Red Priest

February 23, 2008 at 8pm

Piers Adams – Recorders
David Greenberg – Violin
Angela East – Cello
Howard Beach – Harpsichord

Pirates Of The Baroque

Stolen masterworks and long-lost jewels of the baroque era performed with swashbuckling virtuosity!

Preludio (from Partita BWV 1006)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Arr. Red Priest

Gypsy Sonata in A minor
Largo • Vivace • Affetuoso • Allegro
Georg Phillip Telemann (1681-1767)

Come Ashore Jolly Tar With Your Trousers On
Traditional Arr. David Greenberg

Gavotte with Variations
Robert Mackintosh (1745-1807)

The English Nightingale
Jacob Van Eyck (1590-1657)

Adagio
Tomasso Albinoni (1671-1751) / Remo Giazzoto (1910-1998) Arr. Red Priest

Concerto in G major “The Sea Storm” (“La Tempesta di Mare”) RV 433
Allegro • Largo • Presto
Antonio Vivaldi (1676-1741) Arr. Red Priest

INTERMISSION

Concerto in A minor RV 522 (from “L'Estro Armonico”)
Allegro • Larghetto • Allegro
Antonio Vivaldi Arr. Red Priest

Prelude from Suite No. 1 for Cello
Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach on G, or ‘We won't let her go till you give us back our boat'
Allegro
Poppy Leaf Hornpipe
The Princess Royal Hornpipe I
The Princess Royal Hornpipe II (traditional Cape Breton setting)
Miss Charters' Reel
Bach/O'carolan/Dow/Trad Arr. David Greenberg

Senti Lo Mare (Listen to the Sea)
Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) Arr. Red Priest

Tambourin
Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) Arr. Red Priest

Concert Fantasy on “La Folia”
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) Arr. Red Priest

PROGRAM NOTES

The popular Hollywood image of pirates as likeable, swashbuckling rogues is certainly at odds with the gory reality of their trade, and to equate such scoundrels to our most learned baroque composers may seem fanciful in the extreme. But on closer inspection there are parallels which, if nothing else, ignite the imagination and allow us to take an alternative look at one of the most colourful periods in musical history.

The leading musicians from this time were pioneers and adventurers, riding the seas of change with wild abandon, ever searching for new musical treasures to titillate the ears and move the souls of the public . Only in retrospect has the mythology of highbrow, rule-bound men of quill and parchment been created; the reality was much more down to earth, the majority of composers living boozy, philandering, extravagantly bohemian lives, intent on maximising their profits through, if necessary, dubious means. Yet ironically it is from this very atmosphere of skulduggery that some of the greatest works of art were produced.

The life of Antonio Vivaldi—the original “Red Priest of Venice”—is a case study in baroque extravagance. Indeed he was described by the English composer William Hayes as a man with “too much mercury in his constitution,” a characteristic in plentiful display in the two extrovert concertos presented here: the swashbuckling Concerto in A minor, from his celebrated Opus 3 set of concertos entitled L'Estro Armonico (The Harmonious Fancy), and the pounding seas of the famous Tempesta di Mare (the Sea Storm) . As with most of the works in this program, these concertos have been subjected to our own form of musical piracy, stolen and freely adapted from the orchestral originals. This was a common enough practise in the baroque era, when arrangements of the works of others were rife, but we confess that our imagined arrival of a pirate ship onto Vivaldi's stormy seascape may stretch the point a bit…

Johann Sebastian Bach was a prolific arranger of the works of others, taking inspiration in particular from Italian composers such as Vivaldi and Marcello—but in this program we have turned the tables on him, through our own arrangements of the great master's music: a four-part re-working of his famous E-major Preludio for solo violin, and David Greenberg's “ Bach on G ” —subtitled “We won't let her go till you give us back our boat”—in which an innocent violin sonata is hijacked by marauding pirates! Elsewhere in the program our transcriptions range from plaintive simplicity of Tartini's Senti Lo Mare to the sparkle of Leclair's celebrated Tambourin. In our adaptation of Arcangelo Corelli's famous “Folia” Variations we take the art of arrangement to its logical conclusion, and while it may not fit the currently accepted boundaries of “authenticity” we hope that it is taken in the truly baroque spirit with which it is intended.

The theme of musical piracy extends from the poaching of themes (was the wealthy Georg Phillip Telemann perhaps guilty of this crime as he stole the tunes of poor gypsies from Eastern Europe?) to the false attribution of famous composers' names to the works of lesser-known authors — a common practise among the unscrupulous music publishers of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. The “ Albinoni “ Adagio may well be a recent example of such identity theft, as its composer, Remo Giazzoto, was never able to show the world the fragment of Albinoni's music upon which it was supposedly based, and one wonders whether he simply came up with a clever way of marketing his own music!

Finally, the search for music from the past can often have the sense of a pirate treasure hunt as one searches the past for forgotten musical gems. Although hardly household names in the manner of Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann, the 18 th century violinist “Red Rob” Mackingtosh (named, like Vivaldi, for his red hair and fiery temperament), and the 17 th century recorder virtuoso Jacob Van Eyck represent the tip of an iceberg of musical jewels frozen in time.

Piers Adams 2008

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Red Priest is one of the major success stories on the international early music scene today. Named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, this extraordinary English ensemble has redefined the art of baroque music performance, combining the fruits of extensive research with swashbuckling virtuosity, creative re-composition, heart-on-sleeve emotion and compelling stagecraft. The group performs largely from memory, allowing an operatic level of freedom and interaction, and its programs are drawn from myriad baroque sources to create a kaleidoscopic range of moods and colours.

Formed in 1997, Red Priest now gives over 60 concerts a year in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe, Australia, the Far East, Russia and especially the USA together with Radio and TV broadcasts and a series of highly acclaimed CD recordings: Priest on the Run, Nightmare in Venice, The Four Seasons and the forthcoming release, Pirates of the Baroque . 2005 saw the launch of Red Priest's “Red Hot Baroque Show”—a dramatic marriage of baroque instrumental wizardry with modern stage and lighting technology, and a major TV documentary for the UK's premier arts program, the South Bank Show.

International music critics have described the Red Priest style as “electrifying,” “sheer daring,” “immaculately forged,” “sonically supercharged,” “brilliant and inspired,” “deliciously twisted”— but the group's extravagantly baroque ethos is perhaps best summed up in the words of English musicologist and broadcaster George Pratt: "If nobody goes over the top, how will we know what lies on the other side?"

To find out more about Red Priest, including details of recordings and concert performances, please visit their website at www.redpriest.com .

Piers Adams was recently heralded in the Washington Post as “the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world.” He has performed in numerous festivals and at premiere concert halls throughout the world, including London's Royal Festival, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, as soloist with orchestras including the Philharmonia, the English Sinfonia, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Singapore Symphony and the BBC Symphony. Piers has made several solo CDs reflecting an eclectic taste, ranging from his award-winning Vivaldi début disc to David Bedford's Recorder Concerto—one of many major works written for him. He has also researched, arranged and recorded a variety of romantic showpieces, which are a mainstay of his recital programs. Full details of his performing activities can be found on www.piersadams.com .

David Greenberg taught himself folk fiddle tunes by ear as a young child growing up in Maryland. In the mid 80s he studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. Greenberg spent the 1990s with Tafelmusik while developing a specialty in Scottish baroque-folk music, recording three groundbreaking CDs in this genre with his group Puirt A Baroque. He immersed himself in Cape Breton traditional music and co-authored the popular treatise on Cape Breton fiddle music, the DunGreen Collection, with his wife Kate Dunlay. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to Red Priest, regular collaborators include his own Tempest ensemble, David McGuinness, Chris Norman, and Doug MacPhee.

Angela East is widely respected as one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, praised in The Times, London, for the “elemental power” of her cello playing. She has given numerous concerto performances in London's Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and has performed as soloist and continuo cellist with many of Europe's leading baroque orchestras. Among her impressive list of concert credits are La Scala, Milan, Sydney Opera House, Versailles and Glyndebourne. In 1991 Angela formed “The Revolutionary Drawing Room” which performs chamber works from the revolutionary period in Europe on original instruments, and whose first eight CDs have received glowing reviews world-wide. Her CD recording of the complete Bach Cello Suites will be released in 2008.

Howard Beach's uniquely wide-ranging style of keyboard playing has been developed through years of partnering fine musicians in many different fields of music, as well as his own experience as an accomplished singer and violinist. Since 1989 he has worked regularly with Piers Adams in concert and in the recording studio as both harpsichordist and pianist, including several performances in London's Wigmore Hall and tours throughout Europe, Canada and the Far East. He has also performed and recorded as a concerto soloist and continuo player with Les Arts Florissants, the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. Howard broadcasts frequently on radio and has been consultant and performer on programs for UK's Channel 4 TV.