Customer Reviews

William Boyce: 8 Symphonies - The English Concert / Trevor Pinnock

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you hear these 8 symphonies you will notice that William Boyce (1711-1779) is a very great and enjoyable english baroque and rococo composer. Try listen to the "symphony no. 8 in D minor" especially the last movement and you will think: How great the music was in the 18th-century. The outstanding conductor Trevor Pinnock and his authentic instruments ensemble The English Concert gives a first-class, lively and superb performance. This cd is highly recommendable.

I love the overtures (or symphonies) of William Boyce, the "English Bach," as I'm sure most lovers of late baroque music do. Trevor Pinnock et al. are in superb form here; I'd say this is the Boyce Symphonies disc to purchase.

I didn't know anything about William Boyce before I bought this CD, and now I am hooked on his music! His music is wonderful, very bright, happy, and highly enjoyable. I've been told that he is also known as the "English Bach," and I don't think that's an exaggeration. Boyce's music is in a somewhat conservative Baroque style, even though he lived during the end of the Baroque period, when the early Classical and Rococo music dominated the music scene. However, I am certain his music must have been a hit, especially these 8 symphonies. Briliant music performed by Trevor Pinnock's briliant English Consort, this CD is a must-have! My personal favourites are symphonies #1 and #4.

This CD is an excellent example of music written in the transitional Rococo period between Baroque and Classical. When these eight delightful symphonies, originally composed as overtures between 1739 and 1756, were first published together as a set in 1760, J.S. Bach had been dead only 10 years, Handel one year, and Haydn was 28 years old.

Though Boyce's style has elements that can be compared to these composers (the first movement of Symphony No. 5 in particular is reminiscent of Handel's Water Music and Music for Royal Fireworks), he is neither a faded echo of Bach, nor a mere imitator of Handel, nor a pale precursor of Haydn. He has his own distinctive musical style that is fully apparent in this recording. As Michael Tilmouth writes in his informative essay in the CD booklet: "If we were asked to name the native musician most typical of his profession in 18th-century England we would almost certainly nominate William Boyce. . . . No doubt Boyce learned a good deal from his great contemporary Handel. But his music has a robust and fresh quality of its own, nowhere more apparent than in the vigorous 'jiggs' and sturdy, tuneful gavottes of these symphonies, a quality that seems innately English and makes a distinctive and valuable contribution to the music of the 18th century."

The allegro movements of these symphonies, filled with bouyancy and enthusiasm, resonate with vitality. The adagio movements are enchanting. The performance, recorded in June 1986 with Trevor Pinnock conducting The English Concert and playing the harpsichord, is first-rate. Pinnock is one of the most distinguished names associated with the period instrument movement. The sound quality on this CD is crystal clear. Time = 60:04. Highly recommended.

Not symphonies in the modern sense, these little works are sinfonias or Italian overtures taken from the many entertainments--odes, operas, and the like--that Boyce penned over the years. They have been charming listeners ever since they were published as a group in 1760 and have always fared well on vinyl and on CD. The current recording is certainly one of the finer ones I've heard, with sprightly, energetic allegros and slow movements that properly emphasize stateliness, as well as Boyce's uncanny gift for melody. The playing by the English Concert is of the highest order throughout.

My only gripe--and it's an important one--is that Pinnock tries to improve on the composer's tempo markings. Now, it's true that with the exception of No. 6, which is bipartite, these overtures follow the fast-slow-fast model of the typical Italian overture. But Boyce clearly marked the second movement of Nos. 2 through 4 "Vivace." Lively they definitely aren't in these performances. They're played at a tempo that might generously be called allegretto but which is much closer to a stodgy andante. Same story for No. 1, whose central movement is marked "Moderato e dolce." Pinnock and Company play it sweetly enough, but again at that somewhat stultifying andante. In fact, Pinnock takes the Larghetto of No. 6 faster than he does the vivaces and moderatos, which is kind of puzzling, to say the least.

So as fine as the playing and recording are on this disc, I have to subtract a star for Pinnock's tendency to correct Mr. Boyce's lack of strict adherence to his Italian model.