Trevor Pinnock Harpsichord Recorded Live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 10 May 2009
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Trevor Pinnock Suites by Purcell and Handel Sonatas by Haydn Trevor Pinnock harpsichord Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 10 May 2009 01 Henry Purcell Suite No. 4 in A minor Prelude 00.48 02 Almand 02.39 03 Corant 01.18 04 Saraband 01.34 05 Jig 01.42 06 JosePH Haydn Sonata in D major Hob. XVI/14 Allegro moderato 04.15 07 Menuet 03.33 08 Allegro 04.05 GeorGe Frideric Handel Suite No. 7 in G minor 09 Ouverture: Largo – Presto 04.54 10 Andante 03.10 11 Allegro 02.09 12 Sarabande 02.45 13 Gigue 01.28 14 Passacaille 04.03 15 GeorGe Frideric Handel Suite No. 2 in F major Adagio 02.14 DDD 16 Allegro 02.45 WHLive0033 C 2010 The Wigmore Hall Trust 17 Adagio 01.30 P 2010 The Wigmore Hall Trust 18 Allegro 02.46 Made & Printed in England All rights reserved. 19 Henry Purcell Suite No. 2 in G minor Prelude 01.15 Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance and 20 Almand 04.26 broadcasting prohibited. 21 Corant 01.29 22 Saraband 02.25 LC 14458 23 JosePH Haydn Haydn: Sonata in G major Hob. XVI/27 Allegro con brio 05.08 Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street 24 Menuet 04.46 London W1U 2BP 25 Presto 03.52 www.wigmore-hall.org.uk John Gilhooly Director The Wigmore Hall Trust encores Reg. Charity No. 1024838 26 JosePH Haydn Sonata in D major Hob. XVII/D1 Finale: Allegro 02.15 27 Henry Purcell A new Ground in E minor 03.27 Total time: 77.07 b0033.qxd 07.12.2009 16:23 Page 1 TREVOR PINNOCK MARRIES PURCELL, HANDEL AND HAYDN Born in 1946 in Canterbury, where his grandfather fluence, though he didn’t swallow it whole: ‘I ran a Salvation Army band, Trevor Pinnock has knew I would never espouse Leonhardt’s style been immersed in music since he joined the totally as my own. But I knew also that it could cathedral choir at the age of seven. At twelve give me a lot, above all through its combination of he became fascinated by an anthology of early rhythmic freedom and formal structure – without keyboard music, which he played on the piano, which there can be no freedom. This combination unaware that he would later become one of has been my lifelong pursuit. The challenge of the the world’s leading exponents of performance harpsichord is that it seems to be a completely on period instruments. The first obstacle was mechanical instrument, yet it can be filled with institutional. Having enrolled as a scholar special- expressiveness.’ izing in the organ as well as the harpsichord at the Pinnock is quick to point out that this Royal College of Music, and announcing in mid- Wigmore recital runs counter to history in two course that he wanted to abandon the organ, he important respects. For a start, he says, a harpsi- met a brick wall: ‘The registrar, John Stainer, told chord recital is a totally modern concept. ‘To sit me that it would be impossible to make a living as down and play a contrasting series of works for a harpsichordist – and anyway, if I did that, they forty-five minutes wouldn’t have happened in the would have to take my scholarship away from me. eighteenth century. The harpsichord player might That challenge made it a matter of pride for me to have played a piece, then somebody else would go ahead and do it. So they removed my money, sing a song. The idea of people sitting reverently unaware that it would be immediately made up – to listen to a performance on one instrument as routinely happened in those wonderful days – alone belongs to our time, not theirs.’ by a local education authority grant.’ Moreover, he adds, this is an anti-historical At the Royal College of Music he received first- performance. ‘If I’d wanted to be properly rate teaching from Millicent Silver playing on the historical, I would have had three contrasting currently fashionable harpsichords which had instruments, one for each of the periods in been influenced by piano builders. Concurrently question, but I decided to use one very good one.’ he developed his interest in historical instru- He loves the versatility of his instrument: ‘It’s an ments by practising on the fine instruments at approximate replica of a mid-eighteenth-century Fenton House. ‘When I eventually started to play French instrument, which would have been used on historical instruments’, he says, ‘I also had to for quite decadent post-Rameau music. But it can learn how to make them speak.’ Through his first turn itself well to different styles of music. It’s harpsichord teacher Nicholas Jackson, the style got a big, generous, singing sound – I don’t like of Gustav Leonhardt became an important in- clatter.’ 