Awards:
Crescendo Magazine – January 14th 2022 – Christophe Steyne
Les tempi de Cristiano Holtz sont souvent plus distendus que chez son confrère suisse, le phrasé plus retenu, irrégulier (ou moins prévisible). Les espaces contrapuntiques y gagnent en imagination, en suggestivité, d’autant que l’interprète explique dans le livret comment il a réfléchi aux registrations, qui non seulement parent le propos mais le nourrissent, voire le déterminent. L’épicerie des fugues en mi bémol majeur et si bémol mineur ne manque pas de sel ! Pour ne rien dire de l’écartèlement spectral du Prélude en si mineur, égrené en lourd distillat. Les deux claviers (16’-8’-8’-4’) de l’instrument de Mathias Kramer (d’après le Christian Zell 1728 de Hambourg) déploient un large éventail sonore, complice de recherches d’étrangeté qu’exemplifie le couple en mi mineur, étonnamment colorié (le Prélude sous guise luthée, la Fugue digne d’un plenum d’orgue).
Particulièrement impressionnantes sous les mains du claveciniste brésilien : les Fugues en ut dièse mineur, fa mineur, ou sol dièse mineur, édifiées en seize pieds, scrutées dans toute leur densité, grandioses processions d’une savante conduite polyphonique aux abyssales résonnances. Ces cahiers ne sont certes pas le temple de la futilité, et l’élève de Gustav Leonhardt ne déguise rien de l’austérité de certaines pièces, déclinées en catafalque. Avec quelle grandeur s’érige le Prélude en si bémol mineur ! Même d’avenantes fugues comme la BWV 858 se parcheminent d’une certaine sévérité. La gravité (de ton, de son) domine ce parcours profond et révélateur. Dont le nuancier s’estimera inaccoutumé pour qui a dans l’oreille les habituels repères de tempérament pratiqués dans ces quarante-huit stations.
Car la particulière saveur de cette exploration repose aussi sur les hypothèses du musicologue américain Bradley Lehman, lesquelles dès 2005 attirèrent l’attention sur la frise qui orne le frontispice de la partition. Elle peut s’analyser comme un diagramme qui permettrait de déchiffrer l’accordage souhaité par le compositeur, pour son œuvre qui illustre les degrés de la gamme chromatique. Les curieux regretteront que le livret du CD reste succinct sur la manière précise dont a été réalisé l’accord pour cette session. Pour en savoir plus, les anglophones se reporteront à ce site : http://www.larips.com/. Sachant que ces conjectures ont aussi été critiquées, voir ainsi l’article du facteur Émile Jobin : https://larevue.conservatoiredeparis.fr:443/index.php?id=1859. Inépuisable question du tempérament… Pour sa diction intensément pensée, ses études de viscosité, son interrogation des couleurs au crible de la réflexion sur l’harmonie, le témoignage de Cristiano Holtz mérite le détour. Vite, le second Livre !
Passacaille = Son : 9,5 – Livret : 9 – Répertoire : 10 – Interprétation : 10
Ramée = Son : 9 – Livret : 9 – Répertoire : 10 – Interprétation : 10
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 846-869 [123:29]
Cristiano Holtz (harpsichord)
rec. 30 September-5 October 2019, Sankt-Josef-Kirche, Glattfelden, Switzerland
RAMÉE RAM1912 [60:37 + 62:48]
Cristiano Holtz’s booklet notes for this admirable release go into some detail about the harpsichords Bach would have known, as well as writing on the subjects of tuning and registration. With regard to tuning there can be a tangy flavour to some of the more remote keys here, but nothing at all shocking or hair-shirt in effect. We can rest assured that this is a well-researched and carefully considered recording, and the instrument used is also of interest. This was built by Matthias Kramer after a 1728 harpsichord by Christian Zell, of which only the lid had survived. The size of this indicated a 16’ instrument, which is comparable with the so-called ‘Bach harpsichord’ in the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum.
