It is no exaggeration to say that the first note of this recital by Michele Benuzzi was remarkable. It was played on a harpsichord which, though noble in design and eminently respectable in manufacture, is not the most accommodating of instruments and does not seem to produce a singing tone easily; but audience members were commenting at the end of the recital that they could not recall hearing such a quality of tone production from that instrument before. Those of us who had the rare pleasure of hearing Michele play when he visited this country last year, however, were not surprised - delighted, but not surprised. It is a regular feature of his playing to produce a level of tonal beauty that is unsurpassed. It is not merely sustained notes to which he gives a special quality: his trills are nuanced, his runs are perfectly even in touch and yet still have declamatory variety.
He is a performer ideally suited to Froberger (among others) and he has an obvious affinity with slow movements generally and with tombeaux-style works in particular, so a programme that included both Plainte and Lamentation promised well. The opening Plainte (to the Partita FbWV 630) was indeed very languid (as it should be - ‘lentement avec discretion’), but by no means indulged; it was followed by appropriately contrasting rhythmic excitement in the Courrant (sic); the Sarabande was almost improvisatory, yet perfectly coherent; then again there was appropriate contrast in the Gique (sic) - happy forward motion without rush.
If a recital of this quality can be properly said to have a high point, then it was Michele’s performance of the Froberger Lamentation FbWV633 (for King Ferdinand): quite simply, it was the ultimate in lingering beauty. A most affecting performance.
There was, however, a real sense of drive when drive was needed - such as in the Courante to the first (E Minor) of two suites by Reincken; but still with the counterpoint distinct. One of the more miraculous qualities in Michele’s playing is an ability to produce, seemingly, a notable legato and a pointed accent both at once: in the Sarabande there was a crossing dialogue between flow and rhythm. The second Reincken suite offered similar contrasts. The sheer sweetness of sound was most appropriate for this flowing type of Allemande, while in the Sarabande, the simplest broken-chord motif became a thing of beauty under these particular fingers; and again there was contrast when the angularity of the Gigue was wittily pointed.
The Ritter Suite in F-sharp Minor is one for which this performer clearly has a fondness: he has done us a service in introducing this rarely-heard work, which interestingly links Froberger directly into the immediate pre-Bach German tradition. The slow Froberger-style Allemand was another opportunity for Michele to demonstrate his remarkable powers of tone production: the notes were not played at all, rather caressed into a profound cantabile. And again, the quite snappy application of pulse to the Courant contrasted well. His paradoxical power to lift and sustain simultaneously was again demonstrated in the Saraband; the final movement was a convincing reminder that not every Gigue should be played at speed.
Quite why we hear so little music from the Sweelinck-Scheidt-Scheidemann school in this country is a mystery: Scheidemann’s Toccata in C was a most welcome feature of the programme. This happy-spirited piece was performed with the sort of excitement that comes when the interest is applied to gestures, not simply to overall gusto. It was perhaps surprising to hear the thrice-repeated-note motif in the second section played legato, but this made sense when contrasted with the articulation applied to the main motif of the third and final section.
This well-planned recital ended with Bach: not yet another Italian Concerto or Chromatic Fantasy, but one of his least-known works, the Fantasia & Fugue BWV 944. This performance was the antithesis of the sort of ‘mid-century Bach’ that we have been rather unfortunately hearing again recently - the sort of Bach playing that seemed to say rather more about modernism than it ever did about the baroque. Here, in complete and most welcome contrast, was indeed the singing style that Bach himself spoke of - yet executed with perfect clarity. As the Fugue was gathered towards its climax, there was just sufficient ‘leaning’ to produce a sense of rising significance and dignity, with the excitement mounting suitably into the finale.
To say one simply cannot wait to hear Michele Benuzzi play again may seem the repetition of a hackneyed claim, but it is perfectly valid. By great good fortune, we do not have to wait long, as Michele is due to give a lunch-time recital at St Anne’s Lutheran Church on July 8th (playing Sonatas by Scarlatti, Cosuenda, Seixas and de Albero).
He is, quite simply, phenomenal.
Biography...
Michele Benuzzi studied harpsichord with Ottavio Dantone and obtained the harpsichord Performing Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London. He also studied musicology at the University of Pavia. He attended master classes with Andreas Staier, Andrea Marcon, Bob van Asperen, Ketil Haugsand, Jaques Ogg, Jan Whillelm Jansen, Christine Whiffen, and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini. He was awarded scholarships for three consecutive years by Istituto Fernando el Católico of Zaragoza, where he followed courses on the eighteenth-century Iberian repertoire with Professor J. L. González Uriol. In 2003 he won the third prize at the seventeenth Yamanashi International Harpsichord Competition in Japan.
He performs in Italy and abroad as soloist and with different groups of chamber musicians, and is invited to perform as soloist by different Italian orchestras. He plays for important music organizations such as Serate Musicali in Milan, Festival of Aix en Provence, Festival of Arles, Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio, Ancient Music Festival at Massa e Carrara, Foundation Querini Stampalia in Venice, Castle of Annecy, Bach Festival in Modena, Società dei Concerti in Milan, Tiroler Festspiele in Austria, Música Antigua de Daroca in Spain, Tochigi Kuranomachi Early Music Festival in Japan, Hakuju Hall - Tokyo, and Esplanade Hall - Singapore.
He promoted and played, with other harpsichordists, the opera omnia of Domenico Scarlatti's Sonatas, which were performed from 1995 to 2002 in France.
He has founded Arcomelo, a group performing seventeenth and eighteenth-century music, and examining baroque music - especially problems concerning execution on ancient instruments. A great deal of effort goes into recovering and executing music from unedited manuscripts from European libraries.
He has recorded the harpsichord concertos by C. P. E. Bach for La Bottega Discantica: the CD had excellent reviews. In 2007 he recorded the harpsichord concertos and symphonias by W. F. Bach, and he recently signed a contract with the same label to record the complete W. F. Bach harpsichord works.
Return to the Thomas Tomkins Society home page.
Return to the British Harpsichord Society home page.
Return to Michele Benuzzi's home page.