Telemann and Gesualdo

[doversoul1]

Saturday
Virtually unknown a few decades ago, Georg Philipp Telemann's orchestral suite 'Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth' (Hamburg Ebb and Flow) is fast becoming a rival to Handel's 'Water Music'. Written in 1723 to celebrate the centenary of the Hamburg Admiralty it tackles watery subjects such as the sea deities Thetis, Neptune and Triton, sporting Naiads and even the city's drainage channels! Lucie Skeaping explores the work and its musical context.
Contains a complete performance of the suite by Ensemble Zefiro, directed by Alberto Bernardini.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039njpn

When did a radio programme begin to ‘contain’ performances?

Sunday
The infamous life of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo is full of drama, intrigue and death. Among accusations of a double murder, witchcraft and masochism stands an extraordinary body of music with its own tortured chromatic sound world. To mark the 400th anniversary of the composer's death, Catherine Bott talks with renowned Gesualdo expert Professor Glenn Watkins to explore whether an understanding of the time in which the isolated Prince lived can cast any further light on his seemingly bizarre life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039p15j

No playlist…

CD Review
9.05
Brandenburg Concertos (complete): Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Antonio de Cabezon: Obras de Musica: Doulce Memoire, Denis Raisin Dadre (conductor)

[skip a couple of Brahms]

10.00
Byrd, Gibbons, Morley, Tallis, Taverner, and Whilte: Stile Antico
Tallis: The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood
Fantastic Sonatas: The Lost Manuscripts: La Sainte-Folie Fantastique

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039njmw

[Black Swan]

Looking forward to today's programs.. I am listening to CD Review. The Cardinall's Musick Tallis is already in the post. I have just ordered the Cabezon and am thinking about the Stile Antico CD. I enjoyed the Brandenburg disc but I have so many recordings of the Brandenburg's I can't see adding another.

Great music and a sunny day in the North what more can you ask for.

[Black Swan]

The Telemann program is interesting. Unfortunately, for some reason R3 has chosen not to post the program. They do this quite allot. It is nice to have the program to see what and who will be featured.

[ardcarp]

What a fabulous programme...CB talking to Prof Watkins. CB just gets better and better; able to discuss the subject on an equal footing with the academic and not talking down to the listener. After one piece she declared, "It leaps out and grabs you by the vitals". Well it did pretty much. There was a good selection of choirs including La Venexiana who seem to be Gesualdo specialists.
This programme is a real must for EM fans.

[ardcarp]

PS Prof Watkins has published a book, The Gesualdo Hex, in which he discusses the darker side of Gesualdo's life. I'm ordering a copy.

[Catherine Bott]

Thanks for your kind words, Ardcarp: I haven't heard the programme yet, but hope my genuine admiration for the book made the cut. Highly recommended. Could easily have made several programmes with Professor Watkins, we talked for almost an hour, him in Michigan, me in London....

[ardcarp]

...yes, and the 'line' was very clear with no discernible distortion or delay, so from the listener's point of view he could have been in the studio.

[Richard Tarleton]

Thanks for your kind words, Ardcarp: I haven't heard the programme yet, but hope my genuine admiration for the book made the cut. Highly recommended. Could easily have made several programmes with Professor Watkins, we talked for almost an hour, him in Michigan, me in London....

I echo ardcarp's comments, Catherine, and I've ordered the book! Not cheap but a range of offers on Amazon. A deeply fascinating subject (and ditto music). My curiosity about Gesualdo was first aroused ages ago by a comment in an interview by Alfred Brendel, talking about his chromaticism. In his book The Veil of Order, talking about his musical preferences, he says (p. 79)

I have become aware in recent decades of composers like Monteverdi and, above all, Gesualdo. Gesualdo has since been one of my declared favourites, with his inexhaustable and inexplicable chromaticism that for me never loses any of its appeal....

[doversoul1]

Tuesday morning and still no playlist. This is not good enough.