By Lenny Cavallaro
Methuen,
MA, USA
I have heard many
wonderful recordings over the decades, so it is always a welcome surprise when
I am truly moved by an artist with whom I was previously unfamiliar. I had that
experience with the YouTube
performances of baroque violinist Anaïs Chen, and my comments about them are a
matter of public record. I was absolutely delighted to catch up with Anaïs and
discuss various projects, both her own and those of her ensembles, Duo
L’Istante and Ensemble Daimonion.
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Anaïs Chen
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LENNY
CAVALLARO: Perhaps we can begin with a discussion of your most
recent recording: the Bach Sonatas for
Violin and Clavier, which are certainly monumental in the development of
chamber music for the two instruments.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Absolutely. They are among the most complicated
pieces I have ever studied. Above and beyond the technical challenges, the
music is truly interwoven among what are effectively three voices. It’s as
though the two musicians actually perform three parts, since the harpsichord plays
both the accompanying continuo part
and its own melodic voice. The complexity is heightened, because as soon as one
performer takes even the slightest freedom or initiative, the other must be
extremely aware, know exactly what is going on, and make the appropriate
adjustments. Thus, these six sonatas are far more challenging than his sonatas
with only the continuo, which were
far more common before Bach. In fact, in some ways they are even more difficult
than his unaccompanied partitas and sonatas.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Really? How so?
ANAÏS
CHEN: When one is playing with one or more colleagues, one
may have moments of spontaneity, and with the Bach sonatas these can be
effective only if both performers are listening very carefully to one another,
poised to respond appropriately.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: I understand. I think that’s the sort of thing we see
more with truly skillful baroque performance. It’s the intensity with which one
needs to listen, since with a style so concerned with articulation and
phrasing, if one player does something with an important motif, the other must
usually answer accordingly.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Absolutely! Moreover, the harpsichordist must sometimes
almost split into two performers, where one hand takes some rhythmic liberties, while the other is somewhat more
steady. Then there are the ensemble problems. For but one example, in the
F-sharp minor movement [third movement of
the A Major sonata – ed.] we did not feel the freedom of motion the same
way initially, so we had to try it again to resolve our differences and
determine what we wanted to take out of the music.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Which you did most successfully. I also like what you
said, because with baroque pieces, we really don’t put expression into the
music, but must instead think in terms of “taking it out.” This can indeed be
very difficult. However, as one who takes so much out of these sonatas, do you
have a favorite?
ANAÏS
CHEN: I have favorite movements: for example, the opening
of the E Major.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Ah, that long line, which only Bach could have
written. For me, it’s the opening of the B minor.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes, that one, also. In fact, I love most of the slow
movements.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: When will you record the solo works?
ANAÏS
CHEN: I’ve performed some, not all of them, and recorded
only a few movements.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Notably, the Adagio of the G Minor, which is exquisite,
and the famous “Chaconne” from the D Minor is on your website.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Nevertheless, I would need to “isolate” myself to
prepare for such an undertaking.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Well, I hope
you do, based on what I’ve heard. Of course, certain works for solo violin are
simply “monumental” by any standard, and I would place those six unaccompanied Bach
compositions and the Paganini Capricci
in that elite category.
However, that project
leads us to another topic. While your Bach – on period instrument – is
absolutely gorgeous, your true passion seems to be music from the late
Renaissance/early baroque, which is even less familiar to the public. I must
say your Palestrina/Rognoni moved me immensely. “Io son ferito” (“I am wounded”) is the Palestrina madrigal. Did
Rognoni actually write out all those marvelous – and totally violinistic –
embellishments?
ANAÏS
CHEN: This one is actually written out in his treatise. It
was presented as an example of how to engage in this practice with art and
mastery, but one can also learn to do so on one’s own.
Francesco Rognoni was not
the only one who wrote a treatise. Bovicelli, Dalla Casa, Riccardo Rognoni
(Francesco’s uncle), and Silvestro Ganassi all explained the art of “diminution.”
Ganassi’s, which is the earliest (1535), presented truly complicated rhythmic
patterns, including quintuplets and septuplets. The complexity of these
figurations leads us to believe they had probably been in practice in the oral
tradition for many years before Ganassi wrote them down in his first treatise,
since they had evolved so extensively.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Fascinating. I would have assumed they used only
duple- or triple-meter figurations: 3, 4, 6, 8, etc. We don’t generally see
septuplets until the 20th century.
Of course, I’m also most
impressed by the remarkable improvisation itself. It is clearly a lost art. I
expect the performer (violin, oboe, or other) to embellish around what I have
written, sometimes spontaneously. However, only those trained in and comfortable with baroque improvisation
can do so. Similarly, in performance today – particularly in recording – we see
far more of the metronomic precision, and far less willingness to take chances.
