Browsing: Baroque and Early

Never heard of Carbonelli? Don’t feel too bad about it. The Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot writes that he ‘has remained unknown, even to specialists’. Listen to the music, though, and you will wonder how work of such quality and intricacy could vanish so comprehensively into the mists of history. Carbonelli was a star violinist in London during Handel’s time. Born in Livorno in 1694 and possibly half-French, he becomes concertmaster at Drury Lane Theatre at the age of 25 and a much sought-after soloist. The Duke of Rutland paid for the publication of 12 sonatas and Carbonelli seemed well set…

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Never heard of Carbonelli? Don’t feel too bad about it. The Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot writes that he “has remained unknown, even to specialists.” Listen to the music, though, and you will wonder how work of such quality and intricacy could vanish so comprehensively into the mists of history. Carbonelli was a star violinist in London during Handel’s time. Born in Livorno in 1694 and possibly half-French, he becomes concertmaster at Drury Lane Theatre at the age of 25 and a much sought-after soloist. The Duke of Rutland paid for the publication of 12 sonatas and Carbonelli seemed well set…

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Up in the Morning Early Ensemble La Cigale Madeleine Owen, lute, theorbo; Sara Lackie, harp; Vincent Lauzer, recorders; Marie-Laurence Primeau, viola da gamba; Sara Tsuji, violin Leaf Music 2017, LM 211, 73 min 17 s. Ensemble La Cigale’s sophomore offering – their first album, Tiorba Obbligata for solo theorbo and ­accompaniment, was a Prix Opus finalist in 2012–13 – shows ­sophistication in its simplicity. The Celtic Baroque repertoire on this recording, oft-forgotten in contemporary considerations of the period, actually included some of the tunes and cultured styles that inspired continental European composers from George Frideric Handel to Francesco Geminiani. Returning…

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Debuts with the Ensemble at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts on July 2, 2017  Pablo Heras-Casado to Become St. Luke’s First Conductor Laureate New York, NY, May 3, 2017 — Orchestra of St. Luke’s today announced the appointment of renowned French Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie as its next Principal Conductor, beginning a four-year term in the 2018-19 season. Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading conductors of Baroque, Classical, and Early-Romantic repertoire, Labadie will make his debut with the Orchestra at Caramoor on July 2, 2017 and then appear with the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on December 7, 2017. As Principal Conductor, Labadie…

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Hard to know whether to give this confection one star or five. The dominant voice is the mandolin of Chris Thile, an instrument probably unknown to J S Bach who never wrote for it, but used often in modern transcriptions of his works. It sits more comfortably in a Bach score than, say, a tenor sax, but that does not make it remotely authentic. The other instruments at play here are a cello and double bass. What hits the ear from the off are clever, virtuosic trio adaptations of anything from a solo keyboard fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier to…

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On Saturday, the reputable Boston Symphony Orchestra played at the Maison Symphonique. The last time the orchestra visited Montreal was in 1984, more than 30 years ago. Boston Symphony Orchestra: Interview with the conductor, the young 38-year-old Andris Nelsons. [La Presse]  Boston Symphony Orchestra: Concert review by [La Presse] Some tough criticism of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Maison Symphonique. [Le Devoir] CANADA : The OSM has unveiled a new video on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSMconcerts/status/838396186407145472 Review of the all-Schubert concert by pianist András Schiff on Friday at the Maison Symphonique. [Le Devoir] The exposition Carnets naturalistes by Denise Blackburn runs until April…

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Saturday at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours long-time collaborators Daniel Taylor and Suzie LeBlanc lit up the night with a dazzling display of virtuosity in a selection of Handel’s greatest arias and duos. Joined by twelve members of the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil under the baton of Marc David, Taylor and LeBlanc gave a reminder of the enduring allure of these works. To open the evening, David led the OSDL in the Overture and Act III Sinfonia (“Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”) from Solomon. Playing on modern instruments with Dorothéa Ventura on harpsichord, the group had a lively sound and as…

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The Ladies’ Morning Musical Club advertises a venerable history with its very name. On Feb. 5 in Pollack Hall the organization paid tribute to its 125th anniversary by asking Stewart Goodyear to recreate Glenn Gould’s Montreal debut recital of 1952. Gould is the quintessentially inimitable pianist, yet Goodyear in Orlando Gibbons’ Pavan and Galliard for the Earl of Salisbury demonstrated straightway a certain affinity with his fellow Torontonian by making the left and right hands seem so indepedent. Perhaps his eagerness to use the full sound of the Steinway was a individual trait. Oddly, Bach’s Partita No. 5 flew by…

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MONTREAL As part of the 8th edition of the biennial Montréal/Nouvelles musiques Festival (MNM), Walter Boudreau will lead La symphonie du millénaire II. In 2000, the performance of the first Symphonie du millénaire, brought together more than 70’000 people. [Le Devoir] Review on the concert of OSTR, highlighting Bach’s works. [La Presse] André Sauvé will join the OSM for a special concert on July 21 and 22. [La Presse] INTERNATIONNAL Le beau Danube is 150-year-olds. Back on one of the greatest successes from Strauss. [La Presse] [Radio-Canada] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t38fIJgvWEM The first recording of Bartók’s piano quartet in C minor (1898) was found and published. [Scena…

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PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND TEXT ANALYSIS: MasterVoices’ new English-language version of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, translated by Michael Slattery (at Carnegie Hall, February 9, 2017, 7 p.m.). New York City had sustained a twelve-hours’ accumulation of snow. By 7 p.m. on February 9, post-storm sub-freezing temperatures had turned midtown Manhattan’s grid into a treacherous terrain of jagged curbside alpine ranges bounding streets and sidewalks alike of glassy ice. Traffic and transit were hobbled, commerce and commuting statistically decimated. Thus it might seem sheer masochism, or penance, to hazard the elements and venture forth for something so non-essential as choral music.…

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