CKD 380

ALSO AVAILABLE BY WILLIAM CARTER ON LINN RECORDS

FRANCESCO CORBETTA SANTIAGO DE MURCIA FERNANDO SOR LA GUITARRE ROYALLE LA GUITARRA ESPAÑOLA EARLY WORKS CKD 185 CKD 288 CKD 343

WILLIAM CARTER WITH THE PALLADIAN ENSEMBLE

An Excess of Pleasure Bach Trio Sonatas The Sun King's Paradise A Choice Collection The Winged Lion Bach Sonatas & Chorales Les Elemens Held By The Ears CKD 321 CKD 322 CKD 323 CKD 324 William Carter guitar Le Calme Fernando Sor late works FERNANDO SOR (1778~1839) LATE WORKS In 1830, Fernando Sor was 52 years old. He had just published his Method for the Three Études, Op. 29: Guitar, his hit ballet, Cendrillon, was in production in Paris and he had decided to 1 No. 23 in G Major: Allegro ...... 2.45 settle there, leaving the exhausting life of a touring virtuoso in favour of a calmer 2 No. 13 in Bb Major: Andante Lento ...... 5.27 existence, devoted to private teaching and composition. In this last decade of his 3 No. 17 in C Major: Allegro Moderato ...... 3.30 life he produced some of his most magical works for the guitar and it’s largely to Morceau de concert, Op. 54: these neglected miniatures that this recording is devoted. Guitarists today are 4 Andante Largo ...... 1.52 ambitious to rival the piano and violin, and while their efforts are heroic, and 5 Theme Varie ...... 11.22 often musically fascinating, it has to be acknowledged that an instrument sounded 6 Allegro...... 4.27 by plucking fingers, whose basic range is lower than a viola will, by its very nature 7 Lecon, Op. 31 No. 16: Moderato ...... 2.42 always excel more naturally in the realm of the intimate. Although Sor wrote 8 Mazurka, Op. 43, No. 4 ...... 5.20 some very successful larger pieces for the guitar, he seems to have been happiest 9 Waltz, Op. 32, No. 2 ...... 2.25 creating small perfect miniatures and it strikes me that criticising these works 10 Le Calme, Caprice pour guitar seul, Op. 50: for a lack of ambition (as some guitarists have done) is to misunderstand their Andante ...... 9.18 essence. We might, with equal justice, make similar criticisms of a snowflake or Three Études: a wildflower. 11 Op. 60, No. 22: Allegro Moderato ...... 1.58 In addition to his activities as a teacher and composer, Sor also appeared in 12 Op. 35, No. 17: Moderato ...... 2.55 public occasionally as a soloist with musicians such as the tenor Garcia (Rossini’s 13 Op. 35, No. 22: Allegretto ...... 2.58 original Barber of Seville), Berlioz and Liszt (who pioneered the first solo recitals 14 Lecon, Op. 31, No. 23: from around 1840, just after Sor’s death). One of his performances in 1833 holds Mouvement de priere religieuse ...... 2.44 a special interest for me. It was a ‘Concert Historique’ devoted to music of the 17th century, organised by the eminent musicologist and critic F.J. Fetis who wrote: William Carter’s guitar by Tony Johnson, 2006 after 19th century models ‘The famous guitarist Sor had been patient enough to make a special study of the lute... Recorded at St Martin’s Church, East Woodhay, UK on the 17th – 19th May 2010 Franchomme played the bass viol, and I, the harpsichord.’ There is also a persistent Produced and engineered by Philip Hobbs rumour that Sor gave a concert or two with Frédéric Chopin during these years Post-production by Julia at Finesplice, UK but I haven’t been able to verify this from any 19th century source. It wouldn’t be Photograph of William Carter by Amit Lennon surprising though if it turned out that they had known one another; they were