The size and rich tone of the instrument recorded can lead to some deep bass registers and stately timings, such as the Fugue IV in C-sharp minor. I had sampled a few tracks from this recording before requesting a copy for review and anticipated measured tempi, but with this kind of registration it would be foolish to go much faster, the clarity of the lines already running second place to the instrument’s mighty timbre and the buzz of those long strings. Comparing timings with Christine Schornsheim’s Capriccio recording (review) do indeed reveal slower tempi, but not always by a vast margin. Holtz does go ‘in deep’ with some fugues, taking 5:53 over the Fugue VIII in D-sharp minor compared to Schornsheim’s 4:46, but even here the music doesn’t drag, the intricacy of Bach’s counterpoint spreading before us like Aedh’s Cloths of Heaven, over which Holtz treads respectfully, while also giving the mind time to assimilate all of those polyphonic complexities.
Preludes are given more flexibility than the fugues in terms of rubato, though Holtz is reasonably restrained in this regard, as he is with Bach’s ornamentations either written or implied. There are nice contrasts between pieces, the variety of effects and registrations used intelligently, such as with the muted strings in the left hand of the first section in the Prelude X in E minor, the second part suitably sparkling and driving forward in tempo ready for the drama of the fugue that follows. This is dramatic indeed, with the added thrum of the bass adding to the texture of the whole while leaving the leading upper voices well projected. Holtz can give us legato as well as keenly accurate rhythmic articulation, and I like the expressive languor of his Prelude XII in F major, as do I greatly appreciate the grungy ‘walking bass’ effect in the left hand of Prelude XXIV in B minor.
Cristiano Holtz was Gustav Leonhardt’s last official student, and he holds Leonhardt as a formative influence. You can find Leonhardt’s Well-Tempered Clavier on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and listening back to it you can hear where Holtz gets his sense of pace and timing – measured, controlled and accurate, but at the very least always interesting. The recording here has more sparkle and life than Leonhardt’s 1970s version, but this is to be expected. The grandeur in Holtz’s sound doesn’t go as far as the venerable Wanda Landowska (review), but there is certainly still a little of that old-school ‘play the harpsichord like an organ’ atmosphere in Cristiano Holtz’s performance. If you like this idea and seek a certain amount of spectacle in the harpsichord sound of your Well-Tempered Clavier; Book 1 then this recording will do nicely.
Dominy Clements
Cristiano Holtz, harpsichord by Matthias Kramer after Zell (1728)
Ramée RAM 1912 (2CDs) [123:29]
★★★★★
This new recording of such familiar repertoire is a breath of fresh air! Cristiano Holtz’s playing is wonderful, responsive at all times to the many ‘affects’ of this music, and the harpsichord bringing a completely new dimension to the sound. It is based on a surviving lid of a harpsichord by Zell, which, given its length, obviously must have been a 16ft pitched instrument, so with two manuals and 16, 8, 8, 4 and a buff stop, the colour permutations are enormous. The sheer beauty of tone is immediately apparent in the single 8ft of the C major prelude, while the impact of the extraordinary weight and sonority of the full registration makes a powerful statement in the C minor prelude. Holtz uses this variety of colour to great effect, with 16 and 8 for instance giving the A flat prelude a darker quality than usual, the 16 with remarkable clarity. The full registration in the D major fugue is most impressive, as is his clarity of playing in all the fugues, while the individual 8ft registers alone are quite different in character. If the E flat minor prelude using just one 8ft shows Holtz in gentle and contemplative mood, with wonderful arpeggiation and freedom of expression, the G major prelude shows his ability to be lively and playful, while the B flat minor prelude takes on a magisterial quality played on the full registration, rather like an organ pleno. The combination of this unusual and supremely beautiful harpsichord and Holtz’s fine performances is unbeatable and highly recommended.
