“Glories of the Baroque: the Great Concertos”
The Handel and Haydn Society Ensemble led by Aisslinn Nosky
At the Mahaiwe, Wednesday June 29, 2022
Concerti by Corelli, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Handel, and Avison
Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso in D major, op. 6 no. 4
Charles Avison, Concerto Grosso no. 5 in D minor (after Scarlatti)
Antonio Vivaldi, Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 356
Francesco Geminiani, Concerto Grosso in G minor, after Corelli, op. 5 no. 5
Corelli, Concerto Grosso in B-flat major, op. 6 no. 11
George Frederick Handel, Concerto Grosso in F major, op. 6 no. 9
Geminiani, Concerto Grosso “La Folia” in D minor, after Corelli, op. 5 no. 12
Aisslinn Nosky is a violin virtuoso who approaches baroque music with a mixture of historical awareness and a touch of punk rock sensibility. She led a small string ensemble of the venerable Boston Handel and Haydn Society in an interesting program of concertos, some for solo violin and some for “concerto grosso” configuration, which demonstrated the close interconnections between Italian and English music in the early 18th century. It also demonstrated Nosky’s theatrical flair and predilection for some very fast tempos.
The string ensemble’s performing style shared with last Saturday’s Aston Magna concert the use of original instruments and HIP (Historically Informed Performance). The performers used baroque bows (shorter and lighter than their modern counterparts) and gut strings at lower tension, producing light, clear, and very articulate results, while employing vibrato only selectively. The rock sensibility emanating from Nosky (not just from her flaming red coiffure) took the form of tempos so fast that certain movements flew by in a blur of notes, swallowing up melodic shapes and any nuances other than driving energy. True, the Italian baroque style was based on the virtuosity of its violinist-composers, particularly Corelli; this style included physical energy, vigorous figuration, and elaborate ornamentation, as well as a newly clarified tonal logic and consistency that served as a model for almost all subsequent composers including Handel and Bach. In addition, however, “the style of [Corelli’s] performance was learned, elegant, and pathetic” according to English music chronicler John Hawkins. The volcanic energy of the fast movements came at some sacrifice of these other qualities.
Two of Corelli’s collections, his solo twelve violin sonatas op. 5, and twelve concerti grossi op. 6, were spotlighted in this program, each enormously popular and influential at the time they were published (1700 and 1714, resp.), each giving rise to imitations.
George Frederick Handel (to use the English form of his name) met Corelli during the years he spent in Italy, from 1707 to 1710, and like so many others, was highly impressed. Thirty years later and well established in London, Handel published his own set of twelve concerti grossi, his most significant collection of mature instrumental works. As an hommage to Corelli, he issued them as his own opus 6.
Francesco Geminiani, Corelli’s most prominent pupil and the most important violin pedagogue of the eighteenth century, made arrangements for string
Musicians at the Medici Court (detail) by Anton Domenico Gabbiano
orchestra of Corelli’s violin sonatas; two of those were included on this program, converting the intimate form of solo sonata into a grander opportunity to display virtuosity. Arriving in England in 1714 (at about the same time as Handel) Gemininiani remained there, enjoying a long career. He happily encountered English and Scottish folk melodies and incorporated them into some of his compositions.
Another Italy-England connection was included in this web of programmatic cross-references. The concerto by English composer Charles Avison was one of a set of twelve, all of whose movements are transcriptions of keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. Scarlatti (son of Alessandro, whose music was on that Aston Magna program) is know as the composer of 555 (!) keyboard sonatas composed as “lessons” for his one student, Princess Maria Barbara of Portugal and Spain. He had met Handel in Rome around 1709 and the two held a keyboard competition at the home of Cardinal Pamphili, one of Corelli’s patrons. Scarlatti won the harpsichord portion while Handel prevailed at the organ. Most likely, the two friendly contemporaries agreed to split the difference. In 1739, an English publisher got hold of copies of a pirated collection of these works and published them in two volumes. They immediately became widely popular with London’s accomplished amateur keyboard players.
Composer, violinist, and organist Charles Avison is not familiar to many music-lovers, but he had an important career and was well-known in his own country during the 18th and 19th centuries. His music is mostly for strings, with some keyboard and vocal works mixed in. Included are sixty string concertos, mostly published in batches of twelve during his lifetime (1709-1770); perhaps the best-known were the concerto transcriptions of selections from those Scarlatti sonatas known to him, published in 1759. The transformation from keyboard to string ensemble is so expertly done that if you don’t know the originals, you would suspect they were intended for strings from the start. It was refreshing to hear these works well-performed; they were probably the least familiar items on this program, and it would be wonderful to hear more of them.
As the only true solo violin concerto, Vivaldi’s very famous (thanks to Suzuki) Concerto in A minor was a bit of an outlier. Every violin student knows this relatively simple work and it has been recorded countless times. Having surveyed many examples, including the fastest recorded version (by Fabio Biondi), I discovered that the tempo of Aisslinn Nosky’s rendition exceeded them all. If this were a competition, Nosky would win, but in any case, Vivaldi lost.
The Handel and Haydn ensemble included five violins (two first and three seconds), two violas, two cellos, bass, and harpsichord. There were last-minute alterations in the personnel, partly due to COVID; in the large space of the Mahaiwe, and despite the vigor of the performances, the overall impression was of a delicate and even fragile sonority. A similar group in a smaller space, say in the private apartments of Corelli’s patron, would have sounded more robust; the “concerto grosso” (large ensemble) genre made a more powerful impression. In an early description from 1682, Georg Muffat wrote that in Rome he heard “with great pleasure and astonishment, several concertos, … composed by the gifted Signor Arcangelo Corelli, and beautifully performed with the utmost accuracy by a great number of instrumental players.” (Emphasis added) Fundamental to the genre is an alternation between a smaller subgroup (“concertino”) and the full ensemble (“ripieno”) producing a variety of strong dynamic contrasts that were probably the source of Muffat’s “astonishment.” These contrasts came across as muted in the H & H ensemble’s renditions.
Despite these reservations, the musicians displayed outstanding skill, fulfilling the qualities of “great accuracy” and trenchant articulation attributed to Corelli himself. Special mention should be made of cellist Guy Fishman, whose solos rivaled Nosky’s in over-the-top virtuosity; and of the distinguished keyboard-player Ian Watson, whose contributions on harpsichord, while not always audible to the audience, clearly served to insure ensemble cohesion and rhythmic vitality.
