eric bellocq: See his website: It was while finishing his study of guitar in 1983 with Alexandre Lagoya at the Paris Conservatory (where he now teaches) that Eric Bellocq received his first initiation to basso continuo and started to work in William Christie's baroque group, " Les Arts Florissants", which he subsequently left in 1990. >From 1991, he has been playing mainly renaissance lute with the ensemble "Clément Janequin", directed by Dominique Visse. Since 2000, with the show "Le Chant des Balles", a duo with a juggler Vincent de Lavenère, he has been able to resume production of his own musical works, while remaining faithful to the early music styles. Apart from participating in a large number of discs with various orchestras and groups, a few duet and solo recordings have been released by Naxos, Kings Records (Japan) and Frame (Italy). In 2009, his research on J. S. Bach's works for lute took a concrete form by virtue of an innovative new tuning for the instrument. Important European festivals such as AMUZ (Antwerp) or Festival de Saintes gave audience an opportunity to listen to the suites BWV 996, 997 and 998, which were rarely performed in live concert.
I must tell that his old programme "Chant des balles" with the juggler is really very good, I saw it twice. The "Bach en Balles" last February at the Lute Festival in Antwerp was the first performance of their new programme, but not quite ready IMHO (playing by heart, in a total new tuning, while juggling and sitting on a moving low chair: it was a too big challenge, all these things combined) I always found it a bit suspicious that the director of Amuz, our partner in the organisation of this festival, really believed his statement that the the so called lute suites were "rarely performed in live concert" and that he just discovered the Liuto Forte and this new tuning. But as they payed him for this "première"...(First performance) we couldn't really object,and luckily we also had our own programmes. Looking forward to the next European (or World) Lute Festival now in Füssen, Germany next May 21-24 in 2010 Greet Belgian Lute Society -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] Namens lute Verzonden: maandag 21 december 2009 22:06 Aan: 'Franz Mechsner'; 'Sauvage Valéry'; 'lute' Onderwerp: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte The text was used for a performance at a lute festival in Belgium. As you admit it does sound silly, there is no evidence that Bach wrote 6 suites for the lute, even that he was so very interested in the lute. I am sure a lot of lutenists would love to think he was, but it does not seem to have interested him a great deal. But maybe he could see into the future and wanted to write for an instrument that was invented a few hundred years later....or maybe the liuto forte is not a new instrument, but an idea stolen from the 18th century. There are also a number of modern performances on dminor baroque lute so they do not seem to be "unplayable". All the best Mark p.S. Here is EB's programme presenting the reconstructed 6 suites.... Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 995 prélude, allemande, courante, sarabande, gavottes 1 et 2, gigue. Joaquin RODRIGO: Sarabande lointaine. Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 999 (reconstitution É. Bellocq) prélude, fugue, sarabande, menuets 1, 2 et 3. Yuquijiro YOCOH: Sakura, thème et variations sur la chanson traditionnelle japonaise. Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 998 prélude, fugue et allegro. Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 996 prélude, allemande, courante, sarabande, bourrée, gigue. Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: larghetto du Divertimento KV 439b nº2. Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 997 prélude, fugue, sarabande, gigue et double. DEBUSSY: La fille aux cheveux de lin. Johann Sebastian BACH: suite BWV 1006a prélude, loure, gavotte en rondeau, menuets 1 et 2, bourrée, gigue. -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] Im Auftrag von Franz Mechsner Gesendet: Montag, 21. Dezember 2009 17:09 An: Mark Wheeler; Sauvage Valéry; lute Betreff: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte Dear Mark, where did you get Eric Bellocq's promotion text from? It sounds indeed a little silly - but given how much work he semed to have invested in research on Bach suites, and finally playing them in ABs (?) tuning, one should do him justice before ridiculing him and make sure what's the matter with this text... not everything is what it seems to be... F __________________________________________________________________ Von: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu im Auftrag von Mark Wheeler Gesendet: So 20.12.2009 16:27 An: 'Sauvage Valery'; lute Betreff: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte Well if you find playing "a guitar in form of a lute saying it is a lute" strange then have a look at this promotion text from the same lutenist.. "It is assumed that Bach, just as for the violin and the cello, composed six solo suites for lute. But only a few of these incredibly difficult lute compositions have been preserved. Eric Bellocq accepted the challenge and reconstructed a complete suite cycle. For this purpose, he had a `luito forte' built, which all of a sudden makes these compositions quite playable!" Who assumes that there are 6 solo suites for lute, where is the evidence? All of the surviving Bach compositions or arrangements have been recorded many times, so they are playable on a standard baroque lute. Eric's text is of course absolute hogwash, but it is the sort of thing that some classical promoters probably lap up, not surprising considering that huge portions of the mega-narrative of classical music dreamed up in the 19th century is equally ridiculous. But wasn't one of the aims of the early music movement to try to get beyond these assumptions and myths. Mark -----Urspruengliche Nachricht----- Von: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [[1]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] Im Auftrag von Sauvage Valery Gesendet: Sonntag, 20. Dezember 2009 15:58 An: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Betreff: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte I'm not against guitar and guitar players (as a guitar player myself, on romantic intrument ;-) but I don't understand why play a guitar in form of a lute saying it is a lute, as I find my normal lute "forte" enough in itself, that's all. And after, eveyone makes whatever he wants... V. ----- Original Message ----- From: <terli...@aol.com> To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 3:30 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: terli...@aol.com > To: chriswi...@yahoo.com > Sent: Sun, Dec 20, 2009 9:22 am > Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte > > > > > I write at the risk of being gummed to death by a horde of irate > lutenists: > > > I don't know what kind of guitars and guitar playing lutenists here have > been exposed to here but there is a wide variety of types of guitars and > playing styles. Hauser style guitar guitars are very good for playing some > lute music. Smallman type guitars are less good for playing most lute > music. To play lute music decently on guitar takes a certain touch...there > are players that can do it. > The guitar (unamplified) works great great in ensemble playing e.g Boulez: > Le marteau sans maA(R)tre: Webern op.18, > Takemitsu: Ring for Lute,flute and guitar... > Best, > Mark Delpriora > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: chriswi...@yahoo.com > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu; Sauvage ValA(c)ry <sauvag...@orange.fr> > Sent: Sat, Dec 19, 2009 6:18 pm > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte > > > Valery, > > --- On Sat, 12/19/09, Sauvage ValA(c)ry <sauvag...@orange.fr> wrote: >> Ok forte, >> we can hear it, but sounds like a guitar (single strung for >> the one he used). >> So why not play the guitar ? modern and loud instrument you >> can play with nails... > > Really? I've found the modern classical guitar to be a really, really > awful > ensemble instrument when dealing with anything else other than other > classical > guitars or one other instrument/voice. While the signal coming from it > may be > technically louder than most types of lutes, it is designed to emphasize > the > lower partials so that the sound is literally swallowed up by other modern > instruments. This sort of dark timbre can be very effective for a certain > portion (but not all) of the solo repertoire, but it really loses its > charm in > other situations. This is why A) it MUST be played with nails B) even > then it > doesn't project particularly well and C) you often hear the instrument > amplified > in even small ensembles. > > If you're going to amplify it, what's the point of using that type of > guitar > (unless you want to make the amplification part of the effect and timbre > itself, > a la George Crumb)? This is why I haven't used a classical guitar in any > of my > ensemble music for years. A steel-string guitar works very well > unamplified in > a small ensemble and the electric guitar has no volume limitations at all. > Contemporary composers would find much of interest in these instruments > and > modern classical guitarists would be well advised to think of them as > alternate > versions of their instrument. Unfortunately, classical players often > perceive > them as some kind of threat from outside the "official" guitar world. > > I haven't found this same problem with lutes or theorbos. The emphasis of > higher partials means that the sound on both can cut through quite well. > Play > close to the bridge and you can be heard most of the time. I've been > thinking > of writing a duo for lute and modern guitar. Maybe now's the time to > investigate the project. > > Chris > > > > >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "wolfgang wiehe" <wie-w...@gmx.de> >> To: <terli...@aol.com>; >> <r.turov...@verizon.net>; >> <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> >> Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009 8:05 PM >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte >> >> >> >> I heard a "liuto forte" this year at our DLG meeting on >> "Burg >> Sternberg". Hmm, not louder than my g-lute...;-) >> Greetings >> W. >> >> -----UrsprA 1/4ngliche Nachricht----- >> Von: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu >> [[2]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] >> Im >> Auftrag von terli...@aol.com >> Gesendet: Samstag, 19. Dezember 2009 19:41 >> An: r.turov...@verizon.net; >> lute@cs.dartmouth.edu >> Betreff: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte >> >> >> OR suitable for a guitarist who is NOT sick of the guitar >> repertoire! >> . and is happy with finger nails. >> >> >> Roman, Did you go to the the demonstration of the liuto >> forte hat >> occurred at the Met Museum a year or 3 ago? >> >> >> I missed it. >> >> >> Mark Delpriora >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Roman Turovsky <r.turov...@verizon.net> >> To: Lutelist <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> >> Sent: Sat, Dec 19, 2009 11:51 am >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte >> >> >> It is a single-strung lute and guitar hybrid designed by >> Andre Burguete, >> that aproximates lute sound while purporting to have the >> volume of the >> guitar. It uses nylon overspun with fine steel wire, and >> has some >> interesting and useful peculiarities in the bridge and >> soundboard >> construction. >> Fixed metal frets are supposedly less dampening to the >> sound >> (negligibly). >> This technology might yield a nice and loud theorbo in ET. >> But one really misses the overtone palette of double >> strings. >> It is a very suitable instrument for a guitarist who is >> sick of the >> guitar repertoire, but is unwilling to part with his >> nails. >> >> [3]http://www.liuto-forte.com/ >> There are a number of notable converts to it: Oliver >> Holzenburg, Luciano >> Contini et al. >> RT >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Winheld" >> <dwinh...@comcast.net> >> To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> >> Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009 11:31 AM >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Liuto forte >> >> > Alright, I'll bite- What in God's name is Liuto >> Forte? (I must have >> > been out of the office for this one) >> > thanks, Dan >> > -- > >> > >> > >> > >> > To get on or off this list see list information at >> > [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > > > > > > > > > -- > -- References 1. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 2. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 3. http://www.liuto-forte.com/ 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html