La Festa Musicale [...] erweist sich für die Wiedergabe der differenzierten, schönen und in jeder Beziehung kennenswerten Musik im Rahmen des technizistischen Gesamtanspruchs als geradezu prädestiniert.

Dupont mag zijn majesteitelijke meervoud van mij zonder blozen bezigen. Deze opname verdient het om bekroond te worden!

Die gehobenen Schätze stellen einen Komponisten vor, der italienische und französische Einflüsse zu einer reizvollen konzertanten Musik zu verbinden verstand. [...] Eine Repertoire-Bereicherung, dieser Venturini, stilistisch kundig und mitreißend gespielt von La Festa Musicale.

Das erst seit wenigen Jahren bestehende Orchester La Festa Musicale aus Hannover hat sich mit dieser Aufnahme einen Platz in der vorderen Reihe bekannter Barockensembles verdient. Da stimmt einfach alles: Einsatz und Entdeckerfreude, dazu stupende Beherrschung des Instrumentariums.

Wie das Ensemble diese lebendigen Strukturen und ihre Farbigkeit herausarbeitet, ist ziemlich großes Kino. Der Klang ist offen, warm und rund, an den richtigen Stellen aber auch saftig und echt zupackend. Und gerade bei der Musik, die stark vom französischen Barockstil am Hof Ludwigs XIV. inspiriert ist, hat das Ganze einen fast jazzartigen Swing.

Es ist ihre erste eigene CD – und damit eine echte Visitenkarte. [...] Die CD vereint französische Suiten und italienische Konzerte. Außerdem stellt sie einen Komponisten vor, den nicht mal Barock-Spezialisten kennen.

An spannenden Interpretationen des Streichquartetts von Maurice Ravel herrscht kein Mangel. Das Mandelring Quartett fügt nun eine weitere herausragende Einspielung hinzu. Die vier Streicher spüren die dramatischen Effekte auf und geben der Partitur die Spontaneität von Ravels Inspiration zurück. Einerseits ist die Interpretation von Glut, Inbrunst und spannungsgeladener, oft fiebriger Kraft geprägt, die das Beste aus jeder Note herausholt, andererseits fehlen auch Transparenz, Raffinesse und Sinnlichkeit nicht. Für mich ist dies eine der packendsten Interpretationen dieser Komposition, und sie straft alle die Lügen, die behaupten, das Quartett verkörpere nichts als Sinnlichkeit und Grazie.

Fernand de la Tombelle (1854-1928) hat an die 600 Werke hinterlassen. Der rührige Baron, der auch Pianist und Organist war, Schriftsteller, Photograph und Maler, Amateur-Astronom und anderes mehr, ist ein französischer Romantiker, der Kammermusik, Opern, Chormusik und Lieder komponiert hat.

Wie Ravel hat De la Tombelle nur ein Streichquartett komponiert, aber anders als bei Ravel gibt es kaum Aufnahmen davon und sicher keine herausragende.

Nun ändert sich die Lage. Das Mandelring Quartett steigt mit viel Schwung und lyrischem Elan in den ersten Satz ein und spielt das Scherzo ebenso tempo- wie kontrastreich. Darauf folgt ein emotionales Adagio, das zu einem Finalsatz führt, der eher ungeduldig und irritiert wirkt, um schließlich in wie fragend formuliert ruhigeren Passagen den Weg frei zu machen für eine hoch fliegende, unbeschwerte Coda. Damit hat das Tombelle-Quartett endlich eine werkgerechte Auferstehung mit Himmelfahrt geschafft.


There is no shortage of exciting interpretations of Maurice Ravel’s string quartets. The Mandelring now adds another outstanding recording. The four string players track down the dramatic effects and return to the score the spontaneity of Ravel’s inspiration. On the one hand, the interpretation is marked by fervor, ardor, and tense, often feverish power that brings out the best of every note; on the other hand, transparency, sophistication, and sensuality are not lacking. For me, this is one of the most gripping interpretations of this composition, and it gives the lie to all those who claim that the quartet embodies nothing but sensuality and grace.

Fernand de la Tombelle (1854-1928) left behind close to 600 works. The enterprising baron, who was also a pianist and organist, a writer, photographer and painter, amateur astronomer, and more, is a French romantic who composed chamber music, operas, choral music, and songs.

Like Ravel, de La Tombelle composed only one string quartet, but unlike Ravel, there are very few recordings of it and certainly none outstanding.

Now the situation is changing. With the Mandelring Quartet the first movement has a lot of verve and lyricism, the Scherzo is alert and contrasted. They are followed by an emotional Adagio that leads to a final movement that seems rather impatient and irritated, finally clearing the way for a high-flying, light-hearted coda. With this, the Tombelle Quartet has finally achieved of this work not only a beautiful resurrection but also a heavenly ascension.