DOUGLAS HOLLICK
Tastenfest – Aeolus 2020
Mit der Einspielung der Konzerte für drei und vier Cembali vollenden Aapo Häkkinen und das Helsinki Baroque Orchestra ihre international gefeierte Gesamtaufnahme der Cembalokonzerte Bachs. Häkkinens Mitstreiter Miklós Spányi, Cristiano Holtz und Anna-Maaria Oramo lassen die letzte Folge zu einem brillanten Tastenfest werden, das durch das Duetto des Bach-Schülers, Johann Gottfried Müthel abgerundet wird.
Harpsichord Recital in Pesaro – Italy 28/12/2016
A review by Antonella Ferraro
“…Definire Bach è impossibile, e tutti coloro che vi si cimentano lo sanno. Eseguire Bach sul clavicembalo è una sfida alla perfezione e alla storia, che Holtz ha sostenuto con compostezza e rigore, nel Preambulum in sol minore, nell’Adagio in Re Minore, trascrizione dell’omonimo concerto di Alessandro Marcello, nella Fantasia Cromatica e Fuga in re minore, che esplora i confini virtuosistici dello strumento esaltando la potenza e la creatività del grande tedesco. Lunghi applausi finali per questo bellissimo squarcio musicale, incursione nel genio e nella storia.”
Fanfare USA 2012
BACH Fantasies: in a, BWV 922; in g, BWV 920. Fantasy and Fugue in d, BWV 905. Toccatas: in d, BWV 913; in e, BWV 914. Preludes: in F, BWV 928; in d, BWV 926; in G, BWV 902. Toccatas: in d, Read more BWV 913; in e, BWV 914. Chorale, “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten,” BWV 691. Praeambulum in g, BWV 930. Sonata and Fugue in a, BWV 967/959. Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in d, BWV 903 • Cristiano Holtz (hpd) • HERA 2125 (71:56)
Quoting from the liner notes, “Except the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, the G-Major Prelude, and the pieces from the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1720), all the Bach works played on this recording are early ones, possibly from the period spent at Muehlhausen (1707–08) or—in some cases—his first years at Weimar (1708–17). Many of the pieces performed here are little-known pieces, seldom performed and much less recorded. Such is the case of the G-Minor Fantasy—I could not find any digital recording of this work, and so I believe it to be a world premiere on CD.” Not being a Bach scholar, I therefore absolve myself of blame in claiming this piece and the Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 905, as premiere recordings. If you have a problem with this, write to Cristiano Holtz.
Now, then, to move on to the recording—it’s simply fantastic. Not being familiar with many of these pieces, I can only say that to me Holtz’s performances are absolutely scintillating, in fact among the most emotionally engaged Bach playing on harpsichord I’ve ever heard in my life. I can’t even think of another Bach album to compare it to, but rather I’d put it in the same classification as Igor Kipnis’s magnificent 1982 Nonesuch album The Virtuoso Handel. Holtz makes his instrument sing, dance, and do backflips through the music. He is fully engaged, both technically and emotionally, from first note to last. When was the last time you heard a Bach album—and/or a harpsichord album—that riveted your attention from start to finish?
In his liner notes, Holtz often points out the similarities in these early Bach pieces to the Italian style, particularly trio sonatas and toccatas, and his playing is very much in the Italian style as well. In fact, I almost feel while listening to the disc that these pieces, and Holtz’s playing of them, sound much more like the Scarlatti sonatas or even the harpsichord music of Buxtehude. Thus it didn’t surprise me at all to learn that one of his greatest influences was the late Gustav Leonhardt, who accepted Holtz as his last official pupil. Like his mentor, Holtz plays with joy, excitement, and fervor. You could skip through this CD, stopping at different pieces at random, and you would be enthralled by his playing no matter what the context. His recital ends with what I can only describe as the most scintillating performance of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue I’ve ever heard. This one goes on my shortlist of favorite Bach albums.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
“Outhere / Classica – 2011”
Handel has the reputation of a free thinker regarding the composition of his suites. His keyboard works combine a formal freedom with a rhetorical mastery in a way that undoubtedly reflects his improvisatory gifts, for which he was famous. The music in these pieces is very lively in its invention, and exhibits an enthusiasm in allying the structure with very different styles. The large-scale works of 1720, all completely different from one another, are a synthesis inspired by elements of the German and Italian styles. He seems to have had little interest in the form of the suite per se. Formal unity is most often achieved through common thematic use. The diverse origins of the music make the collection of suites a microcosm of Handel’s eclectic style.
