Alex McCartney’s Veterum Musica

Grant Chu Covell

[December 2025.]

Where do we spend our days? With music that soothes, or urged forward by sounds that rouse us? And these recordings that we listen to, how many readily slip into the background versus the few that transport us back in time to the moment of recording and even further back to the music’s creation? Five releases from Veterum Musica, Alex McCartney’s modest label, have sat in a stack resisting quick analysis. Not just because Walt had engineered their appearance in my path eons ago. But because McCartney’s approach to capturing his own instrument warrants attention and admiration.

“Weiss in Nostalgia.” Silvius Leopold WEISS: Suite No 1 in F major (ca. 1710-20); Suite No. 13 in D minor (ca. 1710-20). Alex McCartney (bar. lute). Veterum Musica VM019 (1 CD) (www.veterummusica.com).

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750) ought not to be unknown. Perhaps the greatest lute player of his day, known and appreciated by the Bach dynasty, a friend to W.F., and according to legend, able to best J.S. at improvising fugues. McCartney generously reveals two suites, in F and D minor (sometimes numbered Nos. 1 and 13). These sequences of dance pieces (Prélude, Allemande, Courante, Bourée, Sarabande, Gigue, Menuet, etc.) are magnificently clear. From the first tracks’ arpeggios, McCartney transports us to a special place. His instrument is particularly resonant and inviting. In McCartney’s hands, Weiss becomes tinged with melancholy, but majestic, suggesting experience and an appreciation for virtuousness.

Why the “in nostalgia” of the title? These suites were most likely written for an 11-course lute, before the introduction of the more common 13-course lute. Weiss himself sometimes updated his music to reflect the additional bass range. McCartney plays these suites, originally written for 11-course lute on the later, grander instrument, and reflects upon Weiss nostalgically doing the same, rediscovering earlier pieces on an enhanced instrument.

“Paladin.” Jean Paul PALADIN: Var. Fantasias (1560). Praeludiums from Hortus Musicalis Novus (ed. Elias MERTEL, 1615). Var. pcs from Tablature de lutz (1549). Alex McCartney (lute). Veterum Musica VM022 (1 CD) (www.veterummusica.com).

With Paladin (ca. 1500-1565) we hop back two hundred years to France. McCartney’s notes remind us that borders were different in the 16th century, that the Kings of France and Dukes of Milan were often one and the same. Thus the Milan-born Giovanni Paolo Paladino found employment in the French courts and became Jean Paul Paladin. McCartney relates the tabulature’s technical challenges which enable Paladin’s contrapuntal clarity and innovation.

For cover art, McCartney has selected an illustration from the Tres Riches Heures, aligning his performances with contemplation and meditation. Not that this music is meant to recede to the background of some medieval vision, but that we’re to dwell upon Paladin’s skillful counterpoint, a tune reappearing here and there. McCartney’s playing is impossibly clear and vivid; you will be stopped in your tracks with wonderment.

“Fantasia Incantata.” Giovanni Buonaventura VIVIANI: Sonata Prima (1678)¹. Nicola MATTEIS: Passaggio Rotto (1676)². Biagio MARINI: Sonata Quarta “Per sonar con due corde” (1629)³. Giovanni Girolamo KAPSBERGER: Var. pcs from Libro terza d’intavolatura di chitarrone (1626) and Libro quarto d’intavolatura di chitarrone (1640)⁴. Giovanni Antonio PANDOLFI MEALLI: Sonata Seconda, “La Cesta” (1660)⁵. Heinrich Ignaz Franz BIBER: Sonata IV, “Darstellung im Tempel” (1678)⁶. Ensemble Libro Primo: Sabine Stoffer^1,2,3,5,6 (bar. vln), Alex McCartney^1,3,4,5,6 (theorbo). Veterum Musica VM018 (1 CD) (www.veterummusica.com).

