released in March 2018.) Having some balance is what would be ideal, but trust me, these small issues won’t get in the way of you admiring the technical capacity of these two artists or how their interpretations will keep at least one of your toes tapping.
