Ensemble Clematis is a Dutch-period Baroque ensemble whose previous outing consisted of a traversal through the works of Nicolaus à Kempis. Given the obscurity of Kempis one can already deduce that
Ensemble Clematis is a very serious and scholarly group, dedicated to raising the musical bones of composers long mislaid and leaving the tried and true to others. Baroque Flemish composer Carolus Hacquart is digging about as deep as one can go without falling through the crust of the earth; a provincial composer originally from northern, Spanish administrated Bruges who traveled south to Amsterdam in the 1670s in order ply his trade as a Catholic musician in an overwhelmingly Protestant, and hostile, but more lucrative, atmosphere of patronage. Hacquart's reputation rests on three publications, a Cantiones sacrae (1674), a collection of very early trio sonatas entitled Harmonia parnassia (1686), a set of 12 suites for bass viol, and the pastoral De triomfeerende min, sometimes referred to as the first "opera" in the Dutch language. Musicaficta's Carolus Hacquart: Cantiones & Sonate is derived from pieces found in the first two volumes, contrasting the trio sonatas with sacred vocal pieces designed for both Catholic and Protestant use.
The sonatas are more impressive than the vocal pieces, as they are harmonically exploratory and demonstrate an interesting variety of rhythmic ideas, in part drawn from the country dance music Hacquart would have known from his native Bruges.
Ensemble Clematis apparently decided to pass on Hacquart's most avidly discussed trio sonata, Sonata quarto a tre, with its surprising "bizarria" movement. However, the Sonata quinta a tre, which opens the disc, is still thorny in the expected mid-Baroque manner, and
Gustav Leonhardt usefully describes it as a "sonata tragica." The pieces from Cantiones sacrae are less compelling, as they are designed for singers of average ability and are musically not very ambitious. Soprano
Céline Scheen seems to have trouble getting some of her ornaments off, and the Musica Ficta's thin recording, while tolerable in the instrumental pieces, doesn't help the singers much at all.
Ensemble Clematis is certainly a promising group, and hopefully this outing will do them more good than harm. Carolus Hacquart: Cantiones & Sonate isn't quite a failed program, but nonetheless is one that's not quite the sum of its best parts.