Showing posts with label Brandywine Baroque. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brandywine Baroque. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Arts in Media Clients Create Virtual Music This Fall

By Morgan Silvers
Morgan is a high school senior who enjoys playing sports like field hockey and soccer, and loves spending time with friends. She notes she's happy to have a chance to help write about events and media! In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in either Fashion Merchandising or STEM.

BRANDYWINE BAROQUE
Delaware's ensemble where "early music lives" has shifted performances into the virtual realm. Currently in the middle of their 2020-2021 Virtual Concert Series, their "Concerts at the Flint Collection" can be viewed virtually. 

Their series includes performances by ensemble and guest artists and features works from their recently released CDs. All performances premiere Sundays at 3:00pm (EST) on Brandywine Baroque's new Vimeo channel.

The ensemble schedule premieres new performances approximately every two weeks. Each performance is about 30 minutes in length and is free to view.

The next concert will premiere Sunday, November 22 at 3:00pm and will feature Brandywine Baroque Artistic Director Karen Flint, performing Pieces in G minor by Jean Henry D’Anglebert on the 17th-Century French Ruckers harpsichord.

To join and view this (and each new) performance, visit https://vimeo.com/475203801. All of Brandywine Baroque’s virtual concerts are available to watch anytime on Vimeo throughout the 2020-2021 season about a day after they have premiered. Be sure to watch!

MARKET STREET MUSIC
Downtown Wilmington's most diverse musical series, Market Street Music, has moved to an online platform as well. Three performances will be offered this fall, each in a two-part concert on their new YouTube channel.

Part One of the first performance has already premiered this weekend (Saturday, November 14) and featured cellist Ovidiu Marinescu — a seasoned player of the beloved Bach solo cello suites. In this concert, patrons can enjoy some of those suites along with new music from Ovidiu himself. Part Two premieres Tuesday, November 17 at 7:45pm.

Later this month, Market Street Music presents Marlissa Hudson, soprano and Marvin Mills, piano. These brilliant Baltimore-area musicians perform a program of remarkably beautiful and timely music by Black composers. Part One of their concert premieres Saturday, November 21 at 7:45pm, and Part Two premieres Tuesday, November 24 at 7:45pm.

Finally in December, viewers can celebrate the beloved-by-all Market Street Music tradition — the return of the Cartoon Christmas Trio! This fun-loving trio performs Jazz music from A Charlie Brown Christmas and so much more. Part One of the Cartoon Christmas Trio premieres Saturday, December 12 at 7:45pm; Part Two premieres Tuesday, December 15 at 7:45pm.

Patrons who join at the premiere times can chat live with Market Street Music and fellow patrons during the performance! CLICK TO WATCH!

MÉLOMANIE
For their 2020-2021 season, the ‘provocative pairings’ ensemble presents a series of five 30-minute streamed concerts, called Mélomanie's Virtual Series, putting fans in the 'virtual front row'! Their performances will include the ensemble's signature baroque and contemporary repertoire as well as interviews with guest composers.

The first concert premieres Saturday, November 21, at 3:00pm via their new Vimeo channel. The first program will include Mélomanie performing Telemann’s Paris Quartet in A Major and Aegean Airs by Robert Maggio; a cello solo by Ismar Gomes of Abraham's Sons - In Memoriam: Trayvon Martin, composed by James Lee III; and brief interviews with composers Robert Maggio and Mark Hagerty with guest percussionist Chris Hanning. Patrons need only click on the Vimeo link on November 21 to view the premiere performance!

Their follow-up concert is scheduled for Saturday, December 12, at 3:00pm.

All concerts will include post-performance "virtual receptions" via Zoom with the artists, and fans can also participate in live chat with each other during performances. After each performance, fans can also enjoy access to full-length, in-depth interviews with guest composers by clicking here.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Brandywine Baroque Season Opens with a Virtuous Performance

By Christine Facciolo

If Brandywine Baroque’s impressive inaugural concert of the new season is any indication, we can look forward to a year of eclectic and interesting programs.

This past weekend’s series, called The Triumph of Virtue, was held Friday and Sunday, October 12 and 14 at The Barn at Flintwoods and Saturday, October 13 at The Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Rehoboth Beach. The concerts featured instrumental and vocal works by a range of composers (including several obscure ones) from England, France and Germany.

The ensemble consisted of soprano Laura Heimes, violinist Martin Davids, gambists John Mark Rosendaal and Donna Fournier, and violone player Heather Miller. Karen Flint, founder and artistic director of Brandywine Baroque, played continuo on a 1635 Ruckers harpsichord from the Flint Collection.

The afternoon opened with an excellent rendering by Davids and Rosendaal of the thematically rich and technically demanding first violin sonata by Joseph Gibbs (1698-1788). Published in 1748, the sonata is one of eight exhibiting the Italian influence of Corelli and Geminiani. Especially charming were the expressive Largo, Aria Andante and a series of Variations of real interest, excitement and beauty.

