Interesting... To my unschooled ears, I didn't find anything
objectionable in the "Foscarini". I'll admit that I'm getting tired of
the ciaconna rhythm and its ilk... It's getting very popular I think
because it's so approachable. Sort of like los Tangos are popular in
Flamenco because anybody can locate himself in that rhythm... unlike
Bularias, for example which are far more complex. Likewise the
ciaconna, where I can imagine hordes of listeners swaying along gently
with the tiorbo player... Very easy listening.
But as to kitchen sinks and all... Well, no doubt there was some sort
of control over acceptable performances and arrangements of this
music. So a kitchen sink virtuoso might find it difficult to get a gig
playing for the local nobility. But I find it hard to accept that
there were no impromptu sessions where players of any instrument handy
(sink included) might join in to play along with some of the favorites,
greatest hits, etc. I think there *is* an urge to popularize early
music these days. Groups mount performances that they hope look and
feel like these "popular" impromptu sessions they imagine. That is one
way to popularize the music... recreate the music's popularity. (Have
I used that word root sufficiently?)
The only evidence I can personally site for impromptu playing is
this...
I play a mandore. As far as I know, there are two manuscripts for this
instrument -- F. de Chancy, and Skene. Yet there are records among
luthiers and violeros showing htey made many, many examples of this
instrument. Who played it, and where? What music was played on it?
Surely, hundreds and hundreds of people didn't commission these
instruments so they could play pieces from two manuscripts. I can only
believe that people worked out their old favorites in their spare
time. And I further conjecture that they joined in the fun when
friends got together to play. The playing of music was the only way
you were going to hear it, after all. And indeed, I have been
fortunate enough to be included in some arrangements as a mandore
player, although no such part was written. Historically accurate? Who
knows. Musically enjoyable? For me it was.
I'm sure there are other reasons to believe people joined together,
with what instruments they had, to play a tune as best as they could.
And so I've noticed that larger ensemble performances are ever more in
vogue. It doesn't bother me all that much. I can still play solo
music, I can still find smaller arrangements to listen to. I just see
a different angle on the music when I hear a larger ensemble. But I am
no kind of historian. Maybe I'm an example of exactly why you don't
like these sorts of arrangements. But there it is...
cud
__________________________________________________________________
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
To: Martyn Hodgson <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: Vihuelalist <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Fri, August 27, 2010 7:00:18 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Foscarini on Radio 3
Dear Martyn
Yes - I agree with everything you say. I haven't listened to the whole
concert yet - I got as far as the "Foscarini" piece and gave up. Maybe
I
will have time for the rest this weekend.
I am quite often sent CDs to review of this early Italian repertoire
and the
unsuitabilty of the singers in general is a problem especially we are
not
encouraged to say what we think!
I suppose the "tin-pan alley" approach is adopted to try and make the
music
appeal to a broader audience. In the end musicians have to earn a
living.
Just performing the songs with a single plucked string accompaniment,
which
may have been the norm, is just not going to attract many to the cause.
Regards
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Hodgson" <[1]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Stuart Walsh" <[2]s.wa...@ntlworld.com>; "Monica Hall"
<[3]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <[4]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 8:06 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Foscarini on Radio 3
>
> Dear Monica,
>
> I very much agree about Kozena's singing: there's a fashion for well
> known sopranos to try their hand at small scale 'early music' but
few
> seem to be able to make the transition succesfully (somewhat like
> similar rather wincing attempts at Broadway musicals).
>
> In addition to problems evident in her rendition of 'Si dolce
> tormento', what I found particularly disturbing was a frequent
> inability to get the pitch quite right - whether this was because
she
> was trying to control her (pitch) vibrato or because she was unused
to
> being accompanied by a relatively small band (with relatively soft
> instruments - bear in mind we're not hearing the performance but the
> performance tweaked by sound engineers so don't really know what the
> actual balance was). Perhaps she's happier with orchestral
> accompaniment - I understand her Handel and Gluck opera roles have
gone
> down well in the past.
>
> I ought to say this doesn't just apply to Kozena: I recently heard
> Blow's Venus and Adonis with Venus sung by the operatic soprano
> Rosemary Joshua which had similar pitching problems - not just me,
> acquintances also remarked on it. Presumably producers judge that
the
> fame of the name will ensure recording sales.....
>
> M
>
> PS I also agree about the kitchen sink - but again I largely blame
the
> producers and sound engineers who I suspect encourage bands in this
> manner of delivery, thinking it will be more 'exciting' and the
novelty
> will thus generate more listening/sales.
>
>
>
> --- On Thu, 26/8/10, Monica Hall <[5]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
>
> From: Monica Hall <[6]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
> Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Foscarini on Radio 3
> To: "Stuart Walsh" <[7]s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
> Cc: "Vihuelalist" <[8]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
> Date: Thursday, 26 August, 2010, 19:42
>
> Thank you for that! I was listening to the concert on the Radio 3
> website but I couldn't recognise it at all. It sounded a bit like
> Piccinini's Chiaccona Cappona alla vera Spagnola. Maybe it's just
> something they have made up themselves and attributed to
> Foscarini. His book does include a different Chiaccona of
> Piccinini's.
> I dont really like these arrangements with everything but the
kitchen
> sink in them. That's one of the few things I agree with Lex about.
> Baroque guitar music is meant to be played on the baroque guitar. I
> didn't particularly like Magdalena Kozuna's singing either - what I
> heard of it. I think she completely spoiled Monteverdi's Si dolce
> tormento.
> Maybe I will find time to listen to the rest of the concert before
they
> wipe it off. Meanwhile - leave it on you website. If I listen to
it
> a few more times I might trace it.
> Cheers
> Monica
> --- Original Message ----- From: "Stuart Walsh"
> <[1][9]s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
> To: "Vihuelalist" <[2][10]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 6:41 PM
> Subject: [VIHUELA] Foscarini on Radio 3
> >
> > The whole concert by Private Musicke (and brief description of it)
> can be heard here.
> >
> > The songs and pieces were played uninterrupted in each half. This,
> presumably, is the Foscarini:
> >
> > [3][11]http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Ff.mp3
> >
> >
> > Stuart
> >
> >
> >
> > To get on or off this list see list information at
> > [4][12]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
> --
>
> References
>
> 1.
[13]http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=s.wa...@ntlworld.com
> 2.
[14]http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=vihu...@cs.dartmouth.e
du
> 3. [15]http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Ff.mp3
> 4. [16]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
--
References
1. mailto:hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
2. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
3. mailto:mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
4. mailto:vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. mailto:mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
6. mailto:mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
7. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
8. mailto:vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
9. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com
10. mailto:vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
11. http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Ff.mp3
12. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
13. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=s.wa...@ntlworld.com
14. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu
15. http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Ff.mp3
16. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
