J.S. Bach’s collection of suites for solo cello stand alongside his greatest creations, monuments to his genius for musical composition. Lutenist Hopkinson Smith has transcribed the first three Bach’s Cello Suites for the German Theorbo, a large Renaissance lute. While these adaptations are not by the composer, certainly they fall into the realm of acceptability. At least that is the way I listen to them. Bach is known as a recycler of material previously composed by himself and noted for borrowing from other composers.
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Lutenist Hopkinson Smith successfully completes his remarkable survey of the cello suites in his arrangements for lute of Bach’s fourth and sixth cello suites, plus Bach’s own arrangement of the fifth suite on this vivid sounding compact disc. Smith transcribed the Cello Suites four and six for a 13-course Baroque lute. Smith uses Bach’s transcription of the Fifth Suite, but with a transposition down for the Baroque lute.
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David Morriss in conversation with the American-born lutenist who visited Wellington for the 2014 New Zealand Festival (RNZ).
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Vermutlich wurde Girolamo Kapsberger irgendwann um 1580 in Venedig geboren, sicher starb er 1651 in Rom. Arrogant soll er gewesen sein, stolz auf seine adelige Herkunft. Und ganz sicher war er ein phänomenaler Virtuose auf der Laute: Viel mehr weiss man nicht über ihn. Nicht einmal darüber, ob er ein guter Komponist gewesen sei, werden sich die Kenner einig. Der Lautenist Rolf Lislevand etwa hält Kapsbergers Musik für zusammenhangslos und rhythmisch konfus.
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"[...] for anyone knowing these Suites well, this version will prove riveting - I haven't listened more intently for a long time. [...] Smith's playing is profoundly sensitive."
by George Pratt (BBC Music Magazin)
Hopkinson Smith è senza ombra di dubbio il nome al quale la riscoperta del liuto (ma anche della chitarra e della vihuela) e dei suoi repertori deve di più negli ultimi quarant'anni. Le sue esecuzioni delle opere per liuto barocco, e di quelle di Bach in particolare, si sono subito imposte come riferimento internazionale e lo sono ancora oggi quando escono nuovamente “altre” suite di Back stavolta non “originali” per liuto (con mille virgolette vista la particolarità delle circostanze organologiche che contraddistinguono quei brani) ma trascritte da Smith stresso partire da quelle per violoncello. L'iniziativa non è nuovissima, se ne era occupato fra gli altri già Nigel North per l'etichetta Linn, ma il rilievo plastico e il respiro che Bach acquista nelle mani di Smith ha un'evidenza clamorosa, caratterizzato com'è dalla giustezza del tempo, del gesto e dalla pienezza della grana sonora. Oltre a profondere musica a piene mani, l'incisione di Smith, artista al sommo della maturità, mostra con lampante evidenza la frattura che separa i “pionieri” della musica antica da gran parte dei “novizi”, l'autorevolezza discreta ed elegante di chi è cresciuto porgendo la musica da “vero maestro dell'arte” dalla sbrigativa prosopopea di chi lo ha scimmiottato alla svelta. D'altro canto la storia della musica, dei suoi autori, dei suoi virtuosi, dei suoi libri, sono procedute sempre così e non c'è ragione di dubitare che nuovi maestri tornino a palesarsi quando, speriamo al più presto, sul pianeta delle scimmie tornerà a scendere il tramonto.
by Carlo Fiore (Classic Voice
)
Hopkinson Smith è uno dei padri della cosiddetta Musica Antica, al pari di Jordi Savall - con cui ha iniziato l’esperienza di Hesperion XX - Ton Koopman, Nicolaus Harnoncourt e uno dei liutisti più importanti in attività. La sua vasta e variegata discografia si arricchisce di un nuovo capitolo, ossia l’incisione delle prime tre Suite per violoncello solo di Johann Sebastian Bach eseguite su una tiorba tedesca. La pubblicazione targata Naïve (E 8937) può essere considerata il capitolo conclusivo di una personale ed emozionante ricognizione bachiana: con questo tassello Hopkinson Smith è il solo musicista ad aver registrato tutte le opere di Bach eseguibili su strumenti a pizzico. Abbiamo incontrato il musicista statunitense in margine a un suo concerto romano ed ecco il risultato dell’amabile conversazione.
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In der Blüte des Barocks gehörte es für Komponisten zum sprichwörtlich guten Ton, musikalische Ideen und Entwürfe geschätzter Kollegen wie selbstverständlich aufzugreifen, um sie „veredelt“ in eigene Werke einfließen zu lassen.
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Like many other composers of his time, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) reused and rewrote much of his earlier material, often transcribing entire works for new instruments. So it probably would not have surprised him that musicians today are doing the same things with his music. Theorobist Hopkinson Smith follows up his successful album of Bach's Cello Suites 4, 5 & 6 transcribed for lute with the present disc of Nos. 1, 2 & 3, saying he transcribed the latter for theorbo because he finds the instrument more ideally suited in sound and aesthetic to the first three suites.