Next up was Vitali’s Partita sopra diverse sonata (c. 1680), featuring Heather Miller playing the violone. It was a rare treat to hear the virtuosic capabilities of this deep-throated instrument in this rarely heard four-movement work.

The prolific Dietrich Buxtehude was represented by two works from his set of six sonatas. The Sonata in A minor (?1694) — a true ostinato sonata — brought Davids, Fournier and Rosendaal together for a vigorous performance that demonstrated their technical mastery, playing concerted solo passages alternating with segments in which they exchanged parts.

Likewise, the Sonata in D major (?1694) featuring Miller and Rosendaal exhibited the same daringly expressive harmonies, masterful fugal technique and virtuosity in the solo movement.

The violone made yet another appearance in the Sonate a 2 in G minor (1610) by Giovanni Paolo Cima, a composer better known for his religious compositions.

The Quatrieme Sonate in E minor (1713) by Jean-Fery Rebel featured some exciting music in the best French baroque style. Davids played every line with affected commitment while his collaborators — gambists Fournier and Rosendaal and harpsichordist Flint — enriched the texture and expressiveness of the music.

The concert also introduced attendees to the secular side of English composer William Croft. Known primarily as a composer of church music, Croft also wrote a set of six sonatas for violin which do not get performed or recorded nearly enough, even though they are in fact some of the earliest examples of English sonatas for the instrument.

Davids’ account of the G minor sonata was thoroughly accomplished in terms of dramatic phrasing and rhythmic vitality. Harpsichordist Flint emerged equally strong, reveling in the sonata’s unusually elaborate bass parts and accompanying with insight and style.

Continuing this nicely varied afternoon of music were three cantatas exquisitely performed by soprano Laura Heimes: John Stanley’s Compell’d by sultry Phoebus’ Heat (1742); Rameau’s L’Impatience (c. 1715-22); and Bousset’s Le Triomphe de la vertu (1735). The ever-dependable Heimes delivered them with persuasion and commitment in a wonderful reading. As always, she was remarkably adept at the style, offering a lithe and bouncing artistry that really brought the music to life. 

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Voices & Viols Filled The Barn at Flintwoods

By Christine Facciolo

First appearing in Spain in the 15th Century, the viola da gamba — or viol — was a most popular instrument in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, holding an honored position even in the court of the Sun King. But by the mid-18th Century, the viol fell out of favor as concert halls grew larger and the more penetrating sound of the violin family became more popular.

The viol attracts little attention today, even though the 1991 film Tous les Matins du Monde about two of the greatest composers for the instrument, Marin Marais and Saint-Colombe, and a number of contemporary composers have written for it.

But the rich sounds of this once princely instrument were duly showcased in Brandywine Baroque’s March 16-18 concerts, “Voices and Viols.”

Joining Brandywine Baroque Artistic Director Karen Flint on vintage harpsichord were violists Catharina Meints, John Mark Rosendaal, Donna Fournier, and Rebecca Humphrey Diederich, flutist Eileen Grycky, soprano Laura Heimes and tenor Tony Boutte.

Meints pointed out that she and Flint had been friends for a very long time because of their passion for collecting period instruments. Meints then proudly displayed her treble viol, which dates back to 1700 and is, remarkably, in virtually the same condition it was when it was first made.

England boasts a very rich history of viol composition and performance, more than likely inspired and encouraged by the royal patronage of Henry VIII, and that tradition was well-represented in the first half of the program as the consort accompanied songs by William Byrd, Henry Lawes and Thomas Morley.

Songs from the French Baroque made up the second half of the program with selections by Michel Lambert, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Etienne Moulinie.

Heimes delivered the clear, unadorned vocal quality and needle-sharp intonation that has earned her respect and admiration. Here in consort with the viol she offered heartfelt, vibrant performances that effectively portrayed the texts without losing touch with the songs lovely vocal characteristics. Standouts included Byrd’s My Mistress Had a Little Dog and Lambert’s Ombre de mon amant.

Tony Boutte’s tenor was pure and emotional, breathing much life into songs like Byrd’s Though Amaryllis Dance in Green and Moulinie’s Enfin la beaute.

Heimes and Boutte delivered some delightful — and expressive — duets, including Henry Lawes’ A Dialogue Upon a Kiss and The Mossy Bank.

The instrumentalists gave imaginative accounts of William Lawes’ Airs in C, Nos. 113 and 109. Flint and flutist Grycky explored the rich textures and dense tapestry of ornaments in the Prelude, Courante and Gaillard in G minor from Jean Henry D’Anglebert’s Pieces de clavecin (1689). The ensemble concluded the concert with a lively rendering of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Concert pour quatre parties de violes.

See www.brandywinebaroque.org

Monday, October 9, 2017

A Mapcap Musical Romp Opens Brandywine Baroque's Season

By Christine Facciolo

There’s no denying Karen Flint’s contribution to the cultural life of our region.

