York Early Music: EMS 17 July

[doversoul1]

Lucie Skeaping presents a concert from the 2016 York Early Music Festival, which features lutenist Thomas Dunford alongside Persian percussionist and zarb player Kevyan Chemirani.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlm2y

[Richard Tarleton]

Bit of a mixed bag. An interesting one-off, not sure I'd want to live with it.

The zarb [? percussion instrument] worked OK in the sprightlier Dowland dance rhythms (Mrs Winter, King of Denmark) but generally surplus to requirements I thought. Does Lucie really find the Frog Galliard "uncharacteristically jolly"? It's not just the words to the intensely sad song whose tune it is (Now O now), the tune itself is infused with gentle melancholy - here's a mixture of the two (I've posted this before, but it's lovely). It might have helped not knowing the pieces (but everyone there would have known them....). The Purcell singularly unsuccessful. I enjoyed TD's solo lute pieces - I like his playing - and ditto the hammered dulcimer, could have done with more of that. Close but no cigar.

[De Lassus]

Richard Tarleton, thanks so much for the link to Les Canards Chantants youtube. It is indeed lovely.

[Richard Tarleton]

A pleasure, and welcome De Lassus

[De Lassus]

A pleasure, and welcome De Lassus

I came here for political reasons, but I like it here - I think I'll stay ;)

[Quarky]

Bit of a mixed bag. An interesting one-off, not sure I'd want to live with it.

The zarb [? percussion instrument] worked OK in the sprightlier Dowland dance rhythms (Mrs Winter, King of Denmark) but generally surplus to requirements I thought. Does Lucie really find the Frog Galliard "uncharacteristically jolly"? It's not just the words to the intensely sad song whose tune it is (Now O now), the tune itself is infused with gentle melancholy - here's a mixture of the two (I've posted this before, but it's lovely). It might have helped not knowing the pieces (but everyone there would have known them....). The Purcell singularly unsuccessful. I enjoyed TD's solo lute pieces - I like his playing - and ditto the hammered dulcimer, could have done with more of that. Close but no cigar.

I could live with it, and happy to go with the flow, but perhaps better suited to Late junction, rather than EMS. The basic ingredients may be early music from England and Persia, but the putting together is very contemporary - Jacques Loussier crossed my mind. Expecting to hear authentic early music, one is bound to be disappointed.

[doversoul1]

Bit of a mixed bag. An interesting one-off, not sure I'd want to live with it.

The zarb [? percussion instrument] worked OK in the sprightlier Dowland dance rhythms (Mrs Winter, King of Denmark) but generally surplus to requirements I thought. Does Lucie really find the Frog Galliard "uncharacteristically jolly"? It's not just the words to the intensely sad song whose tune it is (Now O now), the tune itself is infused with gentle melancholy - here's a mixture of the two (I've posted this before, but it's lovely). It might have helped not knowing the pieces (but everyone there would have known them....). The Purcell singularly unsuccessful. I enjoyed TD's solo lute pieces - I like his playing - and ditto the hammered dulcimer, could have done with more of that. Close but no cigar.

- generally surplus to requirements
- Purcell singularly unsuccessful
- I enjoyed TD's solo lute pieces
- the hammered dulcimer, could have done with more of that

I very much agree with all these. The idea and its sound of this concert wasn’t anything terribly original..Early/Baroque music with exotic percussions has been done, I think, more interestingly by a group like L'Arpeggiata although some of their project have gone far too far to my taste.

Still, it was a nice change.