EMA Recording & Book Reviews

The Butter Quartet, who met as students at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, released their debut recording with 'Scintilla: Early Italian String Quartets.' In buoyant, impeccable playing, they capture the galant spirit of music by Pugnani, Boccherini, Lombardini Sirmen, and Giardini. Excellent performances of attractive, varied repertoire.

With a lively writing style, Katherine Butler Schofield's 'Music and Musicians in Late Mughal India: Histories of the Ephemeral, 1748-1858' offers a deeply researched study of early Hindustani musical practices in courtly and colonial settings. The era is one of sociopolitical transition during the century of the powerful British East India Company’s conquest of India.

Canadian violinist Marie Nadeau-Tremblay plays with uncommon immediacy, spontaneity, and rhetorical ease. In her latest recording, the violinist and her outstanding partners obsess over music by Biber, Buxtehude, Guillemain, and Francoeur -- all delivered in three full dimensions and with real Baroque fire.

With Notre-Dame set to reopen in December, this fine new recording celebrates sacred music linked to the cathedral, anchored by André Campra’s beloved Requiem. But the most interesting listening may be the handful of rarely heard motets, hymns, and mass settings by earlier composers at Notre-Dame.

Toronto's Tafelmusik, led by British violinist Rachel Podger, wholeheartedly embrace the 'Sturm und Drang' of Haydn's middle period symphonies. Their razor-sharp ensemble and deep musicality make these live recordings thoroughly satisfying.

It's been decades since a comprehensive history of the horn has been published in English, suitable for both the scholar and the performer. The Horn, by Renato Meucci and Gabriele Rocchetti, rises to the challenge. The authors unearth much new information and paint a clear picture of the instrument's rich history.

A new, complete recording of Alessandro Stradella's 1673 biblical oratorio 'Ester' looks deeper than its Italian Counter-Reformation inspiration and goes back to the story's Jewish roots, centered on themes of resistance and survival owing to one woman's courage. Camerata Grimani and its strong Italian and American cast perform with rhetorical flair and, refreshingly, a Mediterranean sense of expression.

Italian composer and Franciscan friar Lodovico Viadana, born c. 1560 near Mantua, was a pioneer in the new expressive monody in church music. The Viadana Collective makes its stunning recording debut with music from their namesake's 'Centum sacri concentus ab una voce sola,' codifying the sound of solo voices with instrumental accompaniment.

Mahan Esfahani's J.S. Bach recordings, on harpsichord and clavichord, are rich in virtuosity and imagination. Although the music on this newest album, including preludes, inventions, and sinfonias, was composed for teaching purposes, Esfahani sees beyond the printed page and manages to coax a vocal character from his instrument.

Using the in-vogue terms of 'media' and 'materiality,' this collection finds insights in the objects of everyday music-making. Its chapters cover a range of topics, from conventional notation to the layout and decorations of illuminated manuscripts. In case after case, the visual, textual, and tactile effects of a manuscript impacted how the musicians engaged with its content.