Brandywine Baroque orchestra members rehearse "The Woodman."
Photo courtesy of Brandywine Baroque.
As founding artistic director of Brandywine Baroque, harpsichordist Flint consistently presents programs that feature works by the well-known and not-so-well-known — though no less worthy — composers of the period. Moreover, her collection of rare (and playable) harpsichords draws devotees and scholars from around the country and the world to the Centreville venue, The Barn at Flintwoods.

Flint and company opened the 2017-18 season with a performance of as rare a gem as any: The Woodman (1791) by English opera composer William Shield. This all-but-forgotten work is so obscure that Flint and fellow harpsichordist Janine Johnson had to prepare an orchestration from a piano/vocal reduction, the only existing score for the opera.

Shield is one of those composers whose legacy history seems to have erased. Born in 1748 in Swalwell, Shield arrived in London in 1772 to play the violin in the Coven Garden Orchestra. In 1791, he met Haydn who attended a performance of The Woodman. That meeting inspired him to compose more operas and stage works. Shield’s work as a composer got him noticed in royal circles and in 1817 he was appointed “Master of the King’s Musick.”

Like many of his contemporaries, Shield looked toward folk music for source material. In
fact, it was once thought that he wrote Auld Lang Syne, the melody of which appears toward the end of the overture to his Rosina opera. It is now thought that both he and Burns borrowed the melody — or at least the outline of it — from an old folk tune.

Shield’s work is considered to be the forerunner of the modern musical comedy. The Woodman contains features associated with later English comic opera, including spoken dialogue, a frothy theme and the use of popular and folk melodies. The music is pastoral, even bubbly, with flashes of coloratura.

The plot is a madcap thicket of love found, lost and recovered. Emily (Laura Heimes) has fallen in love with Wilford (Stephen Ng) but his nasty uncle does not approve and sends him off to Europe. When Wilford returns, Emily has fled to the forest where three other men fall in love with her. Mistaken identities and all sorts of mischief follow in this lively romp through the woods capped off by a female archery contest for a price heifer.

Flint assembled a stellar cast of singers and musicians for this superb rendering of this woefully overlooked gem. Heimes is vocally striking — as usual — in her portrayal of Emily. Ng brings a full-bodied tenor and lovelorn urgency to Wilford, her lost love.

Bass Daniel Schwartz excelled in his portrayal of the upright and kindly Fairlop, the woodman, while sopranos Abigail Chapman and Rebecca Mariman were convincing as his daughters, the steady Dolly and coquettish Polly, respectively.

Baritone James Wilson played the lecherous Sir Walter to the hilt accompanied by his ever-loyal sidekick Medley in the capable hands and voice of tenor Andrew Fuchs.Tenor Lawrence Jones displayed a much misplaced confidence as he assisted Wilford in his quest to find Emily.

But it was countertenor Augustine Mercante, wigged in bight orange ringlets, who elicited the most laughter in his portrayal of Miss Dinah “Di” Clackit. Mercante not only possesses a sumptuous voice but also impeccable comedic timing that never missed a beat.

Musicians from the ensemble also took part in the action with non-singing roles: flutist
Eileen Grycky, violist Amy Leonard, double bassist Heather Miller Landin served as archers (Grycky also played Bridget the maid). Violinists Martin Davids and Edward Huizinga played Filbert, the Gardener and Bob, respectively.

Imaginative costumes and props transported the audience from Centreville to an 18th Century English forest.


Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The Nymphs and the Shepherd Close Brandywine Baroque's 16-17 Season

By Christine Facciolo

BrandywineBaroque warmed a late winter night and concluded its 2016-17 season with an all-Vivaldi program.

There was no grand thought or theme unifying the concert at The Barn at Flintwoods on March 10, unless it was the sheer delight in virtuosity and the delightfully relaxed approach to the music by all concerned.

The centerpiece of the evening’s program was a performance of La ninfa e il pastore (The Nymphs and the Shepherd). This rare and beautiful gem was composed in 1715 when the thirty-something Vivaldi became music director of the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice, a charitable institution dedicated to the care of orphaned and abandoned girls.

The work is not an opera but a related dramatic genre — the serenata. Serenatas first appeared in the mid-17th Century and were often composed to mark a festive or celebratory occasion. They usually consisted of two acts presented “in concert” by two or more soloists who did not wear costumes or act. In fact, there was no action to speak of. Rather, serenatas employed laudatory texts that featured discursive debates between allegorical figures. In this instance, the text refers to the trial and imprisonment of Jansenist propagandist Abbe Jean de Tourreil for his refusal to accept papal authority regarding the doctrine of predestination.

The Serenata a Tre: The Nymphs and the Shepherd paints a pastoral scene in which lust triumphs over reason. The lovelorn nymph Eurilla (soprano Laura Heimes) discovers that Alcindo (tenor Tony Boutte) with whom she is smitten is perfect in every respect save one: He is incapable of love. Encouraged by her friend Nice (soprano Julianne Baird) she sets out to correct this flaw. Passion gets rebuffed by false humility, love feigned becomes love in earnest and the chickens come home to roost.

