• Plaisirs de l’esprit, plaisirs de l’oreille — French baroque chamber music
To us, French baroque music means intimacy, delicacy but also strength. It means elegance and bon goût, it means bass lines that do not only accompany but that could be a music of their own, it means rich harmonies and flying, crying, laughing upper voices. It means rhythm and dance and so much more. We took time to search in our sound as individuals and as an ensemble, to try to make all that happen when we present Marais, Couperin, Lully, Forqueray and Hotteterre as some of the finest composers of their time.
Program:
- M. Marais: Pièces en Trio. Suite no V (Tutti)
- J. Hotteterre: Première suitte de pièces à deux dessus sans basse (Duo Recorder-Violin)
- M. Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre III: Prélude of Suite No.5 (Solo Viola da Gamba)
- J.B. Lully: Les Bourgeois Gentilhommes. Air des Espagnols (Tutti)
- J.B.A. Forqueray: Suite no V. ‘La Sylva’ (Solo Harpsichord)
- F. Couperin: Les Nations. L’Espagnole (Tutti)
• The 1690’s — At Home in London
London in the 1690’s is thriving with musical life. Public concerts were held at theaters, concert rooms, taverns, churches, private houses, gardens, company halls and music schools. At the same time, of course, people played music at home, as they always have done. From 1683 onward, music engraving largely replaced the much more expensive letterpress and gave way for innumerous music editions, now accesible also to the middle class. How could a musical gathering have sounded like at an ordinary home in London in this decade?
So many music editions were published for the violin, recorder, viol and harpsichord, that we may presume that these were some of the most popular instruments among amateur (and professional) musicians in England. And their players now had easy access to all kinds of music. Grounds, Sonatas, Chaconnes and dance music were common, and even vocal song compilations were advertised to also fit to be played by instruments. Henry Purcell was probably the most beloved composer at this time, and still for a long time after his death, but also Gottfried Finger, John Banister, John Blow et. al. were called „the most eminent masters“ in these publications.
This is The Imperfect Pearl’s take on a time in London, where art music started to become a little less exclusive to the rich, where one might have heard it at any ordinary middle class house, home to musicians.
Program:
- Nicola Matteis: No, my Cloe (Tutti)
- Slow tune by Mr. Purcell (Solo flute)
- Gottfried Keller: Trio Sonata Nr. 3 (Tutti)
- Nicola Matteis:Diverse bizzarrie sopra la Vecchia Sarabanda o pur Ciaccona (Violin & bc)
- Vinculum Societatis: Saraband (Solo viol)
- John Banister: Saraband (Tutti)
- Vinculum Societatis: Boree (Solo viol)
- John Banister: Boree (Tutti)
- John Banister: Trumpet (Tutti)
- Musick’s Hand-maid: Ground (Solo harpsichord)
- Mr. Baptist: Ground (Tutti)
- John Blow: Go perjur’d man (Bass singer, flute & bc)
- Collection of symphonies: Simphonie (Tutti)
- Collection of symphonies: Chaconne (Tutti)
- James Paisible: Sonata in D minor (Flute & bc)
- Henry Purcell: How pleasant (Tutti)
- Henry Purcell:Prelude (Solo violin)
- Henry Purcell: Chaconne (Tutti)
- Gottfried Finger: Lesson Nr 8 (Duo Flute & violin)
- Gottfried Finger: Ground (Tutti)