Poglietti: Il Rossignolo - Harpsichord Works

This is a fascinating survey of the keyboard music of Alessandro Poglietti, who worked in late 17th-century Vienna at the court of Emperor Leopold I. It soon becomes clear - even from the titles of the works here such as 'Toccata on the Hungarian rebellion', 'The Siege of Philippsburg' and 'Nightingale' - that Poglietti was a highly inventive and original composer, and the music itself confirms this.For the first few pieces, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher uses a modern copy of a small Italian instrument. The first work, 'Toccatina sopra la Ribellione di Ungheria' (tracks 1-8), tells the dramatic story of a rebellion brutally suppressed, a tale usefully described in the player's own booklet notes. Unfortunately the player's modest instrument of limited dynamic range, sounding almost like a virginal, is not really up to the job of depicting such drama, and movements with titles such as 'Trial', 'Sentence' and 'Decapitation' go for very little, with scarcely any audible connection with the story's programme. The latter movement is more of a lament than a description of some poor fellow losing his head. Bötticher doesn't exactly go to town on all of this, and it sounds like fairly tame stuff as performed here. The following 'Toccata fatta sopra Cassedio di Filipsburgo' (9) is a fine, compact piece, which works better here than the previous item but is once again somewhat let down in this recording; the player responds well, but his instrument doesn't.But then everything changes for the major work on the disc - the varied and extended suite 'Il Rossignolo', which was dedicated to the newly-married imperial couple Leopold and Eleonora and presented to them in 1677 in a beautifully calligraphed manuscript by the composer himself. It's based on the theme of the nightingale's song, introduced with extreme subtlety at first, then gradually more pervasive until the final beautiful sequence of five movements with rossignolo titles to match.For this work, Bötticher switches to a far more suitable instrument, a two-manual Italian copy with a more substantial tone. The first few movements are mainly French or Italian in style, beginning with a superbly dramatic Toccata (11) followed by a lovely Canzona, Courante and its Double. The French-style movements are followed by 'Aria Allemagna con alcuni Variationi' (22-41), a substantial sequence of variations on an engaging melody. Most of the variations have descriptive programmatic titles, more about nationalities than nightingales, and their music is vivid, pictorial and extremely entertaining; the forceful variation at track 35 is especially fine.Finally we come to the openly Rossignolo-themed sequence (42-46), and this is an absolute knockout. The 'Ricercar per lo Rossignolo' and following 'Sincopatione' are really superb, a great example of masterly counterpoint in the service of grace and beauty. As the splendid yet charming sequence continues, the music transforms into increasingly clear imitation of birdsong until, at the end, there's little pretence of conventional melody or metre but, instead, sounds as close as a harpsichord can get to pure nightingale song. Bötticher is at his best in this final sequence, playing with great insight and sensitivity.This programme, then, starts off rather unimpressively but then grows on you. On balance it's a fine recording, although this performance of the superb 'Rossignolo' is, in my view, just outshone by the lovely version from Joyce Lindorff, Poglietti: Rossignolo [IMPORT] or Poglietti: Rossignolo [Joyce Lindorff] [Paladino: PMR 0048]. Either way, baroque keyboard fans, this is music worth knowing!