THE ROYAL BRASS MUSIC OF KING JAMES I
(Musique à la cour du roi James Ier)
Maurice ANDRÉ, Jean PIROT, trompettes
Maurice SUZAN, Henri ARQUÉ
Camille VERDIER, Bernard GALLOT, trombones
direction: THURSTON DART
L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50189, 1959
Un des joyaux de ma petite collection de disques...
MAURICE ANDRÉ dans ses jeunes années, vers 1959, dans de la musique anglaise pour deux trompettes et un quatuor de trombones, le tout sous la direction d'un des grands maîtres de ce genre de musique, hélas trop tôt disparu, THURSTON DART (03.09.1921-06.03.1971): "THE ROYAL BRASS MUSIC OF KING JAMES I".
Un disque paru en 1959 chez L'OISEAU-LYRE, en mono sur le disque OL 50189 (photos à gauche). Cet enregistrement est également paru en même temps en stéréo, ou peut-être seulement en enregistrement binaural, sur le disque L'Oiseau-Lyre SOL 60019 (la pochette est identique à celle du OL 50189, avec simplement en haut à droite "STEREO ¦ SOL 60019"): j'ai eu l'occasion d'écouter une restauration d'un de ces disques, la différence avec le disque mono n'est pas très prononcée. En fait je préfère nettement l'enregistrement mono, qui a un bruit de surface moins prononcé. Le disque a été réédité une vingtaine d'années plus tard sur le LONDON Treasury Series STS 15554 (paru en 1981?) (photo de la pochette ci-contre). Maurice André étant entretemps devenu très connu, son nom est écrit en grands caractères, et en premier...
Les oeuvres proposées ont été rassemblées - et en partie reconstituées - par THURSTON DART lui-même, qui a rédigé une courte, mais excellente description, que je cite ci-dessous:
"[...] Though the history of the Royal Wind Music of the English monarchy has still to be written, it is possible to outline how it developed from the time of Henry VIII onwards.
Like every Renaissance prince, King Henry employed a large corps of trumpeters (although their repertory must have been limited to fanfares of various kinds, since they only played natural trumpets: we do not hear of chromatic trumpets in England before the closing years of the seventeenth century). In addition he appears to have had a group of four recorder-players, another quartet of flautists, and a third quartet who played on a broken consort consisting of one shawm (early oboe) and three sackbuts (trombones). Many of these musicians were expert players of other wind instruments belonging to King Henry's magnificent collection, so that the sounds of whole consorts of cornetts, crumhoms, shawms, fifes, dulceuses (a kind of early bassoon) and bagpipes were also heard at his court.
During the reigns of Henry's three children, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, a number of these families of instruments seem to have passed out of fashion, yet at the accession of King James I in 1603 the Royal Wind Music still comprised a large corps of trumpets, a consort of six recorder-players, a consort of six flautists, and a broken consort of shawms and sackbuts. Evidently some of these players continued to be expert on other instruments, such as the cornett or the double sackbut.
During the king's reign his wind musicians increased in number, but their groupings seem to have changed somewhat. By the time his son came to the throne in 1625 as King Charles I, the Royal Wind Music seems to have consisted of trumpets (as before) and two equal groups, each consisting of five sackbuts, one double sackbut (bass trombone) and four players of treble wind instruments (cornetts, shawms, recorders, or flutes). On great occasions both groups joined to make one band of tweaty musicians; and by 1625 the agile, clear-toned cornett had become the regular treble to the consorts ot sackbuts, in preference to the coarser-sounding shawm. The cornett itself, a wooden instrument with a narrow cortical bore, finger-holes, and a cup mouthpiece, has unfortunately been obsolete for more than two centuries, though during the past ten years a few musicians have set about trying to revive its special techniques of construction and performance.
What sort of music did this twenty-piece band of cornetts and sackbuts play before their king, James I? Until recently the band's repertory was thought to have perished, but a set of manuscript partbooks belonging to the Fitzwilliam Museum has proved to contain some sixty pieces of six-part music composed for this royal band. The manuscripts have been scored by Trevor Jones, and I have reconstructed the missing part (one of the six part-books was lacking when the volumes were purchased by the Museum).
Eight of the pieces on the present disc are taken from this set; some of them are about to be published by the Oxford University Press.
Of the remaining eleven pieces, five are from Antony Holborne's splendid collection of five-part dances printed in London in 1599; some of these, too, will shortly be published by O.U.P. Holborne's title-page makes it clear that his music was suitable for consorts of wind instruments. The pavans by Leetherland and Ferrabosco, the fantasies by Coperario and Dering, and the alman by Ferrabosco are taken from volume IX of Musica Britannica ('Jacobean Consort Music': Stainer & Bell), their selection being based on the characteristic features of the Fitzwilliam pieces. The Intrada by Simpson has been transcribed from his Opus newer Paduanen (Hamburg, 1617) and is particularly suited to wind instruments.
