Bach - Sanguineus and Melancholicus

FLORILEGIUM

Bach, C Ph. E.

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Normal PCM CD (In stock)		$15.60

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Sanguineus und Melancholicus What comprises good performance? The ability through singing or playing to make the ear conscious of the true content and affect of the composition. Any passage can be so radically changed by modifying its performance that it will be scarcely recognisable.... Good performance, then, occurs when one hears all notes and their embellishments played in correct time with fitting volume produced by a touch which is related to the true content of the piece (Versuch ber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen). C.P.E. Bachs instructions illustrates the aestheticism of the era. In his eyes good performance is a matter of portraying rage, anger, and other passions or the briskness of allegros.... the tenderness of adagios. Much of Bachs music has a strong improvisatory character, with large dynamic ranges, dramatic changes of mood, and sudden textural contrasts (The Empfindsamkeit style). These are the affects that the performer must understand and identify in Bachs music. One of C.P.E. Bachs most programmatic chamber pieces is entitled a Conversation between a Sanguineus and a Melancholicus.
This work, published in 1751, has an extended preface detailing all the main events in the work, so that each individual mood and each element of the situation portrayed can be understood and followed by the listener. Bach writes: An attempt has been made to express as far as is possible by means of instruments alone something for which the resources of voices and a text are perhaps more suitable. It is meant to portray a conversation between a Sanguineus and a Melancholicus, who are in disagreement throughout the first and most of the second movement; each tries to draw the other over to his own side, until they settle their differences at the end of the second movement, at which point the Melancholicus gives up the battle and assumes the manner of the other. The range of characteristics depicted is considerable: complaining, playfulness, pleading, questioning, melancholy, high spirits, bitterness, sadness and so on. In this chamber work C.P.E. Bach defied other writers who were convinced that vocal music was the only way to achieve ideas of this kind, using the text to help elucidate the content. Even Quantz wrote that words and the human voice are a great advantage to the composer, both with regard to invention and effect. However, this problem scarcely troubled Bach, who was in no doubt that expressivity and affect could be achieved in instrumental music. He even found certain advantages in the instrumental genres, among which were the affects of surprise and passion, which he believed could be better achieved with instruments rather than with voices. This was, however, his only venture into this specific programmatic style of chamber music composition, and he avoided invitations to write similar pieces. Probably the clearest indications of the development of C.P.E. Bachs compositional techniques lie with the first and last work on this disc -the Quartet in D Major (1788) and the Trio Sonata in C Major (1731). These two works show how the traditional chamber trio with two melody lines and a continuo accompaniment developed into compositions with an independent, integral keyboard part.
The Quartet in D major represents a complete breakthrough to the Viennese classical style with an almost Beethovenian stamp. The keyboard part is much fuller and richer and no longer just provides the continuo accompaniment. Indeed there is no need at all for harmonic filling from the keyboard part, and the interplay of the instruments frequently gives rise to wonderful colouristic effects. In this respect the work is in a modern chamber music style. The Trio Sonata in C, written in the older style makes use of many Baroque elements: ritornello form organised around long themes in tonic-dominant paired entries, expansion by imitative sequence and treatment of the melody instruments as interchangeable bearers of the pure musical lines. Very few composers wrote solo pieces for the flute in the Baroque era. Maybe they were concerned about the lack of expressive and dynamic possibilities of the flute compared to the violin or cello.
In writing the solo sonata for flute, C.P.E. Bach followed in his fathers footsteps by composing a work, complete and convincing in structure and with a high level of expression and certain elements of virtuosity. Twenty-nine years separate J.S. Bachs solo Partita for Flute (1718) and C.P.E. Bachs solo sonata (1747). This sonata successfully demonstrates the flutes versatility and agility by providing not only a melodic line but also the bass and harmony notes, and by frequent use of rhetorical figures and extreme dynamic and melodic contrasts. C.P.E. Bach is unusually precise about his dynamics, especially in the first movement, and he stretches the performer with these dramatic alterations in dynamics and with sudden bursts of virtuosic passage work in the faster movements. This piece was recorded at a lower pitch than the other works on this disc (A392), because the particular instrument used resonates best at this pitch. The slow movement (Larghetto) from C.P.E. Bachs Sonata in G minor for viola da gamba and harpsichord has been included on this disc between the two most substantial works to allow for a new, intimate and varied texture. C.P.E. Bachs positions of employment in Berlin and Hamburg enabled him to experience the development of two very different eras. His compositions range from traditional Baroque style, through early Classicism and on to high Classicism. The legacy was established by his father for his early compositions and he later became a guide for Haydn, Mozart and even Beethoven. Ashley Solomon