ANAÏS
CHEN: I totally agree. I think the public will notice if
the musicians are taking risks, and in a live concert they really appreciate those
moments when something unique is happening.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: True, although it doesn’t win competitions.
Nevertheless, I’m far more interested in what the performer has to convey, what
he/she projects, and what is taken out of this music. When I performed, I
always hoped someone in the audience had been moved emotionally, and when I
attended a concert, I wanted to be moved to tears myself. Even if the
performance itself is less than technically flawless, the “magic” can occur.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Exactly. It’s all about communication. I really enjoy
those special moments, and it is a true triumph when a few people come up after
a concert and tell me how much they were touched by the performance.
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| Anaïs Chen |
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Unfortunately, no discussion of “performances” can
evade the essential question of today’s concert halls and the programs usually
offered in them. You are very passionate about this late Renaissance, early
baroque music. Unfortunately, many people assume music more or less began with
Bach. This is utter nonsense; without his predecessors, there would have been
no Bach! Is there anything you think might help audiences grow to appreciate
it? Of course, one should immediately note that most people might not
“understand” this music, but how many people truly “understand” the late
Beethoven string quartets or Bach’s Art
of the Fugue? These masterpieces are monumentally difficult, yet they are
occasionally programmed – certainly far more than the music you most love.
ANAÏS
CHEN: I’ve spoken with concert directors, who seem
impressed by the work we do yet insist that because their audiences are too
conservative, they simply cannot program anything so unusual. Thus, what my
colleagues and I are trying to do is simply to make this music more popular by
sharing it on the Internet. We are in the process of preparing more videos, in
the hope that over time a broader audience will come to appreciate this
repertoire. I didn’t know anything about this art before I began to study early
music and period instruments. The first step is just to get the music “out
there” and hopefully better known by people (especially concert organizers). If
and when they begin to appreciate its beauty, they will be more willing to hear
it in concert and program it! It’s a little better in Italy, because it’s part
of their heritage, but even here it’s rare. It also helps to present it in the
beautiful church of San Martino a Luco, near Poggibonsi, Tuscany.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: That must be a wonderful place to perform, record,
and listen. You have made a truly audacious leap into the early baroque, especially
with such magnificent recordings as “Io
son ferito.” Surely this music should be heard, so are there other reasons
why we find resistance on the part of organizers to program such repertoire?
ANAÏS
CHEN: Unfortunately, while some performers are truly
committed to the early styles, we also find those who have become involved more
out of convenience than genuine dedication to and love of the art. Sadly, because people are not
so familiar with – and generally don’t even know – the repertoire, they do not always
choose the best performances and recordings, and thus may be less than
enthusiastic about what they hear.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: That’s disappointing.
ANAÏS
CHEN: However, it’s quite true for the entire period. We have some musicians
who play only baroque repertoire, but clearly fall short of contemporary
professional standards. We also have those who are actually well-educated but
have been in too much of a hurry to declare themselves “baroque specialists,” and
have ended up playing even worse on the period instrument than they would on
contemporary ones. These performers don’t really comprehend how older
instruments were supposed to be played and would surely have better results if
they continued to use modern ones. As we can see, it’s not merely the
instrument after all, but one’s overall approach to the music.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: I’ve certainly heard some disappointing performances
on period instruments, and I’m sure they’ve done little to encourage new audiences.
However, I suspect a larger factor is your comment about how many concert
organizers are simply reluctant to program works with which the audiences are
almost totally unfamiliar. People know Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, so it’s “safe” to have an orchestra and
soloists perform them, even on period instruments. But something like the
Palestrina/Rognoni may seem too risky. And in fairness, concert managers tend
to be rather “conservative” in the classical sense: “resistant to change.” It’s
the nature of the beast.
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| Anaïs Chen |
ANAÏS
CHEN: However, there is so much to discover about earlier
music, and it is important that we do so. For those who are skeptical, I should
add that this early music greatly expands our understanding of the glorious
late baroque music that followed it. From these works we can learn so much more
about instrumental technique, sound production, ornamentation, general
aesthetics, notation – and remember that many things were not notated, or else notated in a different manner than the one
with which we are familiar.
Moreover, we are fortunate to have some
instrumental and diminution treatises. These demonstrate how a lot of
ornamentation was added to the actual, rather blank score. They also present
articulation and phrasing in painstaking detail, imitating as much as possible
good singers who are delivering a text expressively and with clear pronunciation.
This
information is important, and without it, performers simply cannot understand
significant parts of the music. And even after all that, we are left with what
I call “personal gaps,” which we can fill in only by practicing on period
instruments (or modern copies of period instruments). With these we learn many
things that are not in the treatises,
and which must be discovered by actually playing. Indeed, I fell completely in
love with baroque violin the first time I handled one. Even though it was a
rather poor instrument, I was immediately able to gain insight as to why I had
struggled so much even with the music of Mozart, to say nothing of compositions
written earlier. On a modern instrument, I simply could not do what I wanted to
do, yet on a baroque violin, everything felt natural.
Keeping all this in mind,
I am trying to present programs that include not only the familiar – those famous
and well-known composers – but also some of the less familiar. It is important
to realize that the “giants,” as we perceive them, did not emerge out of
nothing. Moreover, those masters who composed before Bach are by no means
“inferior.” We can find exquisite art long before Bach and Handel.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Indeed, and in
a way, that statement invites the question about baroque art long after those two giants. Have you perhaps
worked with some contemporary composers who wrote for period instruments,
including violin?
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes! On my website, look at Io Sono un Fumo. The composer, Caspar Johannes Walter, wrote for
our instruments, set in mean-tone [a
different system of tuning than contemporary “twelve-tone equal temperament” – ed.] and then expanded so that he could
use microtones [as opposed to normal
pitch intervals – ed.]. We
performed the piece without scores, and the musicians were acting, or more accurately
engaged in pantomime.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: That short
video clip is definitely something else.
However, the music is clearly in the contemporary idioms. Have you worked with
any composers who write in baroque style?
ANAÏS
CHEN: No.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Perhaps another day. Meanwhile, you are recording
extensively.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes. The first recording was with Daimonion: Discorsi delle Comete, which is
available through my website. I like this repertoire, and the CD shows a vast
range of styles. There are also some “diminutions”: one arranged by us in the
style of Francesco Rognoni; one written by my colleague, Andrea Inghisciano, in
the style of Ganassi. I must mention that Andrea, who is also an
extraordinary cornetto player, has very much influenced my understanding of
early baroque style and above all improvised diminution practice. Diminution – the
ornamentation of that period – entails breaking down the longer notes into
shorter ones (as embellishments). The CD also has some sonatas and canzonas
that ignored many of the “old” rules of strict Renaissance counterpoint and created
a spectacular “new” style, full of harsher contrasts and formerly unthinkable
dissonant freedom, which could be justified only by enhancing expressiveness.
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| Daimonion: Daniel Rosin, Soma Salat-Zakariás, Anaïs Chen, María González, Adrian Rovatkay, Andrea Inghisciano |
Next was Cercar la Voce, a Duo L’Istante release
with harpsichordist Johannes Keller, which is also available through my
website. As the title suggests, it includes works that derive directly
from vocal repertoire or have at least some connection with it.
It is especially interesting to hear because of the marvelous selections, ranging
from Palestrina to Tartini, and it even includes the Bach “Chaconne.” I use
both my early and high baroque violin, and the harpsichordist used two
instruments, also.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Then came another ambitious CD with Daimonion: works
by Francois Francoeur, with Maria Gonzalez at harpsichord and Daniel Rosin at cello.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes, we did six of the twelve accompanied sonatas by
Francoeur, and garnered a prize [the Diapason
d’Or – ed.]. Of course, he’s not a well-known composer, but I find
Francoeur very personal and unique. His sonatas are really nice and quite challenging
for violinists and deserve to be heard more. He also presents an interesting
mix of styles and influences between the French and Italian, in this case with
Corelli.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Of course, these are all accompanied by harpsichord
and cello?
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes, the basso
continuo, and the cello part is really quite important, so I’m happy we had
such a wonderful baroque performer as Daniel Rosin. However, we certainly didn’t
use cello when we recorded the six Bach works, a two-CD set released in 2018,
which is also available through my website.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: I immediately noticed
the wonderful balance between you and yet another harpsichordist, Alexandra
Ivanova. In fact, I don’t believe I have ever heard such a fine dynamic blend.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Thank you. It is often a challenge to achieve this
type of balance. Many times in concerts one really cannot understand what is
happening contrapuntally, simply because one is unable to hear the harpsichord
lines clearly, particularly in the middle registers. The acoustics are also a
factor, and that is why we decided against the church and recorded instead
inside a studio room with wooden floors.
We also tried to
emphasize the articulation and phrasing, and the phrasing included passages in
which each of us might want to enjoy some freedom and take certain liberties
(when we could). Of course, it is essential in baroque performance that one
must never get too mechanical, and I hope this can be heard, particularly in
the slow movements.
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| Anaïs Chen |
LENNY
CAVALLARO: I understand you have other recording projects
scheduled for summer, also. Will these be early baroque or more Bach?
