These gloriously tuneful
and eventful symphonies, derived mainly
from Boyce’s overtures for his odes
and serentas, have never lacked for
adherents on disc. Even so there have
been times when choice has been severely
confined so a new entrant is more than
welcome. Mallon and his Aradia Ensemble
have been producing fine work for Naxos
and they were a reliable bet for this
repertoire, especially since their baroque
recordings have been refreshing and
attractively accomplished.
One won’t be disappointed
overall. The balance between harpsichord
and strings, for example, is just and
the bass line pointing in the slow movement
of the B flat major [No.1 to distinguish
it from No.7 in the same key] is well
nuanced and weighted. The Allegro assai
of the A major is well shaped, with
strings that are pert and good entry
points. Then, too, the pomposo gait
of the Vivace of the Third is well characterised
and there’s graciousness in the same
symphony’s Minuet finale (if arguably
just a shade too much). The brass is
on good form for the splendid middle
movement of the Fourth and the horn
harmonies of its finale are finely chiselled.
The trumpets flare in the Fifth, with
antiphonal voices to the fore, and things
are kept flowing in the Largo introduction
to the Sixth with its stately Larghetto
well deployed.
All this is fine; the
winds are as adept as the brass and
one can hear this in the First Symphony
in particular. They phrase and shape
with great nuance and feel for the Handelian
lines. But turn to the 1992 AAM/Hogwood
(now on Decca in their British Music
series) and to the English Concert/Pinnock
(Archiv 1990) and I think you will hear
how much more immediate the earlier
recordings are. Partly this is to do
with sound. The church acoustic of Grace
Church on the Hill in Toronto does blunt
the attacks and gives a rather distant
and diffuse quality to the recording.
It obscures wind lines on occasion as
well. But as much as this one can hear
there’s more sheer zest in the other
recordings - a more earthy immediacy.
Hogwood makes Boyce sound bigger and
manlier in the First, and for all their
skill the Fourth sounds earthbound and
more amorphous in the Naxos than it
ever did with Hogwood and Pinnock. The
AAM strings are more lithe in the Fifth.
But there are certainly interesting
points of departure. Mallon is far brisker
than Hogwood in the Vivace second movement
of the Second Symphony and imparts a
different mood to the music - just as
valid as his competitors. Then again
I do prefer the greater sense of sprightliness
and incision Hogwood brings to the Sprituoso
section of the Seventh. On balance,
and throughout, I have to say I prefer
Hogwood.
He would be my first
choice, irrespective of price considerations,
though perhaps this antediluvian can
put in a mournful plea for a resurrection
of the old cycle recorded by Jörg
Faerber and his Württemberg forces
- such gusto and brio. Maybe it won’t
win any prizes for its historically
informed manners but let’s not be precious
about that. But Hogwood is still the
front-runner.
Jonathan Woolf
Aradia Ensemble/Kevin Mallon 