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Peut-on fondre en larmes à l’écoute d’un disque ? Essayez donc celui-ci. En quelques accords et quelques mesures, le grand, l’immense Hopkinson Smith vous transporte en apesanteur hors du monde, hors de ce monde. Hors d’un univers de frénésie, sur une planète où le temps est relatif et où le silence a droit de cité. Ce n’est pas la première transcription pour théorbe des Suites pour violoncelle. Pascal Montheillet y brilla il y a 12 ans. Hopkinson Smith ne brille pas : il irradie la ferveur musicale. Rien de plus disparate que les deux approches : Montheillet bouillonnant, sonore, dansant ; Smith méditatif, épuré, seul sur scène face à la musique et à la vie. Et c’est lui qui décrit le mieux le miracle : « Les tempos risquent parfois de surprendre […] [car] le silence au-delà de la musique est l’ami et le compagnon éternel de tout joueur d’instruments anciens à cordes pincées. » Merci pour la grande leçon !
by Christophe Huss (Le Devoir)
N’en déplaise aux zélotes de l’authenticité, il faut savoir parfois trahir la lettre pour mieux trouver l’essence. Hopkinson Smith, qui n’est pas le premier à jouer les Suites pour violoncelle de Bach sur un théorbe, aurait pu attirer sur lui les foudres des gardiens de l’orthodoxie. Mais après avoir écouté sa version, on dirait presque que ces pages ont été bel et bien écrites pour cet instrument.
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Bach's cello suites are particularly well suited to these transcriptions for the German theorbo by master lutenist Hopkinson Smith: the instrument's longer strings, combined with the full, resonant quality of its dozen double-string courses, allow for a much more satisfying representation of the lower registers than a standard lute could afford, and more ably realise the chordal intimations of the cello parts. In some ways, they improve on the originals, the nimble interplay of plucked lines imparting a rolling momentum to the performance not possible on the cello. This is especially evident in the Suite No 1, which includes the most natural and satisfying transcriptions in the Prelude and Gigue sections, which bookend the piece with its most potent melodies.
by Andy Gill (The Independent)
HOPKINSON SMITH is involved with music in such a pure and direct manner that he might best be described as a composer’s performer, viewing each musical text as a hermetic entity demanding questions, discovery, analysis, sensitivity, and intimacy from the performer in order to unlock its secrets. There may be no other performer on the early music scene who has a broader mastery of plucked strings as well as a deep knowledge of the literature for each: 11- and 13-course Baroque lute, Renaissance lutes of all types, vihuela, Baroque guitar, Renaissance guitar, and theorbo.
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Se acabaron los fuegos de artificio que siempre acompañan a la música cantada y la Semana regresa a las tranquilas aguas de la música pura... o más bien purísima, porque cuando Hopkinson Smith apareció en escena con su precioso laúd de 13 órdenes y sonaron los primeros acordes en pianísimo del Prélude de Gaultier el Viejo, algo irreal se adueñó de la sala y, entre un silencio sepulcral, una música dulce, casi inaudible, fue abriéndose camino acariciando suavemente nuestros oídos y nuestros corazones. A continuación venía la obstinada chacona La cascada para empezar a poner a prueba las habilidades del maestro.
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L’incessante quête d’Hopkinson Smith à travers l’efflorescente littérature luthistique se fixe aujourd’hui sur Francesco Canova da Milano, le prodige choyé des Princes, de l’Empereur, et des Papes, de la première moitié du XVIe siècle. Smith propose un panel caractéristique de ce compositeur prolixe afin d’en révéler la diversité et la complexité, en associant, par groupe de trois, des pièces très élagroupe de trois, des pièces très élaborées, telles les fantaisies et les ricercar, à des pièces plus faciles, saltarello, gaillardes ou chansons ; une organisation qui tient en vigilance l’intérêt et l’écoute. Il n’hésite d’ailleurs pas à mettre la main à la pâte par des « reconstructions » de son crû, sur des chansons en vogue de l’époque, en donnant une telle parenté avec Da Milano que l’on s’y méprend.
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Enregistrement transparent et très défini dans une acoustique agréable.
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On the frontispiece of many an early edition of Dowland’s works you can find Musica seated on a cloud, lute in hand, while Mercury gestures towards her from a fluffy promontory. It’s a nice image, and while I might be inviting a hail of feminist vituperation, there’s no question that the softly swelling curves of the lute reinforce its Renaissance reputation as the Queen of Instruments to the Kingly organ.
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Después de las grandes integrales de Jakob-Lindberg y Paul O'Dette y la particular visión de José Miguel Moreno, muchos éramos los que aguardábamos con impaciencia la incursión de Hopkinson Smith en la obra para laúd de John Dowland....
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TECHNIQUE: 8,5/10
Belle image sonore. Timbres très naturels. Localisation et transparence excellentes.
La préface donne très joliment le ton de ce récital; s’effaçant modestement derrière la personnalité complexe o Dowland, Hopkinson Smith semble y livrer en creux les...
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Partly because his name made a Latin pun for "sorrowing," John Dowland had a reputation for being a glum type. You'd never know it from this delightful sampler of his lute pieces.
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