Y415 – Gotham Early Music Scene (11/13/25)

Au pied du Parnasse

Maya Ito Johnson & Josh Liu ~ violins   Cat Slowik ~ viola da gamba   Henry Burnam ~ harpsichord 

Trio Sonata in F Major, Op. 1, No. 1 – Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Grave ~ Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Allegro 

Le Parnasse ou L’Apothéose de Corelli – François Couperin (1668–1733)
I. Corelli, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, asks the Muses to welcome him amongst them.
II. Charmed by his favorable reception at Mount Parnassus, Corelli expresses his joy and proceeds with his followers.
III. Corelli drinks the waters of the Hippocrene. His followers proceed.
IV. Corelli’s enthusiasm, caused by the waters of the Hippocrene.
V. After his exultation, Corelli falls asleep. His followers attend him with quiet music.
VI. The Muses wake Corelli and place him next to Apollo.
VII. Corelli’s gratitude. 

Sonata in C Major, Op. 5, No. 3 – Arcangelo Corelli
Adagio ~ Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Allegro ~ Allegro 

Sonata L’Impériale – François Couperin
Gravement ~ Vivement ~ Gravement et marqué ~ Rondeau: Légérement ~ Rondement ~ Vivement

Oddly, the Trio Sonata was two violins, viola da gamba and harpsichord. I guess they didn't count the harpsichord continuo as an instrument. The first movement was soothing, while the second was brighter and quicker though in a sedate way. It moved attacca (no break between the movements) into the third movement which was calmer yet still pretty. The fourth movement was bright again—maybe quicker than the second movement (both Allegros)—but it also had a contrasting slower section before a brief, jaunty ending.

[Tuning] – This happened before each work because even though these instruments are relatively recently constructed, they're being played in a historic, i.e., early music, style. And the 415 refers to tuning (most current tuning tunes to A=440, here A=415), while the Y of the group's name refers to Yale where they all have studied or are studying. Enough history?

The second piece on the program was truly programmatic music. The seven movements were announced from the stage before each movement was played. The only exception was that the fourth and fifth movements were announced together and played pretty much as one movement.
I. was a relatively calm introduction to the work. Sort of a "Getting to Know You" vibe. II. was in a quicker tempo, bright and pleasant. III. was slower and gentler and also fairly lengthy. IV./V. was faster, befitting Corelli's enthusiasm and then relaxing the tempo a bit (see Corelli falls asleep). VI. was refreshingly quick and bright. VII. opened with solo violin joined by the other violin then tutti—a happy ending to Corelli's journey. It made sense to announce each movement's name, and the music reflected the name fairly well.

The second Corelli sonata was solo violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. Its first movement was slow but not somber, and it was solid and full sounding. The second movement was much quicker with some fancy fingering from the violinist. And it seemed that there was a brief coda from the violinist to end the movement. The third was slower and featured the violin playing in its lower range before moving back up to where I'm used to hearing it. The fourth was quite brisk with fast fingering from the violin again with a brief slower section before returning (fifth) to brisk—pretty much off to the races with a cute ending.

The final sonata (all four players) began with a relatively slow tempo, more towards somber but also full at times. The second movement was faster though not by much. The third was gentler and soothing while the fourth was very sweet and pleasant, relaxing and it had a sedate feeling to it. The final movement was fuller and quicker, with all three strings following each other in similar phrases, almost like a small fugue.

This was a very nice program very well played.

ConcertMeister

NY Classical Theatre (11/9/25) – Non Concert

“Hecuba and Polyxena”, a haunting, surreal adaptation inspired by Euripides and the American eugenics movement, follows two women as they navigate grief, survival, and sacrifice. (Their words, not mine.)

From the company’s website – Thank you for attending our presentation of Hecuba and Polyxena by Amanda Andrei as part of New York Classical’s New Visions New Play Development program.

I attended. I enjoyed it. Alas, there was no program (not even a QR code, which would probably have done me no good, anyway). This was a workshop reading performance. There were three unnamed performers playing (I think) five roles. (See no program, no QR code, above.)