Singers and players gave concertgoers ample opportunity to enjoy Vivaldi’s melodic gifts. The instrumentalists — Eileen Grycky (flute), Martin Davids and Edwin Huizinga (violins), Amy Leonard (viola), John Mark Rozendaal (cello) and Karen Flint (harpsichord) — played with enthusiasm and tonal finesse.

Laura Heimes was a pure-toned Eurilla, singing with lightness and agility while exercising consistent control and vocal precision throughout her impressive range.

Nice was a figure of wisdom as portrayed by Julianne Baird. Her soprano is lush and full-bodied, but she judiciously restrained her instrument to convey a steadfast sagacity.

Tony Boutte was delightful in the role of the hapless protagonist Alcindo who gets his comeuppance at the hands of the cunning nymphs. His tenor was secure and convincing as he negotiated the lion’s share of the virtuosity.

Both acts of the serenata were preceded by performances of flute concertos in G Major (RV 435) and D Major (RV 427). Soloist Eileen Grycky managed everything with her customary technical fluency and charm. These are hardly routine pieces and Grycky points up every turn with playing that uncovers the originality of Vivaldi’s idiom. The accompanying ensemble complemented with playing that was both spirited and superb. 

Friday, October 21, 2016

Brandywine Baroque Opens Season with Beautiful French Program

By Christine Facciolo

Brandywine Baroque opened its 2016-17 season with a wonderfully planned concert of 17th and 18th Century French music. The program — titled “Shades of Love” — was brief in description but generous in its offerings, providing the perfect showcase for the talents of its five instrumentalists, two harpsichordists and soprano Laura Heimes. The music sampled various genres of Baroque instrumental and vocal music, offering a glimpse into the world of the underplayed but brilliant music of the French court.

The concert opened with Michel Pignolet de Monteclair’s chamber cantata Pan & Sirinx composed around 1716. The cantata relates the myth of Syrinx who, pursued by Pan, was turned into reeds by water nymphs. Pan, discovering the effect of his breath across the reeds, turned them into his flute.

Like many Baroque vocal works, the cantata alternates between reflective arias and narrative recitatives. Heimes delivered the arias effortlessly and exquisitely, allowing the melody to flow its course without hindrance. Her soprano gleamed in the recitatives, coaxing just enough reverberation from The Barn at Flintwoods. Flutist Eileen Grycky conveyed the instrumental effect of Pan’s pursuit in the final three sections of the cantata, her playing augmenting the ensemble in timbre and depth.

Grycky was equally effective soloing in the Sonata Op.2, No. 5 in G Major by Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), one of the sonatas for which the composer offered the choice of violin or flute. Her warm burnished tones shape the exquisite phrasing of the slow movements yet convey the Italian-inspired fire and energy in the fast.

Leclair’s Eighth Sonata engages the violin (Edwin Huizinga) and viola da gamba (Donna Fournier) in polite dialogue that becomes more animated with chains of trills in the Finale.

Huizinga captured the joyfulness of Sonata Op. 12, No. 6 in C Major by Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705-1770) with the pure, expressive tone of his violin, while Grycky’s flute perked up the entire ensemble, especially when she had rising figures to play.

Gambists Fournier and John Mark Rozendaal explored the changing textures and rhythms of Les batteries by Jean de Sainte-Colombe (fl. 1658-87- c.1701). The two returned after intermission with an exquisite yet deliberate rendering of the quirky but beautiful L’Arabesque by Marin Marais (1656-1728).

The second half of the program featured two main works: Pieces in F by Louis Couperin (1626-1661) and Orphee, a cantata by Louis-Nicolas Clerembault (1676-1728).

The harpsichord is a mesmerizing instrument in the hands of the right artist, and Brandywine Baroque Founding Artistic Director Karen Flint is one of those artists. It was a genuine pleasure to hear Couperin’s F Major played with dignity and clarity and expression. This was a performance to remember.

Heimes returned to conclude the concert with a performance of Orphee. This retelling of the Orpheus legend with a happy ending is replete with gorgeous melodies and embellishments which made it a superb showcase for Heimes’s wide vocal range and dramatic talent. A nice way to end an engaging concert!

See www.brandywinebaroque.org.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

In Heaven with Brandywine Baroque

By Christine Facciolo
No other composer in the history of Western music compares to J.S. Bach. He excelled in virtually every genre — except opera — and invented quite a few himself, including the keyboard concerto.

Brandywine Baroque devoted the entire program of this year’s Harpsichord Heaven to a performance of the composer’s complete set of concertos for one, two, three and four harpsichords.

Although the piano has dominated the concerto literature for more than 200 years, the keyboard came late to the ranks of concerto soloists. Baroque composers generally regarded the harpsichord as a “utility” orchestral instrument; one that filled in harmonies as opposed to presenting melody. Even Vivaldi — who composed more than 500 concertos — never wrote one for the harpsichord. (He did, however, manage to compose one for the lute.)

Bach was probably the first to compose concertos for the harpsichord. But even these are re-workings of his compositions for other instruments, usually “melody” instruments like the violin or oboe.