Fantasia Incantata offers a welcome antidote to what I perceive as “genre potpourri,” those ubiquitous concert programs where movements, scenes, and bits are plucked from disparate manuscripts, periods, composers and countries, and tastefully curated into a hodgepodge. Our chronological and geographic distance allows such collages to seem reasonable, and we are dissuaded from deliberating upon their historical accuracy. These selections necessarily showcase their performers’ skills, and the results are justifiably pleasant and convincing.

In Fantasia Incantata, the Ensemble Libro Primo – McCartney joined by violinist Stoffer – explores the Stylus Phantasticus, written instrumental music which reflects the art of improvisation. McCartney’s solos are Preludes, Toccatas and assorted dances from Kapsberger’s collection. Stoffer’s solo is Matteis’ Passaggio Rotto. They unite in sonatas by Viviani, Marini, Pandolfi Mealli and Biber. Marini and Pandolfi Mealli’s sonatas provide great opportunity for fluid tempos and spirited give and take. Biber’s Darstellung im Tempel from the Rosary Sonatas grows increasingly vigorous.

“Rondeau Mélancolique.” Pierre Danican PHILIDOR: Suite No. 5 in G minor for recorder and basso continuo (1717)¹. M. de SAINTE-COLOMBE: Suite in D minor (ca. 1680-90)². Jacques Martin HOTTETERRE: Suite No. 3 in G major for recorder and basso continuo (1708/1715)³. Robert DE VISÉE: Suite in G major (ca. 1780)⁴. Charles BUTERNE: Sonata No. 4 in C minor for recorder and basso continuo (1745)⁵. François COUPERIN: Le rossignol-en-amour from Troisième Livre de Pièces (1722)⁶. Jean-Baptiste DE BOUSSET: Pourquoy, doux rossignol (1700)⁷. László Rózsa^1,3,5,6,7 (recorder), Jonathan Rees^1,2,3,5,6,7 (viola da gamba), Alex McCartney^1,3,4,5,7 (theorbo, bar. guit). Veterum Musica VM017 (1 CD) (www.veterummusica.com).

McCartney sits with a recorder and viola da gamba to explore French music from the early 18th-century, dipping back into the end of the 17th. This collection examines the period’s intimate and less dramatic music. While virtuosity might intrude from other lands, these pieces emphasize simplicity and courtly taste, although by Couperin’s time, the Italian influence was assuredly felt and subtly incorporated.

Honestly, recorder (Baroque or otherwise) is not a favorite timbre, shrill when not tartly flat, and difficult to discern a shaped line given the instrument’s constricted expression. Yet, I appreciate the trio’s balance and how Rees and McCartney graciously stand back. And so, after the trios, I greatly welcome the solos: Sainte-Colombe’s sentimental Suite for viol with chewy resonance in its lower register and de Visée’s Suite on baroque guitar.

“Del Signor Graun.” Johann Gottlieb GRAUN and Carl Heinrich GRAUN: Six Sonatas for flute and obbligato harpsichord, WenG 29, 56, 110, 36, 97 and 116 (ca. 1735-70). Ludovice Ensemble: Joana Amorim (traverso), Fernando Miguel Jalôto (hpsi). Veterum Musica VM021 (2 CDs) (www.veterummusica.com).

Time has rendered the Graun brothers, Johann Gottlieb (1703-1771) and Carl Heinrich (1704-1759), virtually indistinguishable. Though if you were to visit the court of Frederick the Great (fl. 1740-65), you’d see that Johann Gottlieb was a violinist, chamber musician and leader of Berlin’s Opera, and that Carl Heinrich was a tenor (who could play cello and keyboard) and composer of operas and numerous sacred works.

The Ludovice Ensemble, a transverse flute and harpsichord duo, bring to life six graceful sonatas bearing the family name taken from Berlin manuscripts. Nos. 29, 56 and 97 indicate C.H., No. 116 shows J.G., No. 110 suggests both, and No. 36 just says Graun. Various movements and entire sonatas may appear elsewhere in other arrangements and editions.

Amorim and Jalôto are measured and tasteful, which sounds like damp praise, but they are unhurried and each sonata receives its due. These are more than just sonatas for an instrument with accompaniment, each instrument may take a spin with the melody, and they will call and answer each other.