Notes and Editorial Reviews
SALTARELLO
•
Garth Knox (va, viola d’amore, vn); Agnès Vesterman (vc); Sylvain Lemêtre (perc)
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ECM B0016623-02
TRADITIONAL/CUNNINGHAM
Black Brittany.
PURCELL
Music for a While.
VIVALDI
V
iola d’Amore Concerto.
KNOX
Fuga Libre.
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class="COMPOSER12">HILDEGARD/MACHAUT
Ave Generosa. Tels Rit au Main.
SAARIAHO
Vent Nocturne
I, II.
DOWLAND
Flow My Tears.
TRADITIONAL
3 Dances.
Pipe, Harp, and Fiddle
Garth Knox, who plays viola, viola d’amore, and fiddle, was born in Ireland and grew up in Scotland. Everyone in his family played a stringed instrument, and since Garth was the youngest, he was given the viola. He eventually attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he won several prizes for chamber music and viola. In 1983, he joined Ensemble Intercontemporain at the invitation of Pierre Boulez. From 1990 to 1998 he was a member of the Arditti String Quartet and toured the world playing the music of today’s leading composers. Currently he lives in Paris, from where it is easy to travel to other cities in Europe, the United States or Japan for recitals, concertos and chamber concerts. His first solo compact disc, containing works by Ligeti, Dusapin, Berio, Kurtág, and others, won the Deutsche Schallplaten Prize.
On
Saltarello
he joins with cellist Agnès Vesterman and percussionist Sylvain Lemêtre in playing arrangements of music from by a number of composers, some from earliest times and others from our own century.
Black Brittany
is a Celtic-sounding arrangement of the traditional
Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
and the late Johnny Cunningham’s
Leaving Brittany
played on viola d’amore and cello by Knox and Vesterman. Henry Purcell’s
Music for a While
has been played by every imaginable combination of instruments and never loses its innate power to please. If you want to hear it sung, there is an excellent version with countertenor Alfred Deller on Harmonia Mundi. On this disc it is given in a charming string version. Vivaldi’s Viola d’Amore Concerto is a very different piece when the only accompaniment is a single cello. However, that does not make it less of an interesting composition. Actually the soft-voiced viola d’amore is more present when it has less competition.
Knox’s own
Fuga Libre
for solo viola is a fascinating 21st-century rendition of this ancient form. It certainly proves that Knox is a most able composer. The following piece combines Hildegard’s 11th-century
Ave Generosa
and Guillaume de Machaut’s 14th-century
Tels Rit au Ma(t)in
(He Who Laughs in the Morning) into an interesting ode to love. Kaija Saariaho’s
Vent Nocturne
has two parts: “Sombres Mirroirs” (Dark Mirrors) and “Soupirs de l’Obscur” (Breaths of the Obscure). She notes that the sound of the viola has always suggested breathing to her, so breath and the wind became major elements of the electronic part of these compositions.
Accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland originally wrote
Flow My Tears
in 1596 as an instrumental work called
Lachrimae Pavane.
Knox’s arrangement for viola and cello is passionate and enthralling. The three dances from the 14th century give us a chance to enjoy a simple pleasure of the Middle Ages. You can picture yourself watching or even participating in the athletic dances at a country fair;
saltare
is an Italian word meaning to jump, and dancing the saltarello involves some artistic leaping.
Pipe, Harp, and Fiddle
is based on traditional music from the tiny Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Arranged for fiddle and percussion, this music speaks of the hard life on isolated bits of land that pit man against the huge forces of nature. The simple music of fiddle and percussion expresses it in a robust manner.
This program has recorded sound that is clear and astringent.
FANFARE: Maria Nockin
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Works on This Recording
1.
Black Brittany by Traditional
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
2.
Ave generosa by Hildegard of Bingen
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
Period: Medieval
Written: 12th Century; Germany
4.
Oedipus, Z 583: Music for a while by Henry Purcell
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
Period: Baroque
Written: ?1692; England
5.
Fuga libre by Garth Knox
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
7.
Tels rit au main qui au soir by Guillaume de Machaut
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
Period: Medieval
Written: circa 1340; France
8.
Saltarello by Traditional
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
9.
Ghaetta by Traditional
Performer:
Agnès Vesterman (Cello),
Garth Knox (Viola/Viola D'amore/Fiddle),
Sylvain Lemêtre (Percussion)
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