William Carter : 2 William Carter : 3 moving in the same circles at the same time and Sor composed several mazurkas Sor’s final years were not happy ones: although he had material security, (one of which is included on this recording) which are very obviously intended as the death of his wife and only daughter as well as his own health (he seems to complements to his younger colleague. have died of cancer) meant that his end was rather tragic. Brian Jeffery, in his With the sort of respect accorded to Sor by his musical peers and the biography of Sor, gives us the story as printed in a Spanish news journal. This triumph of his ballet music with the general public (Cendrillon was in repertory at article is so wonderfully romantic and over the top that I can’t resist quoting from the Paris Opera for several years and had been used to open the Bolshoi Theatre it at some length: in Moscow), one might expect him to have been universally successful as a guitar A Visit to Sor in the Last Days of His Life teacher and composer but alas, his music was seemingly often too complex for by Don Eusebio Font y Moresco amateurs (ironic, in view of his present neglect for exactly the opposite reason). He quotes a dissatisfied customer with some bitterness in the guitar method of The unfortunate Sor, when we visited him, although not very old, was 1830: ‘You give us church music and counterpoint. Give us guitar music... speak to already attacked by the deadly illness which was to take him to the us in the language we understand...’ Scattered through the late opus numbers are grave... he told us how sorry he was that we had called to see him on that a series of increasingly simple works for amateurs with sarcastic titles which tell particular day, in which he was unable to restrain or contain the bitter their own story: pain which penetrated him; and immediately his eyes filled with tears. Indeed, on that day, one year had passed since death took from him his Op. 36 – ‘Pieces de Societe’ adored and only daughter. Op. 43 – ‘Mes Ennuis’ She was called Julia, and she was twenty-two years old. Beautiful Op. 45 – ‘Voyons si c’est ça’ (‘Let’s see if this is it’) and young, highly intelligent and with the most remarkable gifts for the Dedicated to ‘Those with the least patience’ fine arts, of a peaceful and affectionate disposition and with a heart Op. 48 – ‘Est-ce bien ça?’ (‘Is this good enough?’) which was a model of filial love, she was the joy and pride of her father Op. 51– ‘À la bonne heure’ (‘At last’) who saw in her a comfort and support in his old age. What flattering A work written only in keys which permit the bass lines thoughts and hopes, frustrated by implacable death! to be open strings. His wife had died some years ago, and Sor was inconsolable at But at the same time, amongst these not very successful attempts to write the loss of his beloved daughter, and there is no doubt that the profound commercial fodder are hidden wonderful miniature works (as well as a few larger sadness which it caused him shortened his life... He accompanied us pieces) in which simplicity of utterance is married to a lifetime’s skill and craft. to an open window which looked onto some gardens. The window-sill These late works tend to look inward rather than out but they repay the player supported a rectangular board that extended outwards on which there was and listened alike with that wonderful hushed intimacy which is the real strength a tiny garden. A number of exquisite white flower pots, of tiny proportions, of the guitar. some with flowers and some with cypress leaves, symmetrically arranged,

