Dear Lutenists
In the last month I have received two excellent Baroque lute
CDs, that very nicely complement each other. Both contain music by
Kellner, but the pieces do not overlap, and while Ed Martin's CD also
contains music by Conradi, in Miguel Serdoura's CD there is music by
well known French lutenists, E. Gautier and J. Gallot, but also "Les
Baricades Mysterieueses" by Francois Couperin. This can be played on
13c lute with little or no alteration. There are also two interesting
pieces by the Saint-Luc, along side two better known pieces by Weiss.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GugCgg1pL._SS400_.jpg
Extracts can be heard at
http://tinyurl.com/8zlqup
I do not want to compare these records, except to say that Ed Martin
is playing on a gut strung Frei style lute, which Dan Larson baroqued
from 7c to 11c, just as happened in the Baroque period. The recording
has been made by sound engineer, Jakob Larson (a member of the Larson
family?); and it succeeds in bringing out the subtle warm clarity of
Ed's gut-string playing. I rather suppose J L has a close knowledge
of lutes which has enabled him to make such an excellent recording:
at last a lute recording that sounds like a lute, not like an
amplified mandolin.
Miguel Serdoura is playing with nylgut and Aquila nylgut wirewounds;
however, his technique of damping the basses described on p.122 to
123 of his method, are such that I find no problem at all with basses
drowning the other voices (as so often seems to happen with
wirewounds). The sound engineer, Jiri Heger, works frequently with
small Baroque ensembles, such as those of William Christie,
http://www.musica-numeris.com/LEquipe/Lesing%C3%A9nieursduson/
Collaborateursr%C3%A9guliers/JiriHeger/tabid/175/language/en-US/
Default.aspx
and again, he seems to have had the necessary understanding of lute
sound, not to blur, in anyway, the pearl-like flowing clarity of
Miguel's playing.
I understand that little or no reverb was added, and only a slight
frequency tweaking was necessary to bring out the speed of the
initial attack, which was present on earphones, but slightly less so
on lofi speaker based systems.
I highly recommend both CDs, but do not want to try to compare the
style of these two lutenists. I would prefer to add some anecdotes to
show how both records pleasantly surprised the ears of some non-
specialists.
Ed Martin's CD:
Just as I received Ed Martin's CD, I had to leave Paris for a small
village 70 miles from Paris. While I was playing Ed's record to my
daughter, three of her local friends happened to drop in. All three
became very intent, wanting to know exactly what this beautiful music
could be: the composer, the instrument, etc. I found out later that
the young lady was an advanced viola student, while another was a
self taught rock and folk guitarist, but they did not have any deep
knowledge of lute music.
When it was mentioned that I had an 11c lute, similar to the one they
were hearing, they immediately wanted to see it, expressing amazement
at its lightness and beauty, but also admiration that this was the
type of instrument that could play such beautiful music.
I think the fact that Ed's playing "moved" this small group of non
specialists, tells us more about his record than would any words from
a lute amateur, such as myself.
Miguel's CD:
Just before I left Paris, I received the following message from a
great friend and colleague in linguistics, who is also a "melomane"
and audiophile, very partial to his Couperin, and to French Baroque
lute music.
I have asked his permission to convey his message to you.
Paris, 22 decembre 2008
Dear Anthony,
Many thanks for the lovely record by Miguel Serdoura. As I told
you, I knew all the pieces, included here, fairly well -with the
exception of the two lovely pieces by Jacques de Saint-Luc- but of
course Couperin's 'les baricades mysterieueses', the sixth piece of
his sixieme ordre, is probably one of the best known harpsichord
works of 18th century French music; however, I had never actually
heard it played on the lute and I was particularly impressed by
Serdoura's interpretation. As with all the other pieces in the
record, he plays it rather more slowly than all previous
interpretations known to me, and maybe because of that, with extreme
'retenue' and elegance. The same is true of his rendering of Ennemond
Gaultier's very well-known 'la cascade', which I also very much like.
This is much in the spirit of Hopkinson Smith's interpretation, I
find; although again Serdoura plays more slowly (by almost three
minutes actually, I just checked) and if possible, with even more
subtle 'retenue' than 'the baricades mysterieueses'. The dominant
impression of the record as a whole is for me one of nostalgic
elegance, well suited to my present mood and so pleasantly at odds
with the present scene, musical or otherwise!
Very best,
Jean-Yves"
Jean-Yves personally told me how much he had enjoyed this record, and
I agree with his description of Miguel's playing, as showing
"retenue" (masterly control) and "nostalgic elegance", which may at
least in part be due to his mastery of the damped bass.
J-Y has correctly recognized, from the piece, he knows best,
Couperin's, "les baricades mysterieuses", that Miguel was playing
this piece much slower than is usual on the harpsichord (the nearest,
perhaps being Scott Ross, whom Miguel himself particularly admired,
http://www.nme.com/video/id/UZXzuIsxb64/search/barricades).
Jean Yves then equates this elegance, with Miguel's slow tempo. It
is perhaps true that more skill and self-control is needed to play a
piece very slowly.
This hypothesis (slow equates to elegance), he mistakenly believes,
is confirmed, when he finds that Miguel's "les Cascades" lasts three
minutes longer than Hoppy's version.
In fact, Miguel tells me his tempo is fairly close to that of Hoppy
(his mentor), perhaps a little slower; the main reason for the three
extra minutes, however, is the number of variations that Miguel has
added, including some that he has composed himself.
Although, Jean-Yves is an enlightened amateur, he evidently thought
that Baroque lutenists all interpret the same piece exactly as it was
left to us by the composer, in which case any time variation would,
indeed, only be due to tempo.
However, this takes nothing away from the elegance of Miguel's
playing, or Jean-Yve's sensitivity to it.
I strongly recommend both recordings.
Ed Martin's CD can be acquired directly from Ed. and perhaps also
from Dan Larson.
http://www.daniellarson.com/
Miguel Serdoura's CD and extracts can be found at
http://tinyurl.com/8zlqup
and also bought from
http://www.lacg.net/catalog/index.php
His Baroque Method can be found, here:
https://www.lacg.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id130
Best wishes
Anthony
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