The joys of early music on period instruments
Festival presents original sound of early music
Early Music Festival
Organization: Early Music Alberta
When: Friday to Sunday
Where: Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 10037 84th Ave.
Tickets: Festival Pass, $125, individual tickets $30-$40 at earlymusicalberta.ca and at door
Edmonton’s Early Music Festival, happening this weekend in the mellow acoustics of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, has firmly established itself as part of the city’s classical music fabric.
Now in its fifth year, the festival has considerably increased awareness of the pleasures of listening to earlier music on period instruments. As Early Music Alberta artistic director Josephine van Lier enthusiastically puts it: “It’s part of the history, and if you think of old paintings or old churches or old architecture, we don’t want reproductions of them. Often in music we don’t think of playing it as it was played in its time, but doing so gives it such a different sound and a glimpse into what the composer had in mind.”
The festival has also encouraged Edmonton musicians to take up period instruments. There is now a core of string players using Baroque instruments, including the Strathcona String Quartet, whose members are taking part in the festival.
But there are as yet few Edmonton wind or brass players who have ventured into early music. So the performers in this year’s festival are evenly divided between Edmonton string players, and brass and wind specialists brought in for the events.
For many, the highlight will be the Saturday night performance of all six of Bach’s Brandenburg concertos. The Brandenburgs are, of course, staples of the classical music repertoire, but van Lier asks rhetorically: “When are they ever done on period instruments in Edmonton?”
That will be rectified on Saturday night. Leading the ensemble will be Australian Baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, a household name to lovