Tage Alter Musik – Almanach 2011

We're familiar with Domenico Scarlatti as the composer of over five hundred sonatas for the harpsichord, but here he emerges with a man- dolin piece. Here's the Sonata No. 55, Number 99 in the Kirkpatrick catalogue, performed by Artemandoline: Musik (Artemandoline) Artemandoline, with a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti. Next, it's on to a Concerto by Vivaldi, this one set for two mandolins. Musik (Artemandoline) I asked Juan Carlos Munoz of the ensemble Artemandoline for a description of the next piece by Evaristo Felice dall’ Abaco. O-Ton Juan Carlos Munoz: Extravagant, ein Italiener, der etwas Italienisch schreibt, sonatenförmig, und auch hört man ein Chaconne im dritten Teil, die französisch klingt, sehr pompös, ein bisschen. Da ist alles drin. Dall' Abaco ist ein sehr facettenreicher Komponist in dieser Zeit. Seine Musik ist in einer Wendezeit zw. Klassik und Barock, eine Mischung von zwei Epochen. Here is that microcosm by Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco: Concerto for multiple instruments, opus Five Number Six, performed by Artemandoline. Zweiter Teil: I’m Rick Fulker, back in the imperial hall in Regensburg for a very special concert. Now we all know that early art music grew directly out of a tradition of folk music. Well, the ensemble Rebaroque from Sweden makes this their central theme, showing just how much the two gen- res are interrelated in the following concert called "Variations" in which we'll hear unforgettable melodies in old and new clothing, starting right off now with a trademark of the ensemble, mixing the old, the new and the improvised in a unique way that creates headaches for those who want clear distinctions – as there really aren't any, it's not very easy in this segment, for example, to tell where the galliard by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber ends and a Polonaise by Andreas Höök begins, and that later morphs into a violin improvisation before merging back to the Biber. Here's Rebaroque: Musik (Rebaroque) Biber swings! No not Biber as in Justin but as in Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, whose galliard sounded out at the beginning and end of that sec- tion, intersperced with a Polonaise by a Swedish composer named Andreas Höök, who lived in the second half of the 17 th century, and an improvised section featuring Anders Akered on the violin, a member of Rebaroque, the ensemble you're hearing in this concert recording from the Early Music Days in Regensburg. Rebaroque's concert master is Maria Lindal, and she tells tells us how this program came about: Statement Maria Lindal: The idea behind the program started when we were here six years ago playing a show called "Christinas Reise." And that was about Queen Christina, who abdicated from the throne and went to Rome and her journey through Europe, she had an orchestra with her, or a small ensem- ble, eight musicians. When we were doing this production we started playing things in the breaks, and since we have folk fiddlers with us, they were playing their music and the double bass player and I were trying some klezmer. And one day we looked at each other and said, Wait, if I would have been a musician in the time of Christina travelling with her, I wouldn't have been waiting for her while she was visiting people. I would have gone down to the pub and meet other musicians. So her journey through Europe then became interesting for us to find the kind of music they could have heard and been inspired by. I also have had, since I was a young person, a love for baroque music and dance music, folk music. And I couldn't really see where one started and the other began, it was the same really good music for me. It has the rhythm, har- mony, the fantastic effects. So we made this program trying to show our inspiration from folk music and how clear it is. Now, Maria Lindal and her ensemble Rebaroque with Joyne hands and O' mistress mine, two songs by English composer Thomas Morley, who lived from 1557 to 1602, moving rather seamlessly in trademark Rebaroque style from there to Divisions CS, the CS in the title stand- ing for the composer, Christopher Simson, also English, whose birth and death dates are 1602 and 1669. Musik (Rebaroque) Songs by Thomas Morley and Christopher Simpson, given the Rebaroque treatment, Rebaroque being the ensemble playing here at the Early Music Days in Regensburg. My conversation with concert master Maria Lindal might help us to understand Rebaroque's approach better: Interview with Maria Lindal: RF: People love, it, and it's always a very thankful job for us if you can say "this is based on a folk song" and entice the listeners to get inter- ested in it. But you take it a step further, don't you, take some serious pieces that one is familiar with and and jazz them up a little bit. Lindal: I would say, even more than jazz them up – but no, you're right, because jazz is the baroque music of today. You have good tunes and you improvise, that's what you did in those days. And you had some serious music where you didn't do that, but most of the music you impro- vised a lot. So we have a certain amount of improvisation which is always going on, never the same. And at the same time we decide a pat- tern, like a framework. The next piece by an anonymous composer has a title in an archaic Germanic dialect, Jag ledz wid werlden, an expression of resignation and weariness with the world. And that's followed by "The Duke of Norfolk" by composer John Playford, who lived from 1623-1686. Musik (Rebaroque)