Caroling, Caroling (12/15/24)

Under the auspices of the West Village Chorale, caroling was attained. This year, we gathered at a different place. Since it was new, I arrived early. Since I was early, I was in Group 1.

It was a little better organized this year but still got off to a late start. The Group 1 leader had a suggested route. She couldn't get her GPS to play well with others. Ain't technology grand?

We sang lots of favorites—The First Nowell, Hark! the Herald Angels, Let it Snow!, Winter Wonderland, The Little Drummer Boy (which flagged a bit because no one knew how long to wait between lines of the song), Jingle Bells, Silver Bells (and, yes, I had my Thelma bell with me), Deck the Halls! (I still maintain that it should be Hall), and Oh, Come All Ye Faithful (an intrepid caroler even led us in the first verse in Latin, which was included in our songbook).

My only quibble? The group leader asked for a crowd favorite at the beginning of each stop. If I were a group leader (and I do not want to be a group leader), at each stop I would announce what song we would start with and ask the group to have a suggestion for a second song. Organization plus inclusion.

Will I attend next year? I'll certainly try.

ConcertMeister

Les Bergers ~ Joyeux Noël (12/12/24)

This was part of the Gotham Early Music series.

Ben Matus ~ musette & bassoon; Kevin Devine ~ hurdy-gurdy & harpsichord; Kelsey Burnham ~ flauto traverso; Jimmy Drancsak & Amelia Sie ~ violins; Dan McCarthy ~ viola; Sarah Stone ~ violoncello

Symphonie en quatuor sur les noëls, No. 5 in A minor – Michel Corrette (1707–1795)
Nouveau Recueil de Noëls pour deux musettes ou vièles – Esprit Philippe Chédeville (1696–1762)
Symphonie en quatuor sur les noëls, Nos. 2, 4 & 6 – Michel Corrette

So much new to me. Musette de cour and hurdy-gurdy. And both composers. Each work had numerous miniature movements (eight, fifteen, and six, respectively, ask, if you're really, really interested). Here's a brief description from the well-written program notes – the musette de cour (bagpipe) ... the vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy or literally “wheel-violin”). The musette (from what I read) has a bellows mechanism. My guess is that the air sac refills when pressure on it is released, because I saw no blowing into it by the musettist, which I would expect in a bagpipe-style instrument. Re. literally “wheel-violin”, yes, the hurdy-gurdy is like a hand-cranked violin that can create a drone sound to be paired with the musette. Did I mention new to me?

All three pieces were based on noëls—folk songs that would easily be recognizable to audiences of the time. The general basis was, play the tune, embellish the tune, keep embellishing until you're done. I could stop right here, but I did actually take a few notes.

The first Corrette piece was, indeed, in a minor key but it was neither sad nor mournful; it was gently jolly, essentially a string quartet with added harpsichord and flute (which was wooden and a little larger than the silvery one you'd expect). As a result, it had a bit of a deeper tone while still adding the brightness you'd want from a flute. One movement featured the above-mentioned flute, one featured the violin and cello, and one featured some rather fancy fiddling.

As a nod to Joyeux Noël, one violinist had a bow (the ribbon kind) on the lapel of his jacket, another had a bow at the hip of her skirt and at the end of the neck of her violin. The flautist had a bow in her hair. Both the musettist (is so a word) and the hurdy-gurdyist (is so a word) had bows on their music stands. Alas, sightlines did not let me see whether or not the violist and cellist joined in. My guess would be yes.

The second work was for hurdy-gurdy and musette de cour (bagpipe). While pleasant, it tended to drone on (pun intended).

The third work included all seven performers, with the bagpiper switching to the bassoon and the hurdy-gurdyist returning to the harpsichord. It also included some pizzicato (plucked) string playing.

All in all, a fun concert with just a tip of the chapeau to Joyeux Noël.

