Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Giovanni Battista Bononcini was born in 1670, son of the composer Giovanni Maria Bononcini. On the death of his father the orphaned eight-year-old GBB moved to Bologna and grew up to be a cellist and, like his father, composer. After a lucrative stay in Vienna as an employee of the Holy Roman Emperors Leopold I and Joseph I Bononcini was persuaded by the Earl of Burlington to relocate to London. At first the Italian composer was considered the equal of Handel, himself an immigrant, but I am confident that the majority of music-lovers today would recognise the name of one of the two and it will not be Bononcini's. The Italian eventually tired of the machinations of his political opponents and returned to Vienna, dying there in 1747. My preferred guide to classical music has no mention at all of either of the Bononcinis and the recording under review is the first recording not only of his "Ave Maris Stella" and "Laudate Pueri" but also the original D-major version of his "Te Deum", here being newly edited from its English 18th century sources. These works were written during Bononcini's time in London, and a few months after his arrival the country was struck by a smallpox epidemic, which saw the first use of inoculations against the disease in England. It is apt that this recording was made in Oxford during the summer of 2021, six months after the COVID-19 vaccination programme began in the UK. Any release by Owen Rees and the Academy of Ancient Music is invariably well thought out with impeccable musicianship and this recording is no exception and in conjunction with some quality singing from the Choir of the Queen's College, Oxford along with eight soloists makes for an enjoyable listen. However, while this release will be of interest to students of late Baroque choral music it has to be said that there are reasons why Bononcini has been relegated to the list of obscure composers and Handel has not. In part it might be because 69 minutes of this CD is sung in Italian with just the 11 minutes of the concluding "When Saul Was King" being in English but, overall, it is the music. I enjoyed listening to the CD with the booklet open to follow the translation of the texts, but as soon as we had reached the end I could not remember any of it and when I listened again several days later my mind knew I had heard it before but still none of it stuck. Perhaps it is me, but I think, sad to say, that Bononcini has been forgotten for good reason. Full marks for the performance but not a lot for the composition.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.