English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble: EMS 18 November

[Richard Tarleton]

"Early" instruments and "modern" instruments are, in the end, all "old" instruments, so in principle all could be thought of as equally available to contemporary composers, just as many percussion instruments used in the "modern" orchestra have been imported into Western music from other cultures where, as in the past, "they do things differently". So a consort of viols is not really so very different from a piano trio. I don't imagine that a competition like this would put any stylistic constraints on entrants, although from their titles I imagine that many of them did allow themselves to be conditioned by the music generally played by the instruments in question. In a situation like this, though, the players are often more of a problem than the instruments, since early music specialists won't often have had to play highly chromatic music, let alone things like microtones, and probably won't have seen very many quintuplets, let alone more complex rhythmic subdivisions. On the other hand there are plenty of players of "early" instruments, particularly recorders, who have begun to specialise in contemporary music. I've written plenty of recorder parts in ensembles otherwise consisting of "modern" instruments, and also for triple harp (tuned microtonally), slide trumpet, harpsichord etc. There are one or two examples of contemporary music involving the lute, going back to Mauricio Kagel's Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente in 1966, but I haven't seen such a part using tablature.

Thank you Richard, most interesting and I've checked out the Kagel on You Tube. Players often more of a problem than their instruments .

[Richard Barrett]

Players often more of a problem than their instruments

It works both ways of course - getting "modern" string players to play without vibrato is often a struggle - "but it sounds so unmusical!"

[Bryn]

It works both ways of course - getting "modern" string players to play without vibrato is often a struggle - "but it sounds so unmusical!"

Well, if they can't manage their intonation, then yes.

[kernelbogey]

I attended a spirited performance last night at Turner Sims in Southampton by the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Echoes of Venice; music by The Gabriellis, Monteverdi and their contemporaries. It also included two new compositions (competition winners) for the ensemble.

It was announced that this would form a forthcoming EMS, but no date was given.

(This seemed a useful place to post, rather than starting a whole new thread.)

I posted the above the day after attending this concert at Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton. Perhaps this may answer some of the queries posted.

I do not have a programme to refer to. However the early pieces were a mixture of ensemble pieces, smaller combinations and solo chamber organ.

I do not feel qualified to comment on the two contemporary pieces featured; however some posts above correctly intimate that these were compositions by two young living composers writing for instruments from the era of Monteverdi.

And it was a great evening!