#4370, Baroque Meets Contemporary
Is it Vivaldi, or some other Baroque music or is it a contemporary minimalist composer? For this New Sounds, sample musical meetings between Baroque and contemporary music with takes on Vivaldi by Sophie Tassignon, Thomas Wilbrandt, and Max Richter, plus Baroque ensembles play new music by Marc Mellits, Bang on a Can Co-Founders, and Caroline Shaw.
For starters, listen to Belgian-born, Berlin-based vocalist Sophie Tassignon who composes originals and covers Vivaldi (and Dolly Parton) on her latest, Mysteries Unfold. Listen to her arrangement of Vivaldi along with Max Richter’s re-composition of Vivaldi’s “Spring.” Richter opened up some of the repeating patterns already present in the work and as he says, “literally wrote myself into Vivaldi’s score.”
Plus, hear a lullaby by Norwegian violinist Bjarte Eike's period group Barokksolistene from their record Image of Melancholy, which lives up to the motto – a quote by Victor Hugo: ‘Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.’ Listen also to music from the oratorio, “Lost Objects,” a collaborative work between the Bang on a Can composers and the writer Deborah Artman, featuring the Baroque ensemble Concerto Köln, as well as DJ Spooky.
There’s also a sample from Richard Einhorn’s oratorio, Voices of Light, written to accompany the Passion of Joan of Arc (the 1928 Carl Dreyer silent film.) Einhorn’s post-minimalist and lush score pivots between Joan's time and now, using an authentic-sounding medieval style. All that, and more. -Caryn Havlik
Program #4370, Baroque meets Contemporary (First aired 5/21/2020)
ARTIST: Max Richter w/ Daniel Hope, violin; Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin; André de Ridder
WORK: Spring: opening movement [1:00]
RECORDING: Recomposed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
SOURCE: Deutsche Grammophone 0289 481 0044 6 CD DDD GH
INFO: deutschegrammophon.com
ARTIST: Sophie Tassignon
WORK: Vivaldi: Nisi Dominus, RV 608- Cum Dederit [5:32]
RECORDING: Mysteries Unfold
SOURCE: Rarenoise Records
INFO: sophietassignon.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Bjarte Eike & Barokksolisten
WORK: Gjendines badnlat (Norwegian trad.) [4:25]
RECORDING: Image of Melancholy
SOURCE: BIS Records 2057
INFO: bis.se/label
ARTIST: Red Byrd
WORK: Claudio Monteverdi: Zefiro Torna [5:48]
RECORDING: Songs of Love and Death
SOURCE: Factory 336
INFO: Out of print. Try Amazon.com
ARTIST: Anonymous 4 et al
WORK: Voices of Light - The Jailers [2:57]
RECORDING: Richard Einhorn: Voices of Light
SOURCE: Sony Classical #62006
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Caroline Shaw
WORK: Maps [5:39]
RECORDING: PBO & Caroline Shaw
SOURCE: Philharmonia Baroque Productions
INFO: philharmonia.org | Available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music
ARTIST: American Baroque
WORK: Marc Mellits: Metaclopramide [1:24]
RECORDING: The Shock of the Old: Common Sense Composers' Collective & American Baroque
SOURCE: Santa Fe Music Group #513
INFO: commonsensecomposers.org
ARTIST: Concerto Köln, Bang on a Can Lost Objects Ensemble, DJ Spooky
WORK: Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe: Acoustic Apahasia [3:55]
RECORDING: Lost Objects
SOURCE: Teldec 84107
INFO: Available at Arkiv Music
ARTIST: Max Richter w/ Daniel Hope, violin; Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin; André de Ridder
WORK: Spring: opening movement [3:10]
RECORDING: Recomposed: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
SOURCE: Deutsche Grammophone 0289 481 0044 6 CD DDD GH
INFO: deutschegrammophon.com
ARTIST: Thomas Wilbrandt & Antonio Vivaldi
WORK: Sketches of Spring [2:12]
RECORDING: The Electric V
SOURCE: Mercury
INFO: Out of print. Try Amazon.com