Following his highly acclaimed recording of the Johann Mattheson harpsichord suites, Cristiano Holtz presents a splendid interpretation of the Handel suites.
“Record Geijutsu Award”
Itinerary : Aizawa Shohachiro
For “Record Academy Awards”, we choose discs very strictly, thus naturally
each of nominated discs for this time is distinguished da sé, as all three of us
agreed at first. (…) We discussed again and again and finally this disc is
speculated among all: the harpsichord recording played by Christiano Holtz.
We highly evaluate its overwhelming energish impression, which anew our
stereotyped ‘fragile and gracious’ image on this instrument.
(Aizawa Shohachiro)
Classical
“[…] Hier finden Sie eine herrlich kontrollierte Zwanglosigkeit in Holtz’ Interpretation […] Kurzum, wenn dies ein Repertoire ist, das selbst Anklang finden kann, wenn Sie neugierig auf die Kompositionen des Autors und Theoretikers Mattheson sind, wenn Sie eine gute Aufnahme exzellent gespielter Cembalomusik des Barock möchten, dann zögern Sie nicht, diese attraktive CD zu kaufen.”
http://www.classical.net, 2007
Klassik
„[…]Der brasilianische Cembalist Christiano Holtz, der unter anderem bei Jacques Ogg und Gustav Leonhardt gelernt hat, beweist auf seiner aktuellen Einspielung der Suiten, dass der Komponist Mattheson ganz zu Recht in den letzten Jahren wieder etwas mehr ins Bewusstsein von Aufführenden und Hörern gerückt ist. Auf dem von ihm für die Aufnahme ausgewählten Instrument von Bruce Kennedy zelebriert er die klangvollen Tanzsätze mit Genuss und einer großen Portion Spielfreude. Ob ein rauschendes Präludium oder eine nachdenkliche Sarabande (wie beispielsweise Track Nr.6), Holtz findet immer den richtigen Anschlag. Dabei nimmt er sich in der Tempowahl einige interpretatorische Freiheiten und spielt mit dem kontrastreichen Wechsel schneller und langsamer Passagen. Die reichen Verzierungen kostet er mit delikater Phrasierung aus, was seine Interpretationen sehr belebt. Das Instrument entfaltet dabei einen herrlich runden, wohltönenden Klang, der sich angenehm im ganzen Raum ausbreitet. Es ist ganz erstaunlich, was für weiche Klänge Holtz dem Cembalo zu entlocken vermag.
http://www.klassik.com, 2007
Der unbekannte Bach
Raritäten von Johann Sebastian Bach
Der brasilianische Cembalist Cristiano Holtz hat sehr frühe und selten aufgeführte Stücke Bachs neu eingespielt und mit großartigen Werken des reifen Komponisten wie der Chromatischen Fantasie und Fuge kombiniert.
Autor: Wolfgang Schicker
Stand: 25.07.2012
Eine Weltersteinspielung von Cembalowerken Bachs im Jahr 2012? Es gibt noch Musik von Bach, die nicht auf CD erhältlich ist? Zumindest beteuert der brasilianische Cembalist Cristiano Holtz im Booklet seiner neuen CD, lange und intensiv nach digitalen Aufnahmen der Fantasien BWV 905 und 920 gesucht zu haben – erfolglos. Im Fall von BWV 905 hat Holtz wohl die Einspielung von Christian Rieger übersehen, die bereits im Jahr 2000 als CD erschienen ist, aber zumindest für BWV 920 könnte der werbeträchtige Aufdruck “Weltersteinspielung auf CD” tatsächlich stimmen. Allerdings stellt sich darüber hinaus bei beiden Fantasien die Frage, ob Bach sie überhaupt geschrieben hat, was bisher von der Forschung nicht endgültig geklärt werden konnte.
Wenn aber die auf tönernen Füßen stehende “Weltersteinspielung” bei den meisten Musikliebhabern – ohnehin überhäuft von der Plattenindustrie mit “World Premiere Recordings” aus dem Bereich der Alten Musik – kaum noch einen unwiderstehlichen Kaufreflex auslösen dürfte, worin liegt dann überhaupt das Besondere dieser neuen CD von Cristiano Holtz?
Es ist die Kombination aus sehr frühen Stücken und reiferen Werken Bachs, eine Zusammenstellung, die seinen Weg aus der Mitte deutscher Orgelmeister wie Georg Böhm, Dietrich Buxtehude oder auch Johann Pachelbel zum – zumindest aus heutiger Perspektive – alles überstrahlenden Originalgenie nachzeichnet. Und es ist die Vielfalt der Genres, die Holtz ausgesucht hat – von den gelehrten Gattungen der Fuge und der Choralbearbeitung bis hin zu den freien, spielerischen, manchmal verspielten Stücken mit Titeln wie Präludium, Praeambulum, Fantasie oder Toccata.
Bach – Das Zentrum
Der in Lissabon lebende und lehrende Cembalist Cristiano Holtz, Schüler u. a. von Pierre Hantai und Gustav Leonhardt, wurde bereits mehrfach für seine Aufnahmen ausgezeichnet, u.a. mit dem Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik und dem Record Academy Award. Die Musik Bachs sieht Holtz als das Zentrum seiner musikalischen Arbeit an. Um sie adäquat und seinen klanglichen Vorstellungen entsprechend interpretieren zu können, ließ er sich 2010 von dem Cembalo-Bauer Matthias Kramer die Kopie eines Instruments von Gottfried Silbermann aus der Zeit um 1740 anfertigen. “Dieses wunderbare Instrument inspiriert mich und hilft mir dabei, viele neue Seiten an Bachs Musik zu enthüllen und zu entdecken,” schreibt Holtz im Booklet der CD. Diese Inspiration hört man in den fein herausgearbeiteten Details des Anschlags, der Agogik und der Melodieführung, aber auch im Ausdrucksreichtum seiner Interpretationen – vom galanten Cantabile bis hin zur stürmischen Spielfreude.
CD-Info:
Bach Raritäten für das Cembalo
Cristiano Holtz, Cembalo
Label: Edition Hera, HERA02125
American Record Guide January/February 2013 Page 55
BACH: Rare Harpsichord Pieces
Cristiano Holtz
Hera 2125—71 minutes
Holtz offers “rare works” of JS Bach: the Fantasy and Fugue in D minor H 905 and Fantasy in G minor H 920, along with more familiar workslike the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue H 903.
H 905 and 920 were completely new to me.They are energetic and elegant works. H 905 is an evocative musical miniature, a “musical moment”, to use Schubert’s term. The prelude is in trio-sonata style: sustainedviolin-like lines that unfurl over a walking bass.
The piece may remind some listeners of the B minor Prelude from Book 1 of the Well -Tempered Clavier. Holtz plays the bass-line with a mute stop, like a pizzicato cello. The fugue summons the spirit of composers like Buxtehude and Reincken, Bach’s musical fathers and grandfathers. Its archetypal repeated three-note canzona subject was a favorite improvisatory impetus for generations of composers.
An astounding passage of distended dactyls toward the end of the piece is a playful and mischievous gesture on Bach’s part.
H 920 contains a dizzying and fantastic variety of textures and moods. A memorable moment is an almost galant arioso section.
That sweet, song-like music is offset by the arpeggiation that precedes it and a fiery fugue that follows it.
Holtz plays with joy, elan, and unimpeachable clarity of intention. He dedicates this program to the memory of Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012) the influential harpsichordist and conductor. Holtz was Leonhardt’s last official student. Perhaps he has placed the poignant Chorale H 691 ‘Wen nur den Lieben Gott Lasst Walten’ at the heart of his program as an homage to his beloved teacher.
Cristiano Holtz 