Sounds of Shakespeare: EMS 24 April

[doversoul1]

The choir Ex Cathedra with a special concert of English and Italian madrigals celebrating the explosion of interest in singing in England during the most creative part of Shakespeare's lifetime. Presented by Lucie Skeaping from the historic Guild Chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of Radio 3's Sounds of Shakespeare weekend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b078652f

[richardfinegold]

Our Classical FM station has devoted the entire weekend to music associated with Shakespeare but me thinks they have been cheating by throwing in excerpts from West Side Story

[jean]

No Kiss me Kate?

[doversoul1]

Shakespeare or not, this is a feast of madrigals, including Italian madrigals Englished. Very enjoyable indeed.

[ahinton]

No Kiss me Kate?

I know; terrible, isn't it?! You'd have thought that at least UK stockbrokers would have taken that on board in cashing in on the 400th anniversary celebrations along the lines of
"Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start floating him now"...

Anit-capitalist members need not read this.

Also, little appears so far to have been made of the "who wrote Shakespeare?" arguments that once, rather absurdly, had some currency in UK if nowhere else, speaking of which Channel 4's Shakespeare's Tomb reminded me momentarily of the amusing bit in The Dictionary Makers in which Anthony Burgess (taking time off from trying to write symphonies) wryly observes "Do you know how they are going to decide the Shakespeare/Bacon dispute? They are going to dig up Shakespeare and dig up Bacon; they are going to set their coffins side by side, and they are going to get [Herbert Beerbohm] Tree to recite Hamlet to them. And the one who turns in his coffin will be the author of the play"...

[doversoul1]

I know; terrible, isn't it?! You'd have thought that at least UK stockbrokers would have taken that on board in cashing in on the 400th anniversary celebrations along the lines of
"Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start floating him now"...

Anit-capitalist members need not read this.

Also, little appears so far to have been made of the "who wrote Shakespeare?" arguments that once, rather absurdly, had some currency in UK if nowhere else, speaking of which Channel 4's Shakespeare's Tomb reminded me momentarily of the amusing bit in The Dictionary Makers in which Anthony Burgess (taking time off from trying to write symphonies) wryly observes "Do you know how they are going to decide the Shakespeare/Bacon dispute? They are going to dig up Shakespeare and dig up Bacon; they are going to set their coffins side by side, and they are going to get [Herbert Beerbohm] Tree to recite Hamlet to them. And the one who turns in his coffin will be the author of the play"...

Any thoughts on the selection of the music performed and Ex Cathedra’s performance?

[MickyD]

Any thoughts on the selection of the music performed and Ex Cathedra’s performance?

Very enjoyable.

How about this selection of the same repertoire with a somewhat different take:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ6ZeWYfLjA

[ardcarp]

I've just heard Ex Cathedra's recital from the Guild Chapel and thought it magnificent. There was warmth in their singing, yet the lines (beautifully shaped by Mr Skidmore, BTW) were clearly heard, and what I especially liked was that the way final chords were vibrato-less, perfectly tuned and...hardest of all...controlled.

The repertoire included a good blend of the well-known and less-known, and was all relevant to Shakespeare's time. I liked too the mixture of OVPP and small choir. There was a time when madrigals (especially the English ones) were sung chorally, something that seems to have gone out of fashion.

Most enjoyable. A kindly acoustic too.

Jeff Skidmore, incidentally, arrived back in his native Brum having just graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford. I hope he won't mind my saying that he looked about 14 at the time! He gathered together a band of young singers, called them Ex Cathedra, and the rest is history. Brilliant that he chose to base his work in Brum rather than making for London where so many good singers are to be found. On their showing in this recital they are up there with the best of them.

[mercia]

slightly off-topic, I don't know if we realised that last Friday's broadcast concert from Stratford [featuring Ex Cathedra] of music by Arne (Garrick Ode) and Beamish was also filmed. It was a live stream, so doesn't actually start until about 16 minutes into this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03q8vwg/shakespeare-lives-garricks-shakespeare-ode

[ardcarp]

Thanks Mopsus! Just watched it.