James Harding, Nicholas Guy and the English-bom Bassano were all members of the Royal Wind Music of King James I. Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Robert Johnson, Thomas Lupo and Giovanni Coperario (John Cooper) belonged to his Private Musick - that is to say, his personal chamber music ensemble. Antony Holborne was a Gentleman Usher to Queen Elizabeth I, and a friend of Giles Farnaby (who was probably a London instrument-maker); Richard Dering became organist to Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria; and Thomas Simpson spent most of his life on the continent of Europe at the courts of the Elector Palatine, the Count of Holstein-Schaumburg and King Christian IV of Denmark.
Nothing is known of Thomas Leetherland beyond his name and this uniquely excellent composition.
The music has been recorded in France by an ensemble of two trumpets and four trombones. The modern French trumpet in C with its fully chromatic compass is a good substitute for the cornett, though its tone is more brassy and assertive. The modern trombone scarcely differs at all from the older sackbut; but since the alto trombone is now obsolete, its part bas been played on a tenor trombone.
The nineteen pieces have been arranged to provide suitable contrasts of mood, key, texture and rhythm. None of them, to my knowledge, has been recorded before. They reveal a new and unexpected aspect of the astonishingly rich contribution made by English musicians of the time of King James I to the repertory of the public and private chamber music. These men, contemporaries of Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, are seldom mentioned in the history books, and their huge output is little known. Both of the Venetian masters composed a number of sonatas and canzonas for wind consort; yet the repertory of the Royal Brass Music of King James I is far larger, no less original, and not so narrow in style. Its roots lie in the court of Henry VII; its last flowering is to be found more than two centuries later in Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks.[...]"
Les musiciens sont tous français, placés sous la direction de THURSTON DART. Les deux trompettistes sont le jeune MAURICE ANDRÉ - âgé de 26 ans - et JEAN PIROT (né dans le Cher en 1932, donc à peu près du même âge, trompette-solo, plus tard membre de l'Octuor de Cuivres de Paris et de l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France). Les trombonistes sont MAURICE SUZAN (en 1947 1er prix du Conservatoire de Paris, membre de l'Ensemble de cuivres de Paris et - dans les années 60 et 70 - du Quatuor de trombones de l'O.R.T.F.), HENRI ARQUÉ (1930, 2e prix, 1931, 1er prix du Conservatoire de Paris), CAMILLE VERDIER (1950, 2e prix, 1951, 1er prix du Conservatoire de Paris, plus tard membre du quintette de cuivres Ars Nova fondé en 1964 par Georges Barboteu (Cor) avec Michel Lagorce et Bernard Jeannoutot (trompette), Camille Verdier (Trombone) et Elie Raynaud au (tuba), et directeur de l’ENM - Ecole Nationale de Musique - de Châteauroux) et BERNARD GALLOT.
J'indique ci-dessous les noms des différentes parties comme ils sont indiqués sur le disque respectivement la pochette en anglais.
Voici donc...
The Royal Brass Music of King James 1, Maurice André, Jean Pirot, trompettes, Maurice Suzan, Henri Arqué, Camille Verdier, Bernard Gallot, trombones, direction: Thurston Dart, L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50189, TT-451-2B, TT-452-2B, 1959
A) 1. Thomas Simpson, Intrada (02:05), 2. James Harding, Almande (02:24), 3. Antony Holborne, The Fairy Round (1:51)
B) 4. Thomas Leetherland, Pavan (02:43), 5. Nicholas Guy, Almande no 13 (01:13), 6. Antony Holborne, The Choice (01:23)
C) 7. Jerome Bassano, Fantasia (02:39), 8. Giles Farnaby, Almande (02:14), 9. Antony Holborne, Galliard (02:31)
D) 10. Robert Johnson, Almande no 7 (01:15), 11. Antony Holborne, As it fell on a holy eve (01:22), 12. Giovanni Coperario, Fantasia no 76 (02:33), 13. Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Almande no 5 (1:10)
E) 14. Richard Dering, Fantasia (04:08), 15. Thomas Lupo, Almande (01:22), 16. Anthony Bassano, Pavan no 16 (03:18)
F) 17. Anthony Holborne, The fruit of love (03:10), 18. Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Pavan (01:24), 19. Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Alman (02:17)
que vous pouvez obtenir en...
pour un téléchargement libre, depuis mon site
L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50189, TT-451-2B, TT-452-2B, 1959 -> WAV -> léger à moyen DeClick avec ClickRepair (l'excellent logiciel de Brian Davies), des réparations manuelles -> FLAC
19 fichiers FLAC, 2 fichiers CUE (*) et 1 fichier PDF dans 1 fichier ZIP
(*) 1 fichier CUE pour les fichiers décomprimés en WAV et 1 fichier CUE pour les fichiers comprimés FLAC, si votre logiciel peut utiliser directement les fichiers FLAC.
Thurston Dart, texte publié au verso de la pochette du disque L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50 189, 1959/1960.