Additional Information

Main artist	FLORILEGIUM
Composer	Bach, C Ph. E.
Inlay	C.Ph.E. Bach Sanguineus and Melancholicus Florilegium Quartet in D major Wq 94 (1788); Larghetto from Sonata in G minor, Wq 88 (1759); Sonata in C minor; Sanguineus and Melancholicus Wq 161 nr. 4 (1749); Sonata in A minor, Wq 132 (1747); Trio Sonata in C major, Wq 147 (1731) (period performance)
Biography	Ashley Solomon, Director,with performances in some of the world's most prestigious venues have confirmed Florilegium's status as one of Britain's most outstanding period instrument ensembles. Following a performance at London's Wigmore Hall, The Times newspaper wrote: Florilegium climbed the heights of dancing bliss and left the Wigmore sighing with pleasure. They have become an indispensable feature on the early music landscape. Formed in 1991, Florilegium quickly established a reputation for stylish and exciting interpretations of music from the baroque era to the early romantic revolution. Among the numerous residencies they held was the coveted post of Ensemble-in-Residence at London's Wigmore Hall, a position they enjoyed from 1998 to 2000, performing several series of concerts each year and becoming actively involved in the Hall's education work. Since September 2008 Florilegium have been Ensemble in Association at the Royal College of Music. They give one public performance each term and, where appropriate, include students from the Historical Performance department. In addition they take string, wind and keyboard sessions and give frequent masterclasses on 18th century baroque repertoire. Concert engagements have taken Florilegium throughout Europe, to North and South America, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The group receives numerous invitations to perform at major international festivals each season and concert venues have included the Sydney Opera House, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, Handelhaus in Halle, the restored Frauenkirche in Dresden, Thtre Grevin in Paris and the Frick Collection in New York. Florilegium's performances range from intimate chamber works to large-scale orchestral repertoire. The Florilegium Choir under the musical directorship of David Hill perform baroque choral and orchestral repertoire including mainstream passions and oratorios. Florilegium regularly collaborate with some of the world's finest singers including Dame Emma Kirkby, Derek Lee Ragin and Robin Blaze. Since their first collaboration at Easter 2000, Florilegium have been regular guests of The Bach Choir and David Hill at the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. 2008/09 season started with and a tour of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti and Orchestral Suites in France and performances of Bach's Musical Offering in London's Wigmore Hall, Nottingham and Southampton. In addition to numerous concerts at home and abroad, including those celebrating the anniversaries of Handel and Purcell, Florilegium will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the death of Haydn by presenting three concerts at Wigmore Hall as part of the Hall's Haydn Series as well as performances in UK festivals. The group will also be performing Haydn in Esterhazy and Handel in Halle. The group's string of nineteen recordings for the Dutch label Channel Classics have been awarded many prizes including a Gramophone Award nomination, Editor's Choice from Gramophone, Diapasons d'Or and Chocs de la Musique from France. Telemann's Paris Quartets Vol 2 was awarded the group's fourth Editor's Choice from Gramophone Magazine and won the Classical Internet Award from Classicstoday.com. Florilegium's first volume of Baroque Music from the Missions of the Moxos and Chiquitos Indians was released to critical acclaim in 2005; a second volume of Bolivian Baroque Music was Gramophone Editor's Choice in March 2007 and nominated for a 2008 BBC Music Magazine award. In September 2007 Bach Cantatas and Sinfonias with the Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer was released; this received a 2008 Edison Award, Dutch music's most prestigious prize. The 2nd volume, with Lucy Crowe, was released in November 2008 and selected as The Sunday Times's CD of the week ten days before Christmas. Future releases include a third volume of Bolivian Baroque Music in 2008, and Florilegium's arrangements of Bach's Organ Trio Sonatas.
Awards
Quotes	(...) What fascinates us in the music of C.P.E. Bach is his peculiar way of combining his own very dignified brand of seriousness and a often positively disruptive concentration on dramatic surprese of the moment - at the expense of the symmetry and formal organization the seriousness leads us to expect. (...) (...) Highly recommended as an introduction to the still rather mysterious world of C.P.E. Bach's chamber music. Fanfare (...) De kracht van deze musici ligt in hun vermogen om met verrassende interpretaties een geweldige spanning te creren, waardoor je voortdurend geboeid blijft. (...) Luister, December 1997 (...) ce disque reste plus que recommandable. (...) Rpertoire, December 1997 (...) The talented Florilegium players bring out to the full the bewilderlingly diverse character of the sonatas (...) (...) Ashley Solomon's performance is most persuasive.(...) (...) The whole disque is strongly recommended. Gramophone, November 1997 (...) Florilegium speelt deze muziek sprankelend (...) (...) Luister naar Florilegium, dan hoor je wat de componist bedoelde. Telegraaf, December 1997 (...) een betoverend mooie cd, waarop Florilegium rijk en excellent musicieert (...) Leeuwarder Courant, October 1998 (...) More of the same will be welcome (...) Early Music Review, December 1997 Handsome tribute to the quirkiest scion of the Bach dynasty Classic CD, December1997 (...) All is played with sensibility and expressive warmth. BBC Music Magazine, May 1998 (...) raffinement des sonorits combines avec une nergie, une vigueur et une tension des plus stimulantes. (...) Diapason, Janvier 1998
Format	Normal PCM CD
Running time	59:30:00
Year of release	1997