William Carter : 4 William Carter : 5 surrounded a cenotaph of white marble, also tiny, and exquisitely and of the vast capital. The room which we were in became dark and gloomy. delicately worked, which stood in the centre. This garden, in which there Hail and rain lashed at the simulated cemetery in the window. The noise were also other symbols of death, represented the cemetery where his of thunder mixed with the sounds of the piano. At the most severe part daughter lay. He looked after it, watered it, and doubtless his tears fell of the tempest, a flash of lightening fell with a terrifying crash somewhere on it more frequently than did the rain... All the objects that surrounded near the room; we... rushed to the window thinking that we would see him, incessantly reminded him of his beloved Julia. Above the piano was some neighbouring building collapse, but Sor, unmoving, did not even fixed a magnificent portrait of her; the wall opposite was covered with turn his head, and continued, bathed in tears, his sad and magnificent oil-paintings and watercolours done by her; the harp was in the same composition... Five or six days later he lay in bed without rising... these position where she had kept it, and when the father showed it to us, he were his last moments... stood silently before the abandoned instrument, as though once more the We can contrast this wildly dramatic narrative with the more concise, and rather skilful and delicate hands should touch it which in other times had drawn contrasting account given in Saldoni’s Dictionary of Spanish Musicians from 1868, from its strings soft and sweet melodies. Finally Sor, at every moment ‘He died in poverty and without leaving a single centime: it seems he spent it all on more grief stricken, opened a cupboard, took out two or three volumes ballerinas, for whom he had a strong liking, and that was why his death was horrible.’ of manuscript music, and sitting at the piano said that he would play us some parts of the mass which he had composed for the funeral of Perhaps there is some truth to each version... his daughter. Never shall I forget the pathetic scene which we witnessed, deeply moved and feeling the tears flowing at every moment down our cheeks. THE MUSIC Sor, wearing a loose robe, his head uncovered, raising to heaven Tracks 1 to 3 – his wide and noble brow, his gaze fixed on the portrait, his face full of Three Études, Op. 29: the most intense grief, his hands on the keyboard, seemed to take up into No. 23 in G Major: Allegro himself alone, the pain of every heart that laments, at a tomb, the lost No. 13 in Bb Major: Andante Lento object of its love. His eyes were two torrents of tears which he made no No. 17 in C Major: Allegro Moderato effort to control. From time to time there appeared on his lips as it were a Still taxing to today’s guitarists, these studies effortlessly combine musical interest light smile, as though he saw his daughter open her arms from heaven to and technical challenge. The first is a cruel study in stretches and chromatic receive him. Such must be the smile of the martyr who shows tranquillity harmony for the left hand and skips of the thumb in the right. The second, a and joy at the moment of his death. Since the beginning of the visit, a study in barré chords, is one of those rare pieces in which difficulty increases the menacing storm had approached the city, and burst impetuously when more slowly it is played, while the third combines imitation and fugato with the Sor sat down at the piano, sweeping in the darkness through the streets character of a comic aria.

William Carter : 6 William Carter : 7 Tracks 4 to 6 – Tracks 11 to 13 – Morceau de concert, Op. 54: Three Études: Andante Largo Op. 60, No. 22: Allegro Moderato Theme Varie Op. 35, No. 17: Moderato Allegro Op. 35, No. 22: Allegretto This large scale concert piece was reviewed after publication in the Revue Musicale The first étude is a little known work which explores glissandos; the following two of 1833-4. are well known from recordings and editions by Segovia and seem to look forward A profound musician, M. Sor has written for the guitar as no-one had to Schumann’s Album fûr die Jugend (which they predate by around 30 years). written before him... but perhaps in none of his compositions does one find such remarkable qualities as in the piece we are discussing. An Track 14 – Lecon, Op. 31, No. 23: Mouvement de priere religieuse introduction, broad, and if we may say so, as vigorous as it might be if We take our leave of Sor with a reminiscence of his youth in the monastery of it were written for orchestra serves to introduce a theme of rare elegance Montserrat. The monks there regularly performed Haydn’s symphonies during written with as much purity as one could achieve in piano music. Then Mass, and this piece has all the magical simplicity of one of his slow movements. some variations, sometimes graceful, sometimes brilliant, and always filled with that taste for harmony which one finds in all M. Sor’s compositions... PERFORMANCE CONCERNS: FINGERNAILS AND INSTRUMENTS Although I’ve lamented Sor’s absence from today’s concert halls, it would be Track 7 – Lecon, Op. 31, No. 16: Moderato wrong to give the impression that this has always been the case. Indeed, the two Track 8 – Mazurka, Op. 43, No. 4 greatest guitarists of our time – Andrés Segovia and Julian Bream – both had an Track 9 – Waltz, Op. 32, No. 2 unsurpassed way with Sor’s music. He featured frequently in their programmes A study in sustained voices above a moving bass is followed by a mazurka which is and they’ve left us many wonderful recordings. Bream has committed many of more of a berceuse than a peasant dance. This work, with its hypnotic mood and the later large scale works to disc (I still remember the electrifying impact his subtly varied harmony seems very clearly to be a tribute to his younger colleague, recording of the Grand Sonata in C minor had on me when I was a child) and Frédéric Chopin. The set concludes with an innocent waltz. Segovia played many of the early works with great panache (his recording of the Grand Solo is a classic of the gramophone). With fine performances like these readily available, why make more? The answer comes down to a simple question Track 10 – Le Calme, Caprice pour guitar seul, Op. 50: Andante of ‘fingernails’. A sustained lyric meditation, that seems to contain the essence of early As the guitar is played today, the strings are plucked by the fingernails of Romanticism. the right hand. Nails have the advantage of helping the instrument speak quickly

