Celebrating Christmas Baroque Style
by Lawrence Golan, Resident Conductor
This year's Baroque Christmas concert will be an all-instrumental program showcasing several great composers of the Baroque era. The audience will be treated to two pieces each by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Boyce, and Gluck. A combination of very well-known and hidden gems will be presented. On the popular side are Vivaldi's "Winter" from the Four Seasons featuring concertmaster Magdalena Martinic-Jercic, Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from Solomon, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and excerpts from Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck. These will be countered with some wholly unknown but equally beautiful works by William Boyce, including his Ode to the New Year 1758, written exactly 250 years ago. The concert will conclude with the most substantial work of the evening, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major.
This year's Baroque Christmas concert will be an all-instrumental program showcasing several great composers of the Baroque era. The audience will be treated to two pieces each by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Boyce, and Gluck. A combination of very well-known and hidden gems will be presented. On the popular side are Vivaldi's "Winter" from the Four Seasons featuring concertmaster Magdalena Martinic-Jercic, Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from Solomon, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and excerpts from Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck. These will be countered with some wholly unknown but equally beautiful works by William Boyce, including his Ode to the New Year 1758, written exactly 250 years ago. The concert will conclude with the most substantial work of the evening, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major.
7 Comments:
Dear Santa: Here are Sonny's 3 Baroquen Christmas Wishes for Maestro Mealy in the 2008-2009 season.
(1) Complete Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 in one night.
(2) Complete Vivaldi's Four Seasons, featuring Mealy (combined with other Vivaldi concertos for woodwind soloists).
(3) Bach's Keyboard Concertos, featuring soloist Eckart Solheim.
I read arts reviews from around the country. The last one I saw on our music director was this one from two days ago.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/5345735.html
I rarely see anything but references to the Brooklyn Phil and seldom any mention of the Phoenix Symphony. Are we the red-headed stepchild?
Historic First Presbyterian Church in Downtown Phoenix is a perfectly warm and beautiful venue for our Baroque Initiative. Wooden floors and confortable bench seating. The strings and woodwinds sounded super.
Unfortunately, the harpsichord was inaudible. Without a cover/sound deflector, it was lost in the hig ceiling. Without that unique sound, the ensemble didn't quite sound baroque.
Nothing better than an audience-friendly orchestra. There was no dividing line between the stage and the seats. We could have sat next to violinist Levon Zarasian and ducked the baroque bow. We listened to timpanist Bruce Pulk introduce newcomers to the history and the bright future of The Phoenix Symphony. To me, you pros are like rock stars. Fans love the stars who give back the love.
Viviana Cumplido and Elizabeth Buck played their modern flutes wonderfully as expected.
But, how can we take this "Baroque Initiative" seriously without the use of Recorders or Wooden Baroque Flutes?
"Against the Grain" here for belated comment on the Baroque Christmas concert.
I went to First Pres. like Sonny, and agree that it was a wonderful venue for the Baroque ensemble. But, I may be biased as it has been my family's church for 5 generations now. :-)
Unlike Sonny, however, I had no problem hearing the harpsicord, maybe it had to do with seating? My only complaint was that from where I was, I couldn't see any of the players who were not up on the dais. If there is a next time, I'll sit closer.
It seemed like there was a better turn out than last year, or was it an optical illusion?
Anyway, I loved it, and I took along my husband, grandmother, father and his wife. Hey, I'm trying to recruit more attendees, one at a time, like Maestro Christie says....
Thanks!
ATG
My wish for next year is to have a chorus baroque ensemble participate once again. I would like to hear The Bach Magnificat in D with soloists taken from within the symphony chorus.
Buzzy, that's a great idea! But how about have the concert not at Christmas time when the chorus is already singing their hearts out with Messiah and their various church gigs? Then they could give it their all!
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