As it does every year, the festival brought together an impressive roster of performers and scholars. In addition to Founding Artistic Director Karen Flint, the event featured harpsichordists Davitt Moroney, Arthur Haas, Luc Beausejour, Janine Johnson, Leon Schelhase and Joyce Chen.

Accompanying them were Martin Davids and Edwin Huizinga (violins), Amy Leonard (viola), John Mark Rozendaal (cello), Heather Miller Lardin (bass), Rainer Beckman and Lewis R. Baratz (recorders). John Phillips provided care and tuning of the harpsichords.

The true stars of the event were the harpsichords, as Moroney stated in his pre-concert remarks. Instruments from the Flint Collection included two by the famous Flemish manufacturer Ioannes Ruckers (Antwerp, 1627 & 1635), one by Nicolas Dumont (Paris, 1707) and a recently acquired representative by father-and-son harpsichord builders Nicolas and Francois-Etienne Blanchet (Paris, 1730). Filling out the quarter was a representative by Joannes Goermans (Paris, 1748) on loan from a private collection. The instruments were chosen because they contain d’’’, the highest note of Bach’s harpsichords, explained Moroney.

Oddly enough, the event opened with a performance of the Concerto in A minor for 4 harpsichords, BWV 1065, a faithful transcript not of a Bach composition but of Vivaldi’s B minor Concerto for Four Violins (Op. 3/10). Bach, however, makes it his by expanding both the counterpoint and harmonies and imbuing the solo parts with greater complexity and clarity. Of particular interest is the middle movement where each soloist — Moroney, Flint, Johnson and Chen — produces a different kind of arpeggio on a central propulsive fragment.

Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056 is believed to have been based on a lost violin concerto in G minor. It is unusual in that it sets the soloist off rhythmically from the orchestra, with the strings playing in strict 2/4 time and the soloist playing almost exclusively in triplets. The lovely second movement provides a lyrical respite before a return, with only a slight pause, to the rhythmic vitality of the final movement, replete with felicitous echoes between soloist Luc Beausejour and the orchestra.

Arthur Haas and Leon Schelhase joined together to perform the Concerto in C minor for two harpsichords, BWV 1062. Bach’s well-known Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 provided the basis for this transcription. The opening and closing movements feature much contrapuntal weaving of themes. As for the middle movement, the orchestra takes a back seat as the soloists engage in a kind of Baroque vocal duet. This beautiful movement seems both intense and calm at the same time and one could easily see the emotional involvement on the faces of violinists Davids and Huizinga.

The mood brightened as Karen Flint offered the Concerto in A major, BWV 1055. As always, Flint’s playing was flawless. The outer movements of this concerto are lovely but the middle movement is unbelievably beautiful for its extremely long musical lines which weave so deftly when played, as here, at the proper tempo.

The highlight of the evening, though, was the less hummable — but most frequently performed — Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052. In this virtuosic tour-de-force, Janine Johnson and the accompanying strings wholly delivered on the drama and high-speed prowess of the outer movements, while reaping all poignancy of the middle movement.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Welcome to Lully's World via Brandywine Baroque

By Christine Facciolo
Jean Baptiste de Lully’s death is legendary among musicians: While beating time on a staff during a performance of his Te Deum in 1687, he suffered a fatal injury. The wound he suffered to his foot developed gangrene. Three months later on March 22, Lully died.

Lully’s music did not die that day, though. His stylistic monopoly remained secure for decades after his death. His influence in the writing of opera led to a century of French opera in his style. The two-part “French Overture” he invented spread across Europe, influencing both Bach and Handel.

Brandywine Baroque paid tribute to that legacy by “Celebrating the World of Lully” on Sunday, February 21, at The Barn at Flintwoods. The ensemble included harpsichordists Karen Flint and Joyce Chen, violinists Mark Davids and Mandy Wolman, flutist Eileen Grycky, gambists John Mark Rozendaal and Donna Fournier and soprano Laura Heimes.

The major work of the program was Francois Couperin’s L’Apotheose de Lully, in which the composer portrays the ascent to Parnassus of his predecessors, Lully and Corelli. Apart from being intended as a compliment to the two composers, one might also view this work as an attempt to settle the debate raging in the musical world over the conflicting merits of the French and Italian styles.

This is indeed music with a history (and some humor) as little Italianate gestures recall that Lully, the quintessential French composer was himself Italian-born. The desired rapprochement occurs when Lully and Corelli meet on Parnassus and are persuaded by Apollo that a union of their respective styles would amount to nothing less than unparalleled musical perfection.

The music is indeed wonderful. The combination of violins, keyboard, flute and viol da gamba gave the impression that no other group of instruments could be more fitting. The performance was easy on the ears, luxurious yet intimate.

While the program did not feature a work by Lully himself, it did include a selection from Deuxieme Suite a 3 violes, Livre 4 by his student virtuoso violist Marin Marais, who also served in the court of Louis XIV. Gambists John Mark Rozendaal and Donna Fournier excelled in this contrapuntal work representing the peak of the established French musical tradition.

The richness and splendor of French Baroque sacred music — at times gravely somber and spectacularly exuberant — was amply demonstrated in Pierre Bouteiller’s motet O felix et dilecte conviva and Rene Drouard de Bousset’s Abraham, a rare example of a cantata spirituelle so popular in the late court of Louis XIV. Laura Heimes’s crystalline and precise soprano blended beautifully with the instrumentalists in both works.

Italian composers and those writing in the Italian style were equally well-represented. Martin Davids’ violin was crisp and decisive in his rendering of the relatively obscure Francois Francoeur’s I Sonata No. V in A minor. Supporting him were Joyce Chen on harpsichord and Donna Fournier on viola da gamba.

Davids, Wolman and Rozendaal reveled in the playfulness of Tarquinio Merula’s vibrant and imaginative version of the Ciaccona, a dance form that migrated to Italy from Mexico in 1615.

No Baroque program would be complete without a selection by the prolific Georg Philipp Telemann and this concert was no exception. The note-filled Quartet in G major is a perfect display of this polyglot composer’s “mixed taste” style of writing, with its French, German, Italian and Polish influences. The ensemble’s playing — with Grycky as flute soloist — was both energetic and vibrant while deftly weaving together the mixed tastes of this composition.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Brandywine Baroque "Glitt'rs" in Latest Performance of Vivaldi & More

By Christine Facciolo

The program may have been titled “Winter’s Glitt’ring Sun” but it didn’t feel anything like winter on Sunday when Brandywine Baroque presented its second concert of the 2015-16 season.

The well-attended concert featured works by Italians Vivaldi, Tessarini, Leo and Facoli and a secular cantata by Englishman Thomas Arne.

The program was heavy on Vivaldi 
— no surprise there. Vivaldi’s fecundity never ceases to amaze. His reputation rests largely on a legacy of nearly 500 instrumental concerti. Yet this incredibly prolific composer was almost unheard of until the 1950s.

The concert opened with a performance of the Concerto for Strings in d minor, RV 128. This work was contained in one of 14 volumes discovered in 1926 sparking interest in the composer’s works.

All three movements are in the same key — unusual but not unprecedented for Vivaldi. It also adheres to the three movement fast-slow-fast order that he standardized. Double bassist Heather Miller Lardin reveled in the particularly active bass line of the Largo, while the entire ensemble engaged in a fugal finale bristling with energy and excitement.

Flutist Eileen Grycky soloed in two of Vivaldi’s flute concerti: the D major and the recently discovered d minor “il Gran Mogol” which received its Delaware premiere. Grycky’s delightful and highly musical formation of the flute solo lines on her mellow, woody instrument were a delight to the ears as was the full-blooded energetic orchestral accompaniment.

The strings had their say in a warm and sprightly reading of Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Major for Two Violins and Two Cellos, RV 575 — with Martin Davids and Kathleen Leidig, violins and John Mark Rozendaal and Donna Fournier, cellos.

Davids joined fellow violinists Leidig and Edmond Chan in a confident, well-balanced and precise rendering of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Three Violins in F Major, RV 551, creating ear-catching textures spiced by Vivaldian virtuosic runs and arpeggios.

The program also featured the works of other lesser-known Italian composers. Davids introduced the Concerto for Violin in A minor by his favorite composer, Carlo Tessarini, by saying he was luckier than Vivaldi because he didn’t wash out of the priesthood and wind up with an orphanage.

Jokes aside, this tricky and challenging music demands a performer with virtuoso credentials and Davids certainly has them, especially in the Allegros of this work.

Harpsichordist Joyce Chen’s elegant technique brought out the dimple counterpoint and right-hand embellishments in Marco Facoli’s Padoana prima dita Marucina & Salterello.

Leonardo Leo’s concerti give little opportunity for virtuosic display; instead, the cello weaves its way in and out of the texture in a relaxed way. This performance by John Mark Rozendaal of the Concerto No. 3 in F minor is appropriately low-key, with the tricky problem of giving the instrument its proper prominence solved with admirable clarity.

Soprano Laura Heimes performed the only non-Italian work on the program: Thomas Arne’s Cantata V: “The Morning” from Six Cantatas. It is always a pleasure to hear Heimes’ bright warm voice in concert. But this work displayed her virtuosity, as these areas demand astonishing breath control, mastery of coloratura and apt decoration. The interaction between voice and instruments proved engaging and inventive.

Monday, May 4, 2015

A Bit of Musical Heaven, Courtesy of Brandywine Baroque

By Guest Blogger, Christine Facciolo
Christine holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music and continues to apply her voice to all genres of music. An arts lover since childhood, she currently works as a freelance writer.

Brandywine Baroque topped off its 2014-2015 season as it has in years past with Harpsichord Heaven, a weekend festival featuring lectures and concerts by noted musicians and scholars from across the U.S. and Canada.


