-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Martyn Hodgson
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 9:56 AM
To: Christopher Wilke
Cc: Lutelist
Subject: [LUTE] Continuo and the Foscarini Experience
Interesting thoughts Chris - but I don't think people would say 'great
continuo playing' if one busked in the style of, say, Scott Joplin in,
say, a Bach Mass setting. In fact, the evidence is not as scant as
you
suggest and in practice there are generally acceptable limits for
keyboard continuo practice (often based on what we know of historical
practice). As far as I understand from the discussion, the problem is
that the 'Foscarini Experience' performance is so far away from what
any audience might have heard ('experienced') at the time as to be a
parody, or rather a travesty, of what the composer may have had in
mind.
Of course all is not perfect even in the keyboard continuo world and
some harpsichord players seem to find it hard to resist things like
heavy regular arpeggiation in, say, a Vivaldi slow movement - a sort
of
grafted on harpsichord concerto but it's still much better than with
the lute/theorbo where electronic amplification of the individual
instrument can often be the norm thus allowing a sort of fancy lute
song style accompaniment which in practice would be inaudible without
the amplification.
This sort of 'experience' by FE is surely an admission of artistic
defeat rather than a triumph of individualism - by pandering to
current
popular music fashions (much simple rhythmic movement and a lot of
thrashing about) it seems as though the ensemble is trying to generate
sales by satisfying the lowest common denominator - nothing
intrinsically wrong with this of course, but hackles must rise when
it's promoted as being close to what was heard at the time....
MH
--- On Fri, 1/4/11, Christopher Wilke <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Christopher Wilke <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Foscarini Experience again
To: "Stuart Walsh" <[email protected]>, "Monica Hall"
<[email protected]>
Cc: "Lutelist" <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, 1 April, 2011, 13:58
--- On Fri, 4/1/11, Monica Hall <[1][email protected]> wrote:
>
> I don't think really these people really make any attempt
> to play the music in a "historically informed way"..or have
> any relevant knowledge at all.
>
> Everyone is just fooled by their virtuosity.
>
> Cynically
>
> Monica
>
I think we have to make a distinction between the scholarly side of
things and the artistic aspect. "Historically informed" is not a very
helpful critical term. Deciding who is "historically informed-er"
tells us little about the artistic worth of the performance. I don't
think it is necessarily invalid for a performer, in light of scant
historical evidence, to bring in aspects of performance done is accord
with modern principles (i.e. improvisation) as a substitute for
essential subjects treated only ambiguously in the texts. After all,
if you're one of the well-respected harpsichord players in any number
of baroque ensembles, they call this sort of thing "great continuo
playing."
Chris
Christopher Wilke
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
www.christopherwilke.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stuart Walsh"
<[2][email protected]>
> Cc: "Lutelist" <[3][email protected]>
> Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 9:06 AM
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Foscarini Experience again
>
>
> > On 31/03/2011 22:08, Stuart Walsh wrote:
> >> On 31/03/2011 19:53, Monica Hall wrote:
> >>> I came across this
> CD by the group Foscarini Experience with the title
> >>> "Bon voyage" some time
> ago.
> >>
> >>
> >> I looked around to see if I could hear some of the
> tracks as samples. Couldn't find anything but I did find an
> album by 'Private Musicke' (who played at Edinburgh last
> year with an opera singer) and there are some samples from
> this album, Echo de Paris:
> >>
> >> [4]http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Accent/ACC24173#listen
> >>
> >> It's interesting that the one solo of Corbetta's
> and the several of Bartolotti are played actually as solos -
> very fluently (but perhaps, at the gushing rather than the
> pinched, end of the spectrum) whereas Foscarini (and
> Briceno) get a complete makeover. Actually playing through
> Foscarini you struggle to find anything musically coherent
> at all - but on this album, his (ahem) music bursts
> forth as colourful, radiant and beguilingly tuneful.
> >
> > (i.e. this is all rather curious...where did all these
> arrangements come from - and arrangements of what in the
> first place?)
> >>
> >>
> >> Stuart
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> In the liner notes it
> mentions an
> >>> illustration which
> features Foscarini on a wagon playing the lute
> >>> together with a girl
> with a triangle and a violone player which
> >>> apparently dates from
> 1615 and is part of an illustration of a feast
> >>> held for the
> Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, the wife of the
> >>> Archduke Albert.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Does anyone know
> anything about this illustration and whether the
> >>> lutenist is clearly
> identified as Foscarini. I have done a bit of
> >>> surfing the net but
> haven't found any trace of it.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Monica
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> To get on or off this list see list
> information at
> >>> [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
To get on or off this list see list information at
[6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]
2. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]
3. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]
4. http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Accent/ACC24173#listen
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