There was a reader of stage directions who also provided a few sound effects.

The play took place in two different time frames. The one I remember best was the 1970s, since that part of the narrative focused on abortion (and only the male’s support of it, not the female’s). Also, one female character was a baker and one female character was an archivist. Their bond was that they were both Filipina and confused.

The male playing two characters played the husband of the baker and the doctor of the baker. Oh! The baker was probably an illegal immigrant wanting to have an anchor baby.

The three performers played the five roles very well, using bankers’ boxes and lids as makeshift props (mixing bowls, archived documents, steaming soup (shredded paper, used to good effect), baking trays, etc.) and a folding table that was shifted by the actors from horizontal to vertical a few times.

Would I recommend it? No. Not until it’s workshopped a bit more. Was I glad I went? Sort of. Broadening my horizons can be worthwhile. And I saw this company do a free Shakespeare in the park (Carl Schurz Park) performance earlier this summer that I enjoyed. I'm guessing that's why I'm on their mailing list.

ConcertMeister

Invitation to Élisabeth’s Salon – Gotham Early Music Scene (11/6/25)

Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
[untitled] ~ Presto ~ Adagio ~ Presto ~ Presto ~ Aria ~ Presto     

La Ménetou, from Pièces de Clavecin, Second Livre, Ordres 7 – François Couperin (1668–1733)  

Three Airs sérieux – Charlotte Françoise de Ménethoud (1679–1745)
E ne fuis qu’un bergère with words by Monsieur de Mesange
Louis fuel attaqué with words by Monsieur Le Président de Montbrun
Plus jeun qu’Alexandre with words by Monsieur de Fieubet  

Prélude and Passacaille in A minor – Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre  

Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 5, No. 6 – Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Grave ~ Allegro ~ Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Allegro 

The first movement of the violin sonata was slow and gentle, then picked up a little in volume; it seemed like an introduction to the work, though a fairly long introduction. The second movement was bright and jaunty. The third was slower and somber, with the violin playing in its lower register. It led directly (attacca) into the fourth, which went back to jaunty with a calm section that followed and led right into the fifth movement which was bright, if not quite as jaunty as the earlier presto movements. The sixth movement had lines in the violin that actually sounded like singing—duh! it’s an aria—somber and almost plaintive. Just as I wrote the words ‘quite lengthy’ it ended. The final movement was brisk and almost happy, except for being in a minor key. 

As announced from the stage, François Couperin was Françoise de Ménethoud’s teacher, and his piece seemed to be written for his young pupil. It was a harpsichord solo that was fairly calm throughout the entire work, and was presented as an introduction to the next three pieces. Mlle. Ménethoud was about eleven years old when she wrote them. If I’m remembering correctly, they were probably meant to be sung—here, the violin acted as voice again. The first had a harpsichord phrase as a brief prelude to the violin being added. It was quite pretty. The second was also pretty while the third was quicker and bright and gave a feeling of being a strophic song. 

The fourth work on the program was another harpsichord solo that opened with an introduction leading to a mostly somber dance (minor key again), but there were also flashes of briskness, as well. 

After retuning the violin, the first movement of the final sonata was sedate and pleasing—ah, a major key! The second movement had a brief violin opening before the harpsichord joined in. It was bright and upbeat and had a fun ending. The third was also brisk with a feeling of perpetual motion. [PHONE!]* The fourth movement was slower, and the harpsichord had an almost plunking sound, as if it wanted to be a dampened pizzicato. And before the final movement, I saw the harpsichordist make some physical adjustment that restored the keyboard to its usual plinking sound. The movement opened with a solo violin phrase before the harpsichord joined in (just as in the second movement). It was brisk again and fun-sounding. Indeed, a fun ending to a fine concert. 

ConcertMeister

* I've been attending this concert series for several years. At every concert, it is announced from the performance area that if you have an electronic device that makes a noise that was never heard in the 15th/16th/17th (depending on that day’s composers) century, please make sure that it does not make that sound for the next 45 or 50 minutes or so. (<--- That is close to verbatim.)