ConcertMeister

Wreath Interpretations (12/9/24–1/2/25)

This is a wonderful exhibition of slightly off-kilter wreaths on display at the Arsenal in Central Park (5th Ave./64th St.). The good news is that it's free. The bad news is that it's only M–F from 9a–5p (and closed on holidays).

If you can carve out a long lunch hour, I say go for it. It's really fun, and without being a total spoiler, red pens are involved in one wreath, so you know that would be one of my favorites. Some are NFS (Not for Sale), but some are. I remember nothing about prices.

I'd say there were 20-something wreaths on display, mostly created by amateurs (sometimes working in teams), and using stuff that you don't usually associate with wreaths. Sure, there are some ribbons there, but not your usual pine cones and holly berries.

I'll try to tease you with a photo here. I'll definitely be posting more photos on FB (my handle there is Uncke David). If you go, I hope you enjoy. If you only get a chance to visit virtually, I hope you enjoy. There's a lot of fun stuff out there, kids!

ConcertMeister (non-ConcertMeister, here)

Tree Lighting in Carl Schurz Park (12/8/24)

Nope, not a splashstravaganza like Rockefeller Center. This was low-key, with a few speeches by local politicos and local park personnel/volunteers.

There was a brass quintet who played very well. Cantori sang five songs—I can only remember four. All of the aforementioned were available to seek out, but only via a QR code. So I need to rely on memory.

The choral group (a cappella) sang Ding, Dong, Merrily on High; Carol of the Bells (a Ukrainian song); I Saw Three Ships (arranged by a Cantori singer who was not present—he's a new papa!); I don't remember the fourth (see QR code, above); and finishing with We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

After the lighting of the tree, we then went into sing-along mode with Joy to the World. Second was O, Christmas Tree, but since I didn't have access to the lyrics for the version they were using, I headed for the exit. I did jingle my hand-held bell as I drifted away during Jingle Bells. A fun early evening.

I also had hot chocolate (the kids volunteering did a great job; I even got whipped cream, even though I usually don't—I wanted them to feel like they were contributing). Ditto for the five-year-old offering cookies. Hey, 'tis the season, right?

I'll try to post photos. (See FaceBook.)

ConcertMeister

The Decorated Madrigal (11/7/24)

Richard Pittsinger ~ tenor; Rafa Prendergast ~ violin; Kevin C. Devine ~ harpsichord; Luce Burrell ~ theorbo

Diminutions on Ancor che col partire – Giovanni Battista Bovicelli (1550–1594)
Ancor che col partire – Cipriani de Rore (ca. 1515/1516–1564)
Diminutions per sonar con ogni sorte d'instrmenti – Riccardo Rognoni ( ca. 1550–1620)
Passacaglia della vita (Bisogna Morire) –Stefano Landi (1587–1639)
Canzone detta Susanne un Jour – Andrea Ga ah, fuhgeddabout it—ask if you're interested ...

OK, I'm going to comment on the music, not the titles and dates.

I bet you're asking 'What are diminutions'? I had never heard of them either. Apparently, they are similar to variations on a theme. But drawn down. I did not experience that.

The tenor sang wonderfully. The violinist contributed a lot. The theorbist (and hers was shorter than most I have seen) was a solid, grounding, rhythmic support, while the harpsichord offered solid support throughout. 

The diminutions took the pieces (or themes from them) and re-imagined them. Sometimes I heard that. Most times I did not.

All in all, I enjoyed the performance, if not the overall concert.

ConcertMeister

The Orchestra Now (10/27/24)

Zachary Schwartzman, Conductor

Scherzo No. 1 (NY Premiere) – Herman Whitfield III (1982–2022)
Nocturnes – Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Nuages (Clouds); Fêtes (Festivals); Sirènes (Sirens)
Romeo & Juliet Suite – Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Herman Whitfield III's parents were at this performance, the NY premiere of their son's piece. Alas, young Mr. Whitfield died at the hands of police in 2022. The scherzo had tons of energy and was received well by the audience. Written when he was only 18 (he died at 39), we can only guess at what else he might have achieved.

