Christmas Concert

Here are excerpts from our concert on Saturday at St. Catherine of Siena church, in Ithaca, NY.

Two duets: Angels We Have Heard on High, and Ding Dong Merrily on High
Played by Eileen Allen and Stefanie Green

Barbara Kaufman and Paul Sweeny

rest in peace Ravi Shankar

The Flanders quartet

performed in Syracuse, New York, on Saturday, November 17. Actually, they were a trio, as one of the members had broken his leg and couldn't perform. Here's a shot of some of the instruments. The concert was great, BTW.

Ensemble performance in December

We will be performing Christmas music at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Ithaca on December 15 at 1:30 pm to benefit the Ithaca Kitchen Cupboard. We hope you will come! 

Bloom Early Music Workshop

What a wonderful Labor Day weekend treat! BEMW is a casual yet intensive workshop for winds, strings and voices. Many thanks to Dwayne Heisler, who sponsors it at his house in Catawissa, PA. Our teachers, Larry Lipnik, Lisle Kuhlbach, and Jodie Miller, were so knowledgeable and inspiring. The music was gorgeous, and the attendees were friendly and fun to hang out with. I can't think of a better way to play music.

Wayne's garage, where the big group plays. 
Photos by Lisa Banlaki Frank.

Hermes and Mercury, Wayne's lovely companions.

Pernille Petersen

Michael Form

French Baroque dance CAMMAC 2012

photo by Susan van Gelder

Olivier Bault, baroque violin, Francis Colpron, baroque flute, Mattias Maute, viola, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, dancer, Femke Bergsma and Betsy MacMillan, viols, and others

CAMMAC

back from the CAMMAC early music workshop. It's a magical place. Here's a link to some photos taken by Susan van Gelder. There will be more to look at as participants put up their photos.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanvg/sets/72157630503757610/

ricercar del primo tuono

Palestrina. Taylor Recorder Consort.

Ithaca Festival 2012

From left to right: Marion DaGrossa, Richard Rand, Stefanie Green, Sarah Iams, Lisa Margosian, Sara Schaffzin, Eileen Allen, Amalia Weinberg, Chad Hagstrom, John Wolff, Paul Sweeny, and Barbara Kaufman.

early (very early) music

from today's New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/science/oldest-musical-instruments-are-even-older-than-first-thought.html?smid=pl-share

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

1925-2012
Ich habe genug

Adrian Brown

Adrian Brown in his studio

Here is the link to his website, which has wonderful photos of his recorders and mp3 downloads. 

Last night I attended a recital at Ithaca College of students in the early music ensemble directed by Prof. Nicholas Walker. I especially enjoyed the two cantatas for soprano, four viols and bass, by Franz Tunder. Kristina Jackson, the soprano, was very impressive in the quality of her singing, her understanding and communication of the text, and her stage presence. The other piece that really blew me away was the Chiacona in C major, by Antonio Bertali, for baroque violin, theorbo and gamba. Samantha Spena played the piece very well. All three of the musicians appeared to be enjoying the music, and were playing with and against each other with great enthusiasm. The piece itself is really wonderful. I had never heard it before. I am familiar with the ciaccone from one of the Marcello gamba/recorder sonatas, and love it. Must be something in the repetition of the simple underlying theme, and the variations that keep piling on on top of it. So, here's a youtube video of the Bertali. 

I found this video of Valery Sauvage today. It's lovely, I think. I will try playing the recorder with it.

Stars and Stripes Forever!
performed by the Sekishi Recorder Quartet

Thomas Lupo


from wikipedia:

He was part of a distinguished family of musicians, who included several generations. His father was Joseph Lupo, a string player and composer from Venice who had come first to Antwerp, and then to London; Thomas was probably born there. In 1588 he joined the violin consort at the court of Queen Elizabeth I – he was only 16 – but evidently he was not paid for his service until 1591. Thomas retained this position, or variants thereof, for his entire life. During the Jacobean era, he served both in the households of Prince Henry (after 1610) and Prince Charles (after 1617).