Year of release:

1997

Running time:

59:30:00

Quotes:

(...) What fascinates us in the music of C.P.E. Bach is his peculiar way of combining his own very dignified brand of seriousness and a often positively disruptive concentration on dramatic surprese of the moment - at the expense of the symmetry and formal organization the seriousness leads us to expect. (...) (...) Highly recommended as an introduction to the still rather mysterious world of C.P.E. Bach's chamber music. Fanfare

(...) De kracht van deze musici ligt in hun vermogen om met verrassende interpretaties een geweldige spanning te creren, waardoor je voortdurend geboeid blijft. (...) Luister, December 1997

(...) ce disque reste plus que recommandable. (...) Rpertoire, December 1997

(...) The talented Florilegium players bring out to the full the bewilderlingly diverse character of the sonatas (...) (...) Ashley Solomon's performance is most persuasive.(...) (...) The whole disque is strongly recommended. Gramophone, November 1997

(...) Florilegium speelt deze muziek sprankelend (...) (...) Luister naar Florilegium, dan hoor je wat de componist bedoelde. Telegraaf, December 1997

(...) een betoverend mooie cd, waarop Florilegium rijk en excellent musicieert (...) Leeuwarder Courant, October 1998 (...) More of the same will be welcome (...) Early Music Review, December 1997

Handsome tribute to the quirkiest scion of the Bach dynasty Classic CD, December1997

(...) All is played with sensibility and expressive warmth. BBC Music Magazine, May 1998

(...) raffinement des sonorits combines avec une nergie, une vigueur et une tension des plus stimulantes. (...) Diapason, Janvier 1998