CityLife

Classics/Opera - John Turner and Romanesca

Robert Beale

ROMANESCA - Manchester Sonatas Harmonia Mundi

Vivaldi: "Manchester" Sonatas. Romanesca: Andrew Manze, Nigel North, John Toll (2 CDs, Harmonia Mundi 2907342.43, mid-price)

SO why did Vivaldi write Manchester sonatas? He certainly never came here - probably never even heard of the place. But the most complete manuscript of his sonatas for solo violin and continuo (a few of them existed in other sources) didn't turn up until 1973 - and it was found in the Henry Watson Music Library of Manchester Central Library in St Peter's Square. How it got there is a story in itself: the most likely route seems to be that the music belonged to Cardinal Ottoboni, for whom Vivaldi worked in the 1720s (or at least someone associated with him) - it was acquired by Charles Jennens (1700-1773), a poet who worked closely with Handel, passed on to the Earl of Aylesford, whose family kept it until 1918, and then bought for Sir Newman Flower's collection of Handelian and Italian material, finally presented to the Henry Watson library in 1965. The set also includes an early version of The Four Seasons, which has been used for some recordings. And the "Manchester" violin sonatas are as much gems of their kind. Andrew Manze's recordings, made in 1993, were hailed for their brilliance then and are now re-issued as a two-for-the-price-of-one pairing. The solo is accompanied variously by harpsichord, archlute, theorbo and guitar, alone or in combination, and the sheer variety of the music, within the basic shape of prelude and three dances which make up each sonata, is extraordinary. If all you know of Vivaldi is The Four Seasons, Gloria and guitar concerto, this is one to discover.

ANOTHER welcome re-issue of a great recording comes from Chandos, on their "Collect" label: Dame Felicity Lott, singing her Favourite English Songs, with Graham Johnson, piano (CHAN 6653, mid-price). They're all slow, often mildly melancholy ditties, and sung with breathtaking control, lovely tone and some incredible pianissimo high notes. Vaughan Williams' Silent Noon is here, and Britten's O Waly, Waly - I could go on, as there are 22 of them, all beautiful.

JOHN TURNER - Aspects Of Nature Olympia

English and Scottish Recorder Music. John Turner, recorder, Peter Lawson, piano, Eleanor Meynell, soprano, Tom Dunn, viola (Olympia OCD 714, full price)

HOW curious that, at the same time as a researcher has been declaring that learning the recorder is a bad thing for children, and ignoramuses claim no great music has ever been written for the instrument, along comes the Stockport recorder virtuoso John Turner, with another outstanding CD of recorder music. Bach and Handel, of course, wrote for the recorder in quantity, as it was the commonest flute of their time, but it has had a revival in our own day, and one of the leading players and inspirers of new work has been John Turner. There is music here by Gordon Crosse, William Alwyn, Robin Orr, Arnold Cooke, Benjamin Britten and others. I must confess that an unrelieved diet of recorder and piano can cloy after a while, but there is charming variety in the Alwyn Seascapes for soprano with them, and Robert Crawford's two-part inventions for viola and recorder are an intriguing one-off. Then there are Orr's Three Pastorals for soprano, recorder, viola and piano - lovely little ensemble pieces - and finally the Britten: a tiny, perfect version of the Christmas carol, I Wonder As I Wander.

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