William Carter : 8 William Carter : 9 and also create higher overtones which help the instrument’s audibility in large efforts, many surviving instruments (and modern copies) are so heavily built that halls or with other instruments playing. There have always been guitarists who playing them without nails feels (I imagine) like trying to eat steak with no teeth! played with nails, but never uniformly until about the last century. In Sor’s time I was fortunate enough to play a few lightly constructed instruments that there were probably just as many (or more) players who favoured the tips of the were less frustrating and a chance conversation with someone working as a curator fingers (the ‘nibble end of the flesh’ as Thomas Mace puts it) to pluck with, just of antique furniture gave me some useful ideas about my situation. I was given the as players of the lute and harp do. The sound is softer but perhaps more vocal informal ‘Law of Furniture Survival’ – ‘Surviving antique furniture is almost always in quality. While each of these methods of playing can give wonderful results uncomfortable’. A comfortable chair will be sat on until it wears out. By analogy (this is my opinion, anyway) they are very different in their basic sound and Sor we could guess that guitars (which as domestic instruments have rarely been was a fingertip player. He wrote a method later in his life which is one of the cherished like old violins or cellos) which are fun to play would be played into more fascinating documents on music from his time. It begins with telling how to oblivion and that ones with heavier construction (which suit nail players better hold and tune the instrument and finishes ninety pages later with an analysis and anyway) would be more likely to survive. The more lightly built old instruments reduction for guitar and four voices of the opening of Haydn’s Creation! that I had access to were either unavailable for the amount of time needed for a On the subject of tone production and fingernails he is unequivocal: ‘Never recording or were extremely fragile and tired-sounding. I reflected on the fact in my life have I heard a guitarist whose playing was supportable if he played with the that Sor would have never played an old guitar himself (the 6-string guitar that nails. The nails can produce but very few gradations in the quality of the sound... their we know today was introduced when Sor was a young man) and decided to have performance is to mine, what the harpsichord was in comparison to the pianoforte...’ a new instrument made. The result, built by Tony Johnson (to his own design but Strong words but clear ones! It has to be admitted that further on in the method using 19th century instruments as models) is something I really love (and I’ve no he is slightly more generous and observes of his friend Aguado (a nail player), ‘if doubt that Sor would have enjoyed playing it as well). It has the range of colour the nails did not allow him to give the same expression as I did, he gave one peculiar and depth of bass which I associate with the guitar (as opposed to a lute) but to himself, which injured nothing’. But still, his preferences are so clear that it speaks easily when plucked with bare fingers. seemed worthwhile to me to try to explore them and I found it mysterious that Sor also left very precise thoughts about fingering that are at odds with with so much interest in recreating the performance styles of the past that so few today’s practice and more in line with the technique of earlier instruments. One of attempts have been made to play the guitar this way. I, of course, don’t claim the maxims he gives at the end of his method presents it in a nutshell: ‘Never give awareness of every recording in the world, but to the best of my knowledge my work to the weakest fingers, whilst the strongest are doing nothing’. This is directly first recording of Sor,Fernando Sor: Early Works, and this album are the first ever contrary to the sort of training we receive today, which is all about making the made devoted to Sor’s solo guitar music played without fingernails. There are weak and strong fingers interchangeable. Interestingly, it seems to echo Chopin’s reasons for this other than simple inertia – one of the most compelling is that reported teaching, in which students were asked to take advantage of the different surviving 19th century guitars are often extremely difficult to play with fingertips. sounds made naturally by different fingers and it’s interesting to speculate about The choice is often between audibility and dexterity and even with one’s best contact between Sor and his younger colleague. Playing Sor’s music whilst using