I was familiar (via radio) with the three movements of the Debussy. This was my first live hearing of them. The English descriptions of the French movements are quite effective. Aye, though, there's the rub. While all three had aural washes of color, similar to Impressionism in painting, Debussy was never keen on using Impressionism to describe his compositions. That said, the description fit all three movements very well. And it was wonderful to hear two harps in the orchestra. My listening companion and I enjoyed the first half of the concert a lot, and discussed all four pieces during the intermission.

The Prokofiev was a mixed bag, as the composer of the ballet wrote three separate suites of music from the ballet. The eight movements we heard were culled from all three suites, so there was no cohesive programming that I could follow. My listening companion agreed with me. The first movement was very familiar to both of us—The Montagues and the Capulets. BUM-ba-dum-ba-DUM-ba-dum-ba. IYKYK. If not, search for it on YouTube. I bet you'll recognize it, too. The others were just too difficult to follow and suss out. That said, the playing was great, the concert was great, and we're looking forward to the spring concert.

A note about the orchestra—and you may remember this from other ConcertMeister posts—this is a training orchestra based at Bard college, that trains musicians in how to transition from college to actual working orchestras. Obviously, future auditions will feature heavily, but this gives them more hands-on training/experience than just playing in a college orchestra does. They learn about home space programming, but they also learn about playing in other major venues—Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, etc.—something that I never learned in college.

All in all, a great concert.

ConcertMeister

The Soul Awaits (10/31/24)

This was part of the Gotham Early Music Scene's weekly programs.

Rita Lilly ~ Soprano, Cléa Galhano ~ Recorder, Peter Sykes ~ Harpsichord

Seele deine Spezereien, from Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 – J.S. Bach (1685–1750)
Höchster, was im habe, from Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39 – J.S. Bach
Sonata 1 in G minor from Sonata Metodiche, TWV 41:g3 – G.P. Telemann (1681–1767)
   Adagio ~ Vivace ~ Grave ~ Allegro
The Plaint from The Fairy Queen, Z.269 – Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
Prelude, Fugue & Allegro in E-flat Major, BWV 998 – J.S. Bach
Seele, lerne dich erkennen, TWV 1:1258 – G.P. Telemann
   Andante, Recitative, Vivace

Full disclosure—I have no idea what the numbers and letters mean after the names of the pieces; I just go by the printed (or online) program.

The first Bach piece had a recorder and harpsichord introduction before the soprano joined in. It was essentially a recorder/soprano duet with minimal support from the harpsichord.

The second piece, also Bach, was livelier than the first, thus a little more interesting to me.

The first movement of the Telemann sonata, for recorder and harpsichord, was slow but not particularly gentle. The second was bright and energetic, while the third was slower and, this time, gentle, though it still had some fast fingering for the recordist, including numerous trills. The final movement was brisk, with a bit of a playful feel.

The Plaint was, well, plaintive. The recorder and harpsichord introduced the piece but then it turned into a soprano/recorder duet, trading phrases back and forth. That is, they did not perform together until the very end.

The next Bach piece was a solo harpsichord piece (I had assumed the Telemann Sonata was a solo harpsichord piece). The Prelude was gentle, and it stretched the rhythm a bit, including a dramatic pause, while the fugue was pretty easy to follow and then, attacca* into the Allegro which was pretty much perpetual motion, though there were a few rhythmic pauses.

The first movement of the final Telemann piece had a harpsichord/recorder introduction, then the soprano joined in. It was a long movement, including a repeat of the first part of the movement. The Recitative was pretty much that—a recitation by the soprano and harpsichordist. Storytelling, without runs or melismas (many notes on one syllable). It was speech in song. The Vivace was, indeed, brisk. It included all three performers, and the runs/melismas were back in play. The third movement had a repeat, just as the first movement had. I could have done without the repeats in the first and third movements, but it was probably true to form for the baroque era.

*Do we all remember attacca?—moving from one movement to the next, with no discernible pause?

ConcertMeister