Courtesy of WQXR
This is part of a continuing series of highlighting Juilliard students in one-hour concerts at the Jerome L. Greene space. I'm such a fan that I've taken off the last two first Wednesdays of the month (and Dec. 7) to attend. These are free concerts, though an RSVP is required.
OK, I'm not going to copy 'n' paste every description/title/date, etc. I'll just hit the highlights and my reaction to those highlights.
Dario Castello's sonata (Venice, 1629), was a sextet, though I didn't scribble down all of the instruments. Described as a "madrigal without words," the solo violin was joined by a second violin, then the other four players joined in. One of which was a harpsichord. This is important, as harpsichords in the early baroque era were tuned to A 415 (as opposed to the more modern A 440–442), hence the moniker Juilliard 415. (You now have a trivia/Jeopardy answer/question in your back pocket. You're welcome.)
After a regrouping, we heard a piece by Giovanni Legrenzi (Venice, 1673) that was calm and almost somber after an opening of tutti performers (sorry, no printed program).
After another regrouping (I don't think any of the students played in more than one ensemble), we heard Alessandro Stradella's Trio in D minor (violin, cello, harpsichord). This was in a very different style—more disjointed—seemingly more modern/experimental. And here's something to cogitate on. We think of old/baroque/early music as, well, old/baroque/early. But some of it was truly experimental in its day. That said, some people may have been disappointed in it as much as I am disappointed listening to Philip Glass, but I digress. A fugal movement followed, swiftly followed by a dance-like third movement that was almost a sonata in itself.
Fourth on the program was another Castello piece from 1629, with two violins, viola da gamba, dulcian (new to me, I had to do an internet search), and theorbo (not new to me). A theorbo is like a lute on steroids—regular strings (I didn't count how many) and really, really long strings (six, seven feet long?). So you get two instruments in one. The piece started with a kitchen-sink style—everything thrown into the mix. That was followed by a duo (sort of, violins and theorbo) that was quite playful at times. The piece closed out with the full ensemble in a very rich, solid style. Oh, and the dulcian is a precursor to the bassoon.
A Tomaso Albinoni Trio in D minor followed (Venice, 1694) for baroque flute, violin, cello, and theorbo (maybe the same instrument? definitely different player). Here, the theorbo was used more rhythmically, including knocking on the wooden frame for percussion sounds.
The one-hour concert closed out with Antonio Vivaldi's Chamber Concerto in
G minor "La Notte" for baroque flute, bassoon, two violins, string bass and harpsichord. The harpsichord had more of a presence in this work, and there was plenty of layering of strings and other instruments to create forward energy, which one associates with Vivaldi (think Four Seasons). I mentioned to my seat mates that it would have been pretty cool to have all of the players come out for a brief orchestral work, as a grand finale. Alas, that did not happen.
Throughout the afternoon, different students gave us brief introductions to the pieces and all acquitted themselves quite well (with a few microphone malfunctions). All in all, a wonderful one-hour concert with erudite, well seasoned young performers. Thank you WQXR and Juilliard!
No comments:
Post a Comment