Brandywine Baroque founder and artistic director Karen Flint kicked off Saturday’s “marathon” with a concert of works by Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres, the founder of the French harpsichord school. Each of the 10 visiting harpsichordists then presented 40-minute concerts every hour on the hour. The day culminated with a Bach recital performed by British-born harpsichordist/scholar Davitt Moroney of the University of California at Berkeley.

But if you were pressed for time — or in the mood for something a bit more adventurous — Sunday’s Grande Finale performance was your ticket. This extravaganza brought all 10 musicians up front playing on five vintage harpsichords from The Flint Collection. The concert offered a cross-section of styles from across Europe, including Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy.

Particularly noteworthy were performances of two concerti for two harpsichords. Leon Schelhase and Luc Beausejour performed the Allegro movement of Joseph Schuster’s work in D major while husband and wife harpsichordists Gwendolyn Toth and Dongsok Shin offered the Allegro movement of Johann Gottlieb Graun’s composition in B-flat major.

Flint and Moroney reprised their performance of Nicholas Carleton’s Praeludium and a Verse in D for two to play. Only one part of the manuscript exists, so Moroney supplied his part, providing some interesting facts about the piece to the audience.

It was especially pleasing to hear Flint perform her arrangement of Lebegue’s Les Cloches. Although intended for organ, the composer noted that it was “suitable” for harpsichord, and the shimmering tones of the instrument certainly brought to mind church bells.

Twenty hands on five vintage harpsichords provided plenty of opportunities for performing transcriptions. These included the Entrance of the Queen of Sheba from Handel’s Solomon, the Passsacaille from Handel’s opera Radimisto, and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major.

As always, there was a “surprise” in the final performance, and this year the musicians played their version of musical chairs to Handel’s 
Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah. At times, it sounded as if the audience was going to break out in a full-fledged Messiah sing- along. As with any game of musical chairs, one of the participants ultimately has nowhere to sit. Here that honor was bestowed on Arthur Haas  who rose to the occasion and “conducted” the final bars of the piece.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Time travel with Brandywine Baroque

Karen Flint, the artistic director of Brandywine Baroque goes to great lengths to create an authentic program with period instruments in a room small enough to hear baroque instruments, yet large enough to hold about one hundred people. That alone is reason to attend a concert at the Barn at Flintwoods.

Martin Davids and Edwin Huizinga, violins in rehearsal


The minute you sit down, you have the feeling you have travelled in time back to the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is impossible to resist looking at the brilliant colors and detail on the lid, soundboard and edge of the virginal which was the star of the concert. The virginal is actually a one-year-old reproduction by John Phillips, but that does not in any way dilute the intense feeling that you have travelled back in time.


When Ms. Flint started the concert with a solo piece from Elizabeth Rogers’ Virginal Book published in 1657, I was transported to another era. The rich tones and astounding depth of sound from the tiny decorative keyboard instrument were a great surprise. Ms. Flint has an ease of mastery and feel for the keyboard.


The two gamba players, John Mark Rozendaal and Donna Fournier, two violinists playing viol parts, Martin Davids and Edwin Huizinga played both chamber pieces - some of which were wildly complex. A fantasia in c minor by William Lawes was an extremely complex contrapuntal piece which had eccentrically interpolated rhythms.

Donna Fournier and John Mark Rozendaal gambas

Laura Heimes, soprano and Tony Boutté, tenor sing baroque styles with such purity and clarity and have such technical mastery of the style that they are able to really portray a song with gesture, humor and grace. Ms. Heimes’ singing is always delightful, but when she sings baroque music, her vocal line is pure and simple with minimal vibrato and magical ease on the high notes.


Each of the performers seemed to exude a playfulness and joy in the music that made the entire concert a pleasure. The physical expressions of all the players and singers and their ability to truly touch another style and time made this a moving experience. And the program itself was so beautifully written and researched by Ms. Flint that it became a great ready reference tool for those of us who did not know about the instruments.

 
After the concert, Ms. Flint was more than ready to show us the instrument and talk about the exquisite illustrations and decorations and where and how it was made.

 
When concerts are that thoroughly prepared, they change your entire perspective on music.


See www.brandywinebaroque.org



Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Seasons: Beautiful and Baroque!


Brandywine Baroque always features some of the world’s top musicians. At their recent Four Seasons concert, the audience was graced with some of the finest fiddling and singing one can hear. A fellow singer friend commented several times how amazing it was to be in a beautifully renovated barn in the countryside enjoying a fabulous sold out concert. Following the concert were guided walks in the fragrant woods surrounding The Barn at Flintwoods.


The afternoon opened with George Frideric Handel’s cantata: Notte placida e cheta, sung by the lovely Laura Heimes. The piece explored the wide palette of love’s emotions through its poetry and sometimes flowery, ornamented phrases. Heimes’ pure easy tone and expressive phrasing brought this little of a piece to life. Her physical and emotional interaction with the instrumentalists was endearing and added an organic wholeness to the effect on stage.