3 1 b0033.qxd 07.12.2009 16:23 Page 2 And if this programme sounds unusual, its much is there. His masterly handling of linked emergence came as a surprise to Pinnock too. phrases, and the way the bass line moves, ‘Initially the idea of marrying these three delaying the beats with complete freedom – as in composers seemed crazy. But then I realized the the Corante of his Suite in A minor; and the connections: how much Handel was influenced by magical quality of the simplest tunes, as in its Purcell, incorporating Purcellian progressions in Saraband. In the G minor suite the most his music; and how much Haydn had been remarkable movement is the Almand – a lament influenced by Handel. I saw the link from Purcell’s reminiscent of ‘Dido’s Lament’ whose first two choral music to Handel’s oratorios, which in turn bars trick us into thinking that the tenor line is inspired Haydn to produce The Creation and The actually the bass line, and whose real bass line Seasons. But what tipped the balance for me was has a wonderful inexorability. The slow-moving that story of Haydn, when in London, accom- scale going right up – and partially down – holds panying a song on the pianoforte by Purcell, and the concentration in a way hardly any other saying proudly that he did it all by himself. I found composer I can think of could do.’ He added the it fascinating that he’d actually touched music recently-rediscovered jig to the A minor suite - ‘a by Purcell in 1790 – and that he’d found it very good one, and I thought people would like it’. difficult. As a musician, I could feel for him.’ He regards Handel as ‘the Brahms of the So Pinnock started putting works together, harpsichord’, with his Suites (published in 1720) and quickly found the ones that could balance reflecting his supreme keyboard skill. The G minor each other. ‘But you never know, when you’re Suite includes two movements which show playing at home, how a programme will work, and Handel at his most expansive – the Ouverture it was gratifying to find that in concert they really (which is a keyboard arrangement of the did work well, with each composer’s inventions orchestral introduction to his early cantata Clori, seeming so fresh, and all very much on a level.’ Tirsi e Fileno) and the Passacaille, a favourite The resulting recital amounts to a genuine form which Handel often used in his renowned discovery: although this music spans nearly a improvisations. His freedom as a performer is also century of changing musical fashion, it reflects a evident in the eloquent ornamentation of the first unified musical world which has not hitherto been and third movements of the Suite in F major. crystallized and presented as such. ‘Whilst these movements reveal invaluable clues On the page, says Pinnock, Purcell’s suites – to Handel’s own style of playing the harpsichord’, which were published by his widow after his says Pinnock, ‘the remaining movements confirm death aged thirty-six – look unpromisingly spare: his status as a composer. The G minor suite con- ‘Only when you play them do you realize how tains a two-part invention as second movement 4 2 b0033.qxd 07.12.2009 16:28 Page 6 b0033.qxd 07.12.2009 16:23 Page 3 which is followed by a strongly characterized spooky harpsichord effects for the minuet and trio Allegro; the slow Sarabande and Gigue may be38 of the earlier sonata by alternating the harp stop compared with those written by Purcell some forty and the four-foot stop. Since Haydn gave no or fifty years before. The second movement of the indication about registrations – any more than F major suite is a typical Handel Allegro, in which Purcell or Handel did – Pinnock has been able to he keeps a strong sense of impulsion through let his imagination run free. varying the length of the phrases.’ Pinnock chose his first encore – the Finale of As Pinnock observes, Haydn’s long career Haydn’s Sonata in D major – ‘as a lovely bit of spanned the transition from harpsichord to piano: fun’. The second – ‘A New Ground’ from Purcell’s while his Sonata in D major would have been Cecilia Ode Come Ye Sons of Art – was chosen, he written for the former instrument, the boldly says, ‘because for me it sums up the entire con- experimental Sonata in G major would have been cert’. It’s an ineffably graceful piece, particularly on the cusp of the change. Pinnock extracts some as this distinguished musician plays it. Notes by Michael Church © 2010 Engineered by Tony Faulkner Produced by Jeremy Hayes Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 10 May 2009 Director: John Gilhooly Wigmore Hall Live — General Manager: Helen Peate; Head of Sales and Marketing: Claire Hargrove Photographs of Trevor Pinnock by Benjamin Ealovega Manufactured by Repeat Performance Multimedia, London 6 www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/live 5 3 b0033.qxd 07.12.2009 16:24 Page 4 TREVOR PINNOCK Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered performance on historical instruments with his own orchestra, The English Concert, which he founded in 1972 and led for the next thirty years.