The reader who has never heard of Francesco Venturini may think that he is another of the many forgotten Italian composers of the early 18th century. That is not the case: his Italian name may well reflect the Italian taste of the time which had a large part of Europe in its grip. However, he was born in Brussels, and when he was a member of the court chapel in Hanover, his name was always mentioned alongside the French players. Hanover is the place where he worked all his life, and where for some years George Frideric Handel was his colleague. Hanover was one of the main musical centres of Germany, which in modern performance practice is probably given less attention than its importance would justify.

For some time, the court was entirely under the spell of the Italian style, and opera played a crucial role. Some of the main opera composers of the time, Antonio Sartorio and Agostino Steffani, were in the service of the court, the former from 1666 to 1675, the latter from 1688 to 1703. However, around 1700 operatic performances seem to have discontinued, for unknown reasons. From now on, instrumental music was the name of the game, and Venturini was one of the key figures in the court chapel. He entered the service of the court at Easter 1698 and remained there until his death. At that time the Konzertmeister was Jean-Baptiste Farinel, who had been appointed in this post in 1680. For some years Venturini acted as his deputy, and in 1713 he took the position of Konzertmeister himself. At about that time, he also composed his Concerti da camera Op 1, which were printed by Le Cène in Amsterdam. They seem to have found much appreciation, as many arrangements of these concertos were made.

This set is quite remarkable for their originality in form and instrumentation. Although they are specimens of what was then the most popular style in Germany, known as the 'mixed taste', in which French and Italian elements were mingled, they have little in common with the French suite or the Italian concerto. It is notable that these twelve pieces bear the title of sonata, but in their form they are in fact suites. The even-numbered sonatas open with a concerto in the Italian manner in ABA form. One of them is included here: the two sections of the concerto have the tempo indications allegro assai and adagio. The second movement is called canon, which concerns the treble and the bass, whereas the middle voices enrich the harmony. The piece ends with a passepied and trio. The instrumental scoring is rather unusual; in the opening movement the oboe has a solo part, which makes this almost sound like the movement from an oboe concerto. In the last movement, the trio is scored for two oboes and bassoon, very much in the French manner.

The odd-numbered sonatas open with a French overture, and these pieces show strong siimilarity with the orchestral suites which were written by the likes of Telemann and Bach. Two such sonatas are included here. In the Sonata No 9 in G minor, the overture is followed by three movements called aria, and closes with a pair of menuets. The second of the arias, called aria à 11 instruments, is the most remarkable because of its scoring, which includes pairs of bassoons and cellos; the music does full justice to the addition affettuoso. The second of the menuets is for two bassoons. The Sonata No 11 in B-flat has also an aria as its second movement, in which wind instruments play a solo role to an accompaniment of high strings. It is followed by a piece called Furies, which reminds us of the theatre. It is paired with a sarabanda with the indication cantabile; at the end the Furies section returns. After a gavotta, the sonata closes with a pair of menuets.

In addition to the three sonatas from the Op 1, which is Venturini's only collection ever to be printed, la festa musicale plays two pieces which have been preserved in manuscript and are now part of collections in Sweden (in Lund and Uppsala respectively). The Ouverture à 5 in E minor comprises an overture and five dances, including an angloise & trio and a rondeau. The trio is once again for wind. The Concerto à 6 in A is for strings and basso continuo and written in the manner of an Italian sonata da chiesa, with two adagios and two allegros. Two violins are given solo parts.

Considering that Venturini's sonatas are quite original in their concept and scoring, it is rather odd that they receive so little attention. As far as I know, this is only the second recording of some of these sonatas. In 2006, ZigZag Territoires released a disc with five sonatas from this set, performed by La Cetra under the direction of David Plantier. It is disappointing that la festa musicale selected two of the sonatas which are also included in that recording. If different pieces had been chosen, the number of sonatas available on disc would have increased substantially. On the other hand, the performances are clearly different in one respect; in three of the five items, la festa musicale adds percussion. I find this rather problematic and untenable from a historical point of view. In the Furies movement from the Sonata No 11 even a wind chime is used, which is appropriate for the theatre, but not for concertante performances. However, this is not music for the theatre; the title of the Op 1, Concerti di camera, speaks loud and clear. Even if it was meant for the theatre, that does not mean that nearly every dance needs the participation of percussion. In the Furies movement, Venturini has written the string parts in such a way that they suggest what the title refers to, and that should be enough. It is highly regrettable that the otherwise excellent playing of la festa musicale is contaminated with a virus I use to call percussionitis. It is quite infectious, but unfortunately a vaccine has not been found yet.

[...] la sonorité de Franziska Pietsch, magnifique, et le travail de Josu De Solaun, d'une clarté polyphonique absolue, servent une réalisation parfois discutable mais à laquelle on ne reste pas indifférent.

I tre musicisti dello Swiss Piano Trio ridanno vita alle due partiture con un brio, un’energia e un’urgenza espressiva di contagiosa presa, che testimoniano la bravura e la maturita` dei tre musicisti, che con la loro integrale beethoveniana si pongono ai vertici tra quelle uscite negli ultimi tempi.