On the 17th Century Spanish harpsichord was the group’s artistic director, Karen Flint. The instrument was discovered in a Salamancan convent, where bored nuns decorated the once plain pine instrument with a faux marble design. Flint has extensive knowledge and expertise in the Baroque repertoire, as she possesses an expansive solo repertoire and accompanies most of the works, which require continuo. Eileen Grycky handled Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for flute, Op. 10, No. 6, well, with its dauntingly challenging passages. She was beautifully supported by the ensemble.


Violinist Martin Davids is a master of the Baroque Style. In Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin, each phrase was planned out carefully, each note executed precisely, and with perfect intonation. His love for the music poured out his instrument, and he led his ensemble gently and clearly.


Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is one of the best-loved and well-known classical concertos of all times. This time, I heard it in a way that gave me new insight. Soloist Cynthia Freivogel stunned the audience with her exciting tempos, use of rubato and light-hearted humor. We giggled at her “drunken” playing in the ubriachi dormienti (L’autunno, Adagio) as she kept nodding off. The ensemble’s earthy tone quality is so appropriate for Vivaldi’s love song to nature, for which he wrote both the poetry and music.


Be sure to get your tickets early for Brandywine Baroque’s upcoming Dumont Concerts May 28-30. The programs, a festival celebration of harpsichord music and performance, will feature works by Jacquet de La Giuerre, François Couperin, William Byrd, Frescobali and more. Davitt Moroney, Arthur Haas, Edward Parmentier and Karen Flint will perform.

See www.brandywinebaroque.org

Monday, April 19, 2010

Music and gardens

This Thursday, April 22, the Brandywine Baroque ensemble will play in the Copeland Lecture Hall at Winterthur Gardens. The weather should be good for a visit to the gardens and you can finish out the beautiful afternoon by enjoying the amazing sounds of Delaware’s premiere Baroque ensemble. Karen Flint, harpsichord, Doug McNames, cello, Eileen Grycky, flute, Cynthia Freivogel and Martin Davids, violin, and Laura Heimes, soprano can easily take you back to the eighteenth century as you imagine the life at a large estate like this stately gem.

Could this be a revival of the partnership between music and public gardens? How wonderful it is to visit Lewes and hear an outdoor concert by the Delaware Symphony in July – with birds swooping overhead, two-year-olds frolicking and dancing to patriotic marches and marveling at the fireworks that end the evening. Or to enjoy the weekly lunchtime concerts hosted each May through July on the waterfront by the Riverfront Development Corporation of Wilmington.


Longwood has had a long history of musical performances – they have even had the Philadelphia Orchestra twice and they host a Wine and Jazz Fest in the summer and have myriad concerts throughout the year.


Longtime Delaware Symphony Orchestra members recall many chamber concerts in the lecture hall at Winterthur – some followed by formal teas in the cafeteria. Pam Nelson, violist, and Chuck Holdeman, bassoonist told me the symphony used to play at the Arts and Crafts Festivals, at Rockwood, and at the County Pride Festival in Rockford Park. There had been a long-standing date for the DSO to end the summer with a rousing performance of the 1812 Overture complete with cannons shot from the grounds of Winterthur. What fun and what a wonderful opportunity to introduce young people to the joys of classical music!


Long may the union of classical music and gardens last! For details on Brandywine Baroque’s upcoming performance, visit Winterthur’s website or call 800.448.3883.


See www.winterthur.org

See http://www.brandywinebaroque.org


Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Dumont Concerts: Breathing Life into the Baroque

–by guest blogger, Jessica Graae

To enter the concert hall at the Barn at Flintwoods is to greet the Baroque era in all its gilded magnificence. Not only a performance and recording venue, the space houses a treasured private collection of antique harpsichords. The collection, ranging from several Ioannnes Ruckers models, a 1707 Nicholas Dumont and a Spanish-made harpsichord, has been carefully restored both mechanically and aesthetically. Each is meticulously decorated with pastoral scenes, flying cherubs, and even shrimp waiting patiently to be consumed. The most recent acquisition – a harpsichord made by Ruckers in 1627 – was unveiled at Brandywine Baroque’s Dumont Concerts, a weekend-long harpsichord “festival”, which concluded on Sunday, May 24.

The Dumont Concerts opened with a wonderful recital by Karen Flint, Artistic Director of Brandywine Baroque. She played several instruments in the collection, taking us on a musical journey both around the room and world. Striking is Ms. Flint’s knowledge of performance practice and musicology. Her program included two works by Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729), a composer and court musician for Louis XIV. Ms. Flint played these virtuosic, sometimes contemplative, movements with grace and skill. The evening ended with Davitt Moroney on the 1635 Ruckers harpsichord, joining Ms. Flint in a “four hands” duet by François Couperin (1668-1733).

Olivier Baumont performed a program entitled “Les Clavecinistes versaillais”. An exceptional artist and scholar, Mr. Baumont played works by eight different composers who performed at Versailles, including Couperin, Jean-Phillip Rameau, and an eight-year-old Mozart. After each piece, Mr. Baumont applauded the instrument he had played, reminding us how special and important each of the harpsichords is at the Barn at Flintwoods.