Andrew Manze: Baroque'n'roll

"Is it not strange that sheeps' guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?" So queried Shakespeare regarding the emotional power a string instrument can wield over its listeners. And so quoted Andrew Manze in his typically erudite, entertaining liner notes to his 1998 disc Phantasticus with the chamber group Romanesca. A violinist who plays on the gut strings of Shakespeare's time, Manze himself knows a thing or two about the poetry of music. And he has been exerting its potency over a remarkable series of discs for classical indie Harmonia Mundi.

Just looking at the 36-year-old Englishman or making small talk with him, you wouldn't expect this studious, unassuming Baroque specialist to be able to burst forth into intensely virtuosic flights of fancy. But burst he does, onstage and on record in myriad examples of early music at its most compelling. His discography ranges from such rarely heard figures as Austrians Biber and Schmelzer to the Italian Tartini and Frenchman Rebel, as well as the giants Bach, Vivaldi, and Telemann. But a real specialty has been his exploration of the 17th-century stylus phantasticus and those often shadowy composers like Marini, Uccellini, and Pandolfi who sought to dizzy the senses with their "fantastic" concoctions.

One listener who has indeed been dizzied by this music—and, moreover, Manze's ability to translate ancient, often scantily notated manuscripts into sounds that teem with life—is Peter Newman, PD at KING-FM Seattle. "I'm knocked out by that Pandolfi record, especially," he says. "Obviously, Manze is playing the composer's music, but it's the astonishing skill with which he plays it that's so great. He has this fiery precision to his playing and a jazzy flair that lends the music a modern feel. The market for period violin and harpsichord isn't huge on classical radio, but I think it sounds amazing on the air."

Baroque musicians were expected to improvise, much as jazz players do today. Having contributed commentary to a BBC Radio 3 series on the art of improvisation, Manze obviously has strong feelings on the spontaneous ornamentation necessary for bringing archaic scores alive. He says, "This music may be very old, but the expression of it must be absolutely new."

Due Oct. 9, Manze's latest Harmonia Mundi opus is a songful set of Handel's complete violin sonatas, most of which are rarely heard on disc. "Everyone knows Handel is a great composer from his operas, oratorios, and orchestral works," Manze says, "but these sonatas have been unfairly neglected. I think it's great music. The sonatas are subtly theatrical, sounding like character sketches for his operas. They're real arias without words."

Manze pursues duo projects like the Handel and Bach sonatas—as well as the Gramophone Award-winning sets of Pandolfi and Biber—with harpsichordist Richard Egarr, a musical partner since they were at college in Cambridge, England. In October and November and again in January and February, the pair tour North America with various recital programs featuring Handel and Pandolfi, along with Corelli sonatas—their next recording. (Manze is represented in North America by the Oakland, Calif.-based David Rowe; in Europe, he is booked by Joh Adriaan Moens, based in Amsterdam.)

Romanesca came to an end in 1998 (with lutenist Nigel North moving to the U.S. and keyboardist John Toll having since passed away). But Manze still doubles as leader of the Academy of Ancient Music, the venerable Baroque orchestra that he has directed on hit recordings of Vivaldi, Handel, and Geminiani concertos, as well as the Bach violin concertos. The Academy has a long-running London concert series and has two tours of North America set for 2002.

In a constricted classical market, Manze's discs have proved best sellers—with worldwide sales of 450,000 for 14 albums, according to Harmonia Mundi USA. Label A&R director and Manze producer Robina Young knows why Manze holds appeal: "Bach fathered 20 kids, and Handel threatened to throw an unruly soprano out the window—these were passionate men. In his way, Andrew himself is a passionate man. He doesn't fit the period-instrumentalist stereotype. All the research and technique are there, of course. But to that, he adds this passionate imagination. He grabs you."