Tag Archives: Venice

Explorations and Indulgences (ii)

Since I wrote my last blog posting further rehearsal and study of Croce’s mass has revealed yet more issues with its text – tempo relationships, accidentals etc etc – though we like it more and more. Do come and hear it. We may never do it like this again!

If that piece is an exploration, I must admit that there is an element of personal indulgence in the rest of the programme. Heinrich Schütz was the first non-English ‘early’ composer with whose music I got to grips, inspired by the pioneering work of Roger Norrington who remains one of my heroes. Continue reading

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Explorations and Indulgences (i)

The trouble with the ‘Great Composer’ and ‘Major Work’ concepts is that a lot of very fine music goes unpublished, unperformed and unheard. While I would be the first to agree that the ‘popular’ pieces are popular for good reasons, some of the most enjoyable Ripieno rehearsals and concerts have happened when we’ve had a dig around the apparent fringes of the repertoire – our Bach Cantata Calendar is an obvious recent example. There we were dealing with an indisputably great composer but also with an area of his output that remains both little performed or fully understood, if relatively often recorded. Continue reading

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