Early musicians often do wildly creative things with old music, and a really good arrangement can reveal qualities that were unheard in the original. Tina Chancey, with help from friends, gets deep into the weeds: ‘Even an extreme appropriation can work, but you have to own it.’
Good Musicians Borrow, Great Musicians Steal Read More »
As a teacher, administrator, director, and advocate, Jody Miller makes everything in a class or workshop run smoothly. For early music, he says, ‘we expect concertizing is the way we’re going to reach everybody. I want us to think of solutions that work for the type of music we’re dealing with.’
Pied Piper of the Southeast Read More »
Bach Collegium San Diego, led by Ruben Valenzuela, finds acclaim for their ‘El MesÃas’ project, a translation of ‘Messiah’ into Spanish. And why not? Handel himself altered his music to adapt to new contexts and audiences.
El MesÃas: Messiah for a New World Read More »
Is it possible that ‘early music’ is over, and we just haven’t realized it? I think we can expect, if not a revolution, at least a freedom, an exhilaration, a new age to succeed the old. After all, the modern HP movement has been around for about as long as the distance between the B-minor Mass and the Ninth Symphony. A lot of changes took place in those 75 years…
Musings: No One’s Picking on Early Music Read More »
Percussionist Rex Benincasa writes about adding sounds and spices to music where there’s little or no historical guidance, from the European high Baroque to Mediterranean North Africa and the court of the Tang Dynasty. Much of what he plays was never written down.
Drumming to Parts Unknown Read More »