William Carter : 10 William Carter : 11 his fingerings proved difficult for me at first; both my early training and my own anatomy have made me favour the ring finger of my right hand (traditionally a ‘weak’ finger) in preference to my middle finger. But the sound of the two truly is different and it has been a pleasure to get to know this music not just as something abstract but as a consequence of one’s hands working in a certain way. And I believe Sor, even though a rationalist of the Enlightenment, would have profoundly agreed with Rachmaninov’s idea that music is ‘sound and colour’.

© William Carter, London 2011 WILLIAM CARTER

‘What most strikes you about William Carter is the sheer force of his musical imagination’ writes William Yeoman in Gramophone.

Born in Florida, Carter received a thorough training as a modern guitarist with Bruce Holzman at The Florida State University before falling in love with the earlier plucked instruments and the world of historical performance. Following initial guidance from Pat O’Brien in New York City, he travelled to London as a Fulbright Scholar where he studied the lute with Nigel North and quickly established himself as one of the leading players on old instruments. Concert tours and festival appearances followed throughout Europe, Asia and North and South America both as an orchestral player and as a chamber musician and soloist with his own group, Palladians. Carter has an extensive discography (including ten albums with Palladians) and has featured on numerous recordings for the Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert, for both of which he acts as principal lutenist. He is also an enthusiastic teacher and is Professor of Baroque Studies and Lute at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. 2005 saw a new development in Carter’s career as his exploration of the world of Baroque

William Carter : 12 William Carter : 13 guitar led to the release of his first solo albumLa Guitarre Royalle: The music of Francesco Corbetta (Linn CKD 185), which has been widely praised and named in Gramophone’s ‘Critic’s Choice’ list for 2005. Carter has been awarded Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice Award twice – for La Guitarra Española: The music of Santiago de Murcia (Linn CKD 288) in 2007 and in 2010 for his album Fernando Sor: Early Works (Linn CKD 343). Linn Records Label of the Year William Carter’s previous albums have won great critical acclaim: ‘Linn is the very model of a modern record company, ‘This is a wonderful disc… a real flamenco inspired tour-de-force.’ – GRAMOPHONE ensuring that the highest standards are maintained from the studio ‘This is that rare and perfect thing, a pioneering recording where the historical right through the company’s very impressive digital store.’ interest is fully matched by the quality of the music and performance... JAMES JOLLY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GRAMOPHONE one of 2005’s real gems.’ – INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW ‘The compelling artistry of William Carter makes this often complex music sound disarmingly simple and natural, making each and every movement a unique and treasurable listening experience.’ – CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE ‘Mr. Carter performs with agility and eloquence on a first solo disc with as much Discover the world of Linn Records appeal for fans of Eric Clapton as those of John Williams.’ – THE OBSERVER Download at www.linnrecords.com Now you can explore Linn music on-line with even greater ease by using our innovative ‘Carter’s sound is gorgeous… the playing is faultless… helps introduce download facility. Linn albums and tracks are available to download at Studio Master and a guitarist of the highest stature.’ – FANFARE CD quality – the quality you desire to achieve the best possible sound. MP3 downloads are also available. For further information - www.williamcarter.eu linnrecords.com is a multi-format music delivery system that delivers music on vinyl, CD and download. Register online today at www.linnrecords.com to keep up to date about our latest releases and to find out more about our artists.

LINN, GLASGOW ROAD, WATERFOOT, GLASGOW G76 0EQ UK t: +44 (0)141 303 5027 f: +44 (0)141 303 5007 e: [email protected] Sleeve design by John Haxby Cover image: On the Volga by Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, (1878-1927) Private Collection / RIA Novosti / The Bridgeman Art Library

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