Being the proprietor of Sonoloco Record Reviews, I have incorrectly been bestowed the reputation of a new music guru, and thus find myself and Sonoloco at the receiving end of a stream of contemporary art, in the form of CDs and books, for reviewing purposes. Now, it is true that I believe that our major concern in music should indeed be new music, because now is where we are, now and here, and always stumbling and fumbling into the future, which always eludes us with an immediate now thrown in our face!
I think it was Professor Karlheinz Stockhausen – whom I appreciate greatly, as the one most interesting composer and artistic thinker of our time, and also the youngest, at 79! – who said that we should allot 5% of our listening to old music, and the rest to new music. On the other hand, I have a saying of my own, which goes: All places are here, all times are now! I mean to say that all music, when conceived, written, rehearsed for the first time, is/was contemporary. We can only try to imagine just how new certain works by Ludwig van Beethoven must have appeared when they were written.

Anyhow, this was a long roundabout, but I just wanted to state that I, and my venture Sonoloco, stay open to all kinds of music, from all times and places, contrary to my new music reputation. That is why this CD sent to me by Dr. and Assistant Professor Mike Hall makes me extra happy, since he ignores reputation and takes his chances. I guarantee that this “old” music falls into fertile ground at Sonoloco. For one thing, I spent a good deal of my youth in baroque environments, culturally, getting some rest from the Romanticism that otherwise permeated the Sturm und Drang years of puberty. I vividly recall many nights with Handel music at the old apartment of a lady friend of mine who was a direct descendant of Jacob Johan Anckarström; King Gustaf III’s assassin. Yes, I recall the reflexes bouncing off of red wine bottles, and the baroque music that filled the rooms, smoke rising in meandering veils from cigarettes in long cigarette holders, while the open fire in the stove crackled and wheezed. 1960s…

Benedetto Marcello was a well-fixed man, who, though he wasn’t a professional musician, composed music for weekly academies, where the nobility enjoyed poetry, debate, oratory and music. In spite of being a layman, Marcello was greatly respected across Europe, his music turning up in transcribed guises in the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, and later in works by Rossini, Bizet, Verdi etcetera: quite a feat for someone who wasn’t a composer by trade, strictly speaking!

These pieces are – as the trombonist here, and the main force behind the release, Mike Hall, points out in a letter - standard brass repertoire – but, as he also explains; the whole opus hasn’t been heard on CD in the Italian style until now. He further states that this recording “is designed to provide an example of how trombonists can deliver convincing performances in this style.”

And sure enough, convincing he is on his trombone here. It’s a brilliant recording, which really moves me. I’ve even put it on my iPod to listen to when exercising on my racing bikes, speeding across narrow asphalt roads though Swedish coniferous forests, across open fields and by lakes! I do this biking even in winter, if it’s not too slippery, and this glistening trombone excellence will fit perfectly in the blinding sunlight on glittering snow. If it really gets wintry, I shift to overland skis, so this recording from Old Dominion University may serve as musical accompaniment for that discipline too!

Mike Hall teaches trombone and euphonium brass music at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, and he also a Literature Reviews Editor at the International Trombone Association Journal. He comes from former duties at The University of Kansas and Eastern Michigan University, where he also engaged in commercial, specialized recordings: Arcangelo Corelli's Solo Chamber Sonatas and J. S. Bach’s Gamba Sonatas.

Rebecca Bell, who plays the harpsichord here, is the principal organist at All Saints Episcopal Church in Kansas City, MO. She studied at the Royal College of Music in London.

Christopher White, playing the double bass on these recordings, is Assistant Principal Bass of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He teaches bass at Old Dominion University and other seats of learning in the USA.

There are many things to say about Mike Hall’s recordings, that a true musicologist would do well, but I usually approach what I hear from an educated listener’s view, from a position that I suppose most people who would naturally seek this music out would find themselves in, so I simply turn up the volume an jot down my observations:

This music isn’t shy, but determined in a calm, slender way. It steps right up to me, makes a curtsy and invites me to dance, grabbing me without waiting for an answer, pulling me out onto the floor, where I swirl around and around in speedy figures, in motions akin to the dance of a bee indicating direction and distance to the presence of honey!

Old music, yes – but now timeless, ridded of the property of time; the old-fashioned and unnecessary quality of chronology. The music is so simple, yet so intricate: a transparent latticework of rhythm and pitch, of timbre and a wonderful clarity, similar to that of a young child drawing clear-colored crayon patterns on a white piece of paper, sunlight hitting it diagonally through an afternoon window.

The air is fresh and healthy in Benedetto Marcello’s music, and Mike Hall and his companions are country doctors, rambling.

Of course, it’s the trombone that carries the weight of the music, the melody line etcetera, while the harpsichord and the double bass, as the tradition prescribes, serve purely accompanying and atmosphere-shaping purposes. Marcello originally scored these works for the violoncello.

Let me round off this review with a quote from Mike Hall’s liner notes:

“In his sacred vocal works Marcello displays a profound religious devotion but also he shows a sharp wit and sense of humor in his comic satires. Highly expressive, he is masterful at communicating mood. […] This performance is given with free embellishment in the Italian style and pursues a variety of Affekt ranging from profound to comic.”

It’s time for this reviewer to hop on his racing bike, iPod earphones stuck in his ears under the helmet, playing the Marcello Sonatas, and head out for the daily 30 kilometer bike round!