A surviving record from 1627 indicates that he was in financial trouble, and had to sign away £100 of his future income to pay off his creditors: the report goes on to state that his wife violently attempted to prevent him from doing so.

He died in London, probably in December 1627.

Lupo was one of the principal figures in the development of the viol consort repertory. In addition, he was a significant composer of sacred vocal music. He probably wrote a considerable quantity of music for the court violin ensemble, however almost none of it survives; it has been hypothesised that much of the anonymous repertory for this group is by Lupo.

Most of the music for viols which Lupo wrote, for two, three, four, five, and six parts, dates from his employment in the household of Prince Charles. Many of the pieces use a contrapuntal and textural style reminiscent to the Italian madrigal, especially the pieces for five and six voices: in particular he imitated the style of Marenzio, whose works were well-known in England, having made up a large part of Nicholas Yonge's 1588 Musica transalpina, which started the vogue for madrigals in England.

His consort music for three and four parts is more experimental, often using combinations rare in other composers of the time, such as three basses together, or three trebles together. Some of the consort music was designed to be accompanied by organ.

Specific types of instrumental compositions by Lupo include fantasias (12 for six parts, 35 for five parts, 13 for four parts, and 24 for three parts); pavanes, galliards, and Almands (allemandes). Some of the fantasias are direct transcriptions of Italian madrigals.

Palestrina
Lamentations

The Amaryllis myth 

Longing for spring, I am posting the following:

Greek mythology tells the story of a very sensitive girl called Amaryllis. One day when she was on a mountainside picking flowers, she met the shepherd Alteo and fell in love on the spot. But Alteo was not interested in girls, he only loved flowers. He had often said that: "Only the girl who can bring me a new flower will receive my love."

Amaryllis despaired and turned to the Oracle at Delphi for advice. There she was told to take an arrow from the temple and to wound herself with it in front of Alteo’s house, whereby she must declare her love for him. If necessary she should repeat this action on the subsequent evenings. Amaryllis did what the oracle had told her and when the clock struck midnight on the first evening, she resolutely stabbed her breast and her heart. It was as if her life was streaming out of her as she stood in front of Alteo’s hut calling his name loudly and declaring that their lives were tied together. Unfortunately her actions had no effect.

She repeated the scene the next evening. And again the evening after that. For thirty nights blood dripped before Alteo's door, until a miracle happened. On the spot where the blood had fallen, there was a large red flower with a wide open calyx. "Alteo, Alteo, here is the flower," called Amaryllis excitedly. Alteo saw the fragile girl with the thick and heavy stem in her hands, bearing the unfamiliar bright red flower of love. The rugged shepherd knelt before her and wept, and as they kissed for the first time, the larks sung high in the air.

Of course the new flower was named Amaryllis.

from Amaryllismagic.co.uk

Scott Reiss
Dear Irish Boy





Obituary from the Washington Post

Having just returned from an Amherst Early Music Workshop in Philadelphia last weekend, I thought I'd post some information on Heinrich Isaac. Here's a brief bio of him that appears on the website, http://www.hoasm.org.

Franco-Flemish composer. Although the majority of his professional life was spent in Italy, particularly Florence, his influence was greatest in Germanic lands, where he lived intermittently from 1497, when he became court Composer to Maximilian I. Of his students, the most notable was Ludwig Senfl. 

 His long association with Italy began when he entered the service of the Medici in Florence around 1485 as a singer in the Cantori di S. Giovanni, a group that supplied polyphonic music for the cathedral and other local churches. His work for Maximilian I, from 1497 until his death, did not require continuous residence at the court but allowed stays of considerable length in various German cities, in northern Italy, and in Florence. Nevertheless, his position as imperial court composer and the many pieces he wrote for the Hofkapelle brought the Netherlandish style of music to German-speaking areas.

Among his works are about 40 Mass Ordinaries, half cyclic (in the Netherlandish tradition), half based on liturgically appropriate plainsong melodies (in the German tradition); almost 100 cycles of the Proper of the Mass (following Germanic liturgical custom; most published posthumously in the 3-volume Choralis constantinus); over fifty independent motets; and nearly 100 secular songs, including French chansons, a few Italian frottole, and a large number of German Tenorlieder.

Here's a link to a pdf file of one of his compositions for 4 parts.

Interview with 8-year-old Lucas, 
who studies at the Special Music School in New York 


His parents are professional musicians.
This video was posted in the New York Times in 2011.

Doen Daphne d'over schoone Maeght by van Eyck

I just found this video on youtube. I don't know who the young performer is, or what country she comes from. 




http://youtu.be/KFksmD37yXM

Ten commandments for the care and feeding of a consort
A very useful document, which originally appeared in American Recorder, 
Vol. XXX, No. 3

It was developed by the author’s own consort, a group of six players with a fairly wide range of musical abilities.

by Mary Maarbjerg

1. Meet at a regular time and set starting and ending times. We meet once

a week for two hours. Some of us get so carried away with the music we

want to play all night. Much better to “leave ‘em wanting more.” And a fixed

time focuses the rehearsal on the things that are most important.

2. At some point choose a leader. We tried to operate as six equals, but the

best and only professional musician among us emerged as our leader.... We

expect him to consult us on all operating decisions of the group (when and

where we play, how we spend our money, etc.), but we let him settle the

musical disputes. Someone should have the final word.

3. If you start to earn money, open a separate account and appoint a

treasurer.

4. Break bread together from time to time. Musical rehearsals can be serious

business, especially on the verge of a performance. It helps your musical

interaction to have some casual interaction as well.

5. Criticize or comment on the music, not the musicians. “That passage

might sound better if we did…” rather than “You’re bellowing so hard on that

alto we can’t hear the soprano.”

6. Agree on the general purpose of the group and to what extent you will

deviate from that purpose. We got together to play, and very soon found

ourselves with invitations to perform. As it happens, we were all rather taken

with the idea and have basically refocused on performance repertoire, but we

still try to sight-read for 15 minutes or so during each rehearsal, and

occasionally devote an entire session to it.

7. If you have a group that works well together, don’t tamper with it by

adding “just one more person.” You don’t need to tell me about the

proverbial straw…. Remember that group dynamics are fragile and can easily

be destroyed.

8. Don’t let little things fester. Best to bring up a grievance quickly, and

resolve it quickly. Little annoyances become big issues if allowed to grow. If

you don’t want him to put his chewing gum on your antique music stand, say

so at once.

9. Relax and enjoy it for what it is, while it lasts…. Recognize that in any

group greater than one, someone may be having an off night—musically or

personally. (Not you, of course!) We have found that the best thing is to just

ignore it, and start fresh the next week. No explanations required.

10. Finally, be prepared to fall in love with someone or everyone. Music is a

very emotional experience…. To share in that experience is, in some sense,

to fall in love, and can be confused with the real thing. Be forewarned. It’s

not the least of the hazards involved in group playing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Green, Barry, with W. Timothy Gallway. The Inner Game of Music. Garden City,

NJ: Anchor/Doubleday, 1986. See Chapter 14, “Ensemble Playing” (pp.

189-205).

White, Beverly. “Consensus Musicus and the Small Ensemble.” American

Recorder, Vol. XIII, No. 4 (November 1972), pp. 122-123.

This article advocates teamwork and shared leadership in small ensembles. It is most

applicable to experienced ensembles.

Gilles de Binche (called Binchois)


I found this recording by chance: 
Mon Souverain Desir
Ensemble Gilles Binchois 
Dominique Vellard

Virgin Classics

Catalogue No.: 0724354528552

from the Wikipedia article:
also known as Gilles de Bins (c. 1400 – 20 September 1460), was a Franco-Flemish composer, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian School, and one of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century. While often ranked behind his contemporaries Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstaple, at least by contemporary scholars, his influence was arguably greater than either, since his works were cited, borrowed and used as source material more often than those by any other composer of the time.

Binchois (right), with Guillaume Dufay