Here’s another recording of music by a composer who, although virtually unknown today, apparently was recognized in his own time as the greatest of masters, who “drew the admiration and praises of all the world.” Of course, we also know practically nothing about Ennemond Gaultier, born in France circa 1575 and who later became recognized by the more distinguished name “Vieux Gaultier”. However, in addition to documents pertaining to a rather unsavory lawsuit, we also have evidence that Gaultier was quite successful as lutenist and composer in service to the court and that, in spite of no apparent personal concern for such matters, some 100 of his lute works have survived due to the “vigilant care of his disciples and admirers.” Most of those that appear on this program, which lutenist extraordinaire Hopkinson Smith has organized into suites, are highly improvisatory in nature–often it’s hard to recognize a definite melody, and when there is one, it’s usually subjected to variation and elaborate ornamentation. These are mostly dance movements–Courante, Allemande, Sarabande, Gigue, Rondeau–highlighted by extended examples of the Chaconne, which again involve extensive improvisation and variation of a melody over a bass. Smith fills out the suites with a few other contemporary works that fit the style, key, and suite structure, but that are not necessarily by Gaultier.
The music may not be so enchanting or enthralling as to keep you listening intently for a whole 71 minutes, but Smith makes sure that what we hear is impeccably played, cleanly articulated, masterfully ornamented, and artfully expressed–and his 11-course lute sounds gorgeous, if slightly more resonant than some listeners may like. Nevertheless, the reproduction of the string tone, with especially notable depth and power in the bass, is near ideal for this kind of music. A small note in the liner booklet suggests “setting the volume at a rather low level, to obtain a realistic reproduction and to minimize the fingers’ noises on the instrument and extraneous sounds from outside the place of recording, such as the storm which accompanied several recording sessions.” You’ve got to appreciate such honest information–but instead of keeping the volume down (which worked beautifully), I just had to turn it up to hear that storm!