ANAÏS
CHEN: Both. We are going to record the Monteverdi Vespers and all six Brandenburg Concerti with Il
Gusto Barocco from Stuttgart (Germany), under the direction of Jörg
Halubek, with whom I enjoy working a lot.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Best of fortune with both! You have recorded with
three harpsichordists. This must present some challenges as well, since all
performers are different, and while you may have a certain approach with one,
the experience may be quite different when you play with another.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Oh, yes; the three all have their own ideas, and the
strengths of one are not necessarily the strengths of the other. However, I
rather like the idea of “variety” in music. Of course, when we go for some
months without working together, we may have some difficulties feeling and
hearing the music together initially, but we can usually find our ways fairly
quickly.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Maria Gonzalez is the harpsichordist in Daimonion. Please
tell me a little more about that ensemble.
ANAÏS
CHEN: We met at the Schola
Cantorum in Basel and wanted to create our own group. We work primarily in
the early Baroque to high Baroque periods [roughly
1600-1750 – ed.] in groups ranging from duets or trios up to small chamber
orchestra size, though with only one to a part. Maria, Daniel, Andrea, and I
form the core, and then others join us depending upon what instruments are
needed. Daimonion derives from
Socrates’ daemon, the tutelary spirit
to whom he spoke when he had to make important decisions. I love the idea in
the sense of following our “inner voice” when making music.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: You also mentioned a very different sort of “inner
voice,” a project for three: unaccompanied violin, dancer, and light technician.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes, we would like to try that at some future time.
However, we did do something similar with six musicians and two dancers. We
even have a video clip on my website.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Meanwhile, you’re back in the baroque period in which
you specialize. Do you have any desire to move beyond that period?
ANAÏS
CHEN: Yes. In fact, I have played some of the classical
repertoire with fortepiano, and I should actually love to go even a little
further into the early romantic period. However, this becomes more difficult,
because the fortepiano is much more expensive to move than the harpsichord.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: Ah, yes. I interviewed Christina Kobb, who is really
an early-19th century specialist. She recently gave her New York debut, but
somewhat reluctantly had to play on a modern piano, rather than a fortepiano.
Still, from all her work with the older instrument, she was so familiar with
its limitations, and thus she had a better idea of what the composers must have
had in mind.
I think there is another,
perhaps greater lesson here. Too many musicians play almost everything the same
way, and they fail to realize that we cannot always use the same approach to
music. Similarly, they forget how much we have to learn. Without having studied
diminution, I could look at the score of that gorgeous Palestrina madrigal –
not that I would want to play it on piano – and I could probably ornament it in
the style of Bach. However, that would also be hopelessly wrong, no matter how
Bach-like I succeeded in making it! It’s simply a different art.
ANAÏS
CHEN: True, and that makes it so very interesting. It’s
like entering a relationship with a new world. We cannot reproduce this music
“exactly” as it was played in the late 1500s or early 1600s, but that’s not the
point. We try to perform it stylistically, though, and also find a way to
relate to the music within this context and determine what is important and
what is not. Obviously, we cannot use the same parameters for all music. In
some ways this is like learning a new language. One language may have
structures that simply don’t exist in others.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: It would be wonderful if you could wave a magic wand
and create more of a market for your art, but we must also begin by admitting
that classical music itself has its difficulties, and I think much of the blame
lies with the harsh, dissonant, non-melodic music that most contemporary
composers have offered us, and which audiences really don’t like. The
antithesis, of course, is found in the “usual fare,” those old war-horses,
great though they may be, that are played over and over. So much wonderful
music is sadly neglected, if not consigned to oblivion altogether. We can see
the importance of this music, how much it teaches us, and how much the
treatises that explain how this music is to be performed can teach us.
ANAÏS
CHEN: Indeed, and after that we have to put ourselves into
the music and interpret it. What do we take out of this music? How can we
re-create it, in the sense of executing and actualizing it in the present
moment of the performance? That is what is so marvelous about being a musician.
One can develop a relationship with the audience and also with the composition.
This is the ultimate communication. We have to open our minds and ask
ourselves, “What is music really all about?” Sometimes in the concert hall,
with the business and the critics, this is lost, and people think only about
the technique.
LENNY
CAVALLARO: The athleticism!
ANAÏS
CHEN: Look at cultures where music is an element of
rituals. Technique, if we want to speak about it as an isolated aspect, is only
meant as a vehicle that enables us to express ourselves, not as a goal in
itself. A good musician is one who can move the listener emotionally, even
spiritually. Similarly, some baroque musicians get “lost” in the treatises and
forget the music. However, sometimes we can make the music a truly moving
experience, and we must strive to do so. That
is my goal!
LENNY
CAVALLARO: This dedicated artist is absolutely correct. We “feel”
these things so rarely, but when we do, it is absolutely marvelous. I encourage
readers to become better acquainted with both Anaïs Chen and the wonderful world of early baroque music she so
bravely champions.
(Anaïs Chen photo credits: Martin Chiang; Michael Novak)
Links:
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