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Handel’s Messiah: An Audio Interview with John Butt

EMA Public Relations Manager and Baroque oboist, Brandon Labadie, sat down with Dr. John Butt in Portland, Oregon last December to discuss Handel’s Messiah. Butt discusses his approach to this oft-played work, his evolution with the piece, as well as gives a few final words of advice to the up-and-coming younger generation of early musicians.

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Learning from Trailblazers in Historical Performance

The modern historical-performance movement now has its own traditions, habits, standard repertoire, and ancestors. For Early Music Month we look into EMA’s online series ‘Trailblazers in Historical Performance.’ As Thomas Forrest Kelly writes, ‘to hear their various stories and learn of their attitudes and experiences was revelatory.’

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Mali Before 1800: the Kora Finds its Place in Early Music

The definition of early music is always expanding, and this Early Music Month we look into traditional kora music from West Africa, which predates the European Baroque. Next week, New York’s Music Before 1800 presents Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko and South African guitarist Derek Gripper in recital, an initiative to explore not ‘world music’ but ‘specific niches of historical music that deserve an equal spotlight.’

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Shakespeare’s Music, Where the Lying is Easy

Seven Times Salt’s latest recording revisits music of Shakespeare’s time. Some of the tunes are linked to specific plays — ‘Hamlet’ is a particular fascination — while others are suggestive of a theme or a familiar plotline, from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ All of it is beautifully delivered, often in charming arrangements. And the sonic engineering makes for a vivid listening experience.

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Celebrating the Microtonal with Cavalieri’s ‘Lamentations’

Like Monteverdi, Emilio de’ Cavalieri took a ‘seconda pratica’ approach by breaking counterpoint rules to better convey the texts. He also experimented with new styles and techniques, such as dividing a whole-step into more than two pitches. Elam Rotem and his ensemble Profeti della Quinta specialize in this sort of treacherously difficult music to sing, and they deliver Cavalieri’s ‘Lamentations’ with exquisite precision. The effect is a little disorienting and thoroughly mesmerizing.

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