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The venerable René Clemencic has released several offbeat discs, and this collection of Renaissance pieces played on the clavichord certainly falls into that category. The packaging promises works by Antonio de Cabezón and Josquin Desprez, but really this is a two-disc Cabezón set; the Spanish keyboard master "intabulated" (or arranged) Josquin's vocal works for keyboard, and the results are heard on disc two. The clavichord, as Clemencic points out, had much more currency as a domestic instrument in Europe, for several centuries, than is generally realized. There's a good deal of evidence, for example, that Mozart used one frequently, and his early keyboard music sounds surprisingly good on one. For Cabezón it's certainly troublesome -- the music here, especially on disc one, was public and virtuosic, and it seems hemmed in on the smaller, quieter instrument. Yet Clemencic is not exactly aiming at sheer authenticity, and he does succeed in what he aims to do. He includes specific instructions that the music should be listened to at low volumes, and this is definitely advisable -- partly because if you don't you hear the clavichord's innards clanking around to an unacceptable degree, but also because it sets the right frame of close concentration. Clemencic's point seems to be that Cabezón "got inside" Josquin's motets and the various preexisting models he used for his own works: the pieces are not simple transcriptions but full-scale reworkings, and they had an improvisatory component. Cabezón composed alternate versions of several of the Josquin pieces, or parts of them (you have to read the notes to figure out exactly what's happening, for the track list gives the wrong idea), and it's fascinating to hear the different versions side by side. Clemencic's performance style is quiet, free, and slightly dreamy. The overall effect is like having an ancient counterpoint teacher walk you through Renaissance polyphony -- and into the mind of a Renaissance instrumentalist who was improvising on it. This is a disc for serious Renaissance music fans only, but it is well worth their time.
© TiVo
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Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Antonio de Cabezón, Composer - Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
DISC 2
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Wolfgang Reithofer, Recording Engineer - Josquin Desprez, Composer - René Clemencic, Clavichord
(P)2003 BMG Ariola Classics GmbH
Album review
The venerable René Clemencic has released several offbeat discs, and this collection of Renaissance pieces played on the clavichord certainly falls into that category. The packaging promises works by Antonio de Cabezón and Josquin Desprez, but really this is a two-disc Cabezón set; the Spanish keyboard master "intabulated" (or arranged) Josquin's vocal works for keyboard, and the results are heard on disc two. The clavichord, as Clemencic points out, had much more currency as a domestic instrument in Europe, for several centuries, than is generally realized. There's a good deal of evidence, for example, that Mozart used one frequently, and his early keyboard music sounds surprisingly good on one. For Cabezón it's certainly troublesome -- the music here, especially on disc one, was public and virtuosic, and it seems hemmed in on the smaller, quieter instrument. Yet Clemencic is not exactly aiming at sheer authenticity, and he does succeed in what he aims to do. He includes specific instructions that the music should be listened to at low volumes, and this is definitely advisable -- partly because if you don't you hear the clavichord's innards clanking around to an unacceptable degree, but also because it sets the right frame of close concentration. Clemencic's point seems to be that Cabezón "got inside" Josquin's motets and the various preexisting models he used for his own works: the pieces are not simple transcriptions but full-scale reworkings, and they had an improvisatory component. Cabezón composed alternate versions of several of the Josquin pieces, or parts of them (you have to read the notes to figure out exactly what's happening, for the track list gives the wrong idea), and it's fascinating to hear the different versions side by side. Clemencic's performance style is quiet, free, and slightly dreamy. The overall effect is like having an ancient counterpoint teacher walk you through Renaissance polyphony -- and into the mind of a Renaissance instrumentalist who was improvising on it. This is a disc for serious Renaissance music fans only, but it is well worth their time.
© TiVo
About the album
- 2 disc(s) - 29 track(s)
- Total length: 02:00:58
- Main artists: René Clemencic
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: ARTE NOVA Classics
- Genre: Classical
2003 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (GERMANY) GmbH
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