Reviews on Nicolas Vallet CD
Lute News, Issue 150, August 2024
Should you be unfamiliar with the music of Nicolas Vallet (1583–1642) his musical life parallels the period of accords nouveaux experiments but his style is firmly in the vieil ton tradition. This CD presents an attractive programme of both longer and shorter pieces, mostly dances along with contrapuntal preludes, fantasias and vocal intabulations. These are all for 10-course lute, gut strung throughout. All pieces, except two of the vocal intabulations (Psalm 53 Insaniens and ‘Canticum Marie’) come from Vallet’s two volumes of Secretum Musarum and are included in the CNRS edition; more recently in a facsimile from the Dutch Lute Society. The three preludes feel like short fantasias and, with the ‘Fantasye sur la Passemeze d’Italye’, display Vallet’s skills in contrapuntal composition. The shorter, dance-based repertoire, which constitutes the majority of the disc, is easy on the ear. Some tunes are familiar; Mallsimmes’, ‘Fortune Angloise’, ‘une Jeune Fillette’, ‘Pavanne d’Espagne’ and ‘Gaillarde du Comte Essex’ show a different approach from their English equivalents. Of note, the ‘Passemeze d’Italye’ (four variations) and its ‘Gaillarde sur la passemeze’ (three variations) are an attractive pair, but, despite appearances, they are do not form a suite with the ‘Fantasye sur la Passemeze d’Italye’ which is in a different key. Genov precedes the Fantasye with a Pavanne, possibly to make this clear. In this latter piece the lack of resonance of the tenth course becomes noticeable and causes minor problems with balance in passages that cross the diapasons, something our artist mentions in the sleeve notes. Also noted is the pairing of the ‘Sarabande Espagnolle’ and the following Gaillarde which, combined, constitute Piccinini’s ‘Saravanda alla Francese’. There are three satisfying vocal intabulations of sacred music, Psalm 53 Insaniens, ‘Canticum Marie’ and the Lutheran hymn ‘Onse Vader in Hemelryck’, an exploration in five variations. Vallet’s interpretation of the Earl of Essex’s Galliard consists of two versions running sequentially, the second a fascinating exploration of how tointerweave musical lines. Pavanne d’Espagne was amongst my first Lute Society tablature sheets, ‘Onder der Lindergrone’ is ‘All in a Garden Green’ and the disc finishes with a sturdy interpretation of ‘Carillon de Village’. Yavor Genov’s technique is excellent, clean and unfussy with a light touch, sparing use of ornament (as in the original) and judicious use of spread chords. His lute responds well right throughout its range, but for that rather dull tenth course. When you get used to it, as I did, it isn’t a problem. I could wish for a little more information on Genov’s lute other than the rather sparse ‘ten course lute after Hans Frei, strung in gut at 415Hz’ with a warning about extraneous noise related to the stringing and a plea to accept the sound of the diapasons as they are. Overall, I’d recommend this recording as well worth acquiring in its own right, and as a foil to the increasingly numerous recordings of contemporary music in accords nouveaux. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBQWDwCy2Lc
Eric Franklin
American Record Guide, Issue November/December 2024
VALLET: Lute Music Yavor Genov, lute Brilliant 96925 - 61 minutes Bulgarian lutenist and musicologist Yavor Genov has given us an excellent program of music by Nicolas Vallet (c. 1583-c.1642) who was born in France and flourished in Amsterdam as one of the late Renaissance lutenists who composed fantasias, dances, and song settings. All these genres are included in this varied and interesting program. Playing on a 10-course lute with gut strings, Genov’s approach to Vallet’s fantasies and preludes is appropriately improvisatory. Particularly enjoyable is `Fantasye sur le Passemeze d’Italye’, with characteristic sections of imitative counterpoint fol-lowed by a brilliant melismatic conclusion. Of interest to aficionados of English music of the period, Genov includes Vallet’s own arrangement of Dowland’s `Can she excuse’ as well as a few other borrowings from the English repertoire. Genov includes music of other countries as well, such as Spain, France and the Netherlands. Liner notes by Genov are informative and give the reader a clear idea of how the composer and this music fit into the flow of music history in this transitional period where stand-alone renaissance pieces were replaced by suites of dances. Genov is a lovely player and brings this music to life with technical and musical competence.
MCCUTCHEON
