The Second Concert, Part Two
So the concert was yesterday. It went well! Much better than last time.
We kicked off with the recorders playing the six-part Courtly Masquing Ayres by John Adson. Nice tunes, but they could have done with a bit more polish from people, as I felt it sounded a little weak and uncertain, particularly at the start of each piece and at the time change (both of them go into triple time about halfway through). So we got a polite applause for that, then there was a much bigger applause for the viol consort, because they were much better.
Then it was back to the recorders for William Byrd’s six-part Fantasie number 2. I’ve been stressing about this piece for months, and consequently I’d practised it to death and then some more after employing the services of a necromancer. I’d also sought advice on it during recorder lessons (the benefit of having a teacher who’s also the musical director of the ensemble). As a result of all this effort I’d actually learned to play it sort of properly, and I don’t recall making any mistakes during the performance of that piece. Evidently everyone else did okay as well, because it sounded better than any rehearsal we’d done of it, and we got an excellent reception from the audience.
After that epic piece (okay so it’s not really all that long, but it’s certainly the longest piece I’ve ever performed), it was the turn of the baroque string group, who played a couple of interesting pieces, and then Kendra and Wendy did a viol duet. Then everyone on stage again for the final piece: Giovanni Gabrielli’s Sonata Pian E Forte. Reputed to be one of the first pieces of music written with dynamic markings, it’s arranged for two choirs of four parts each, so we had the strings as choir two, and the recorders as choir one, with the organ providing a continuo part.
Now, it’s very hard to do dynamics right on a recorder, because the only really feasible way to make it louder or softer is to blow harder or more softly. Unfortunately this also alters the tuning, so one has a very limited range in which to work before you just sound out of tune. Still, it came out well — particularly since most of us had only seen the piece for the first time three weeks ago.
I’m actually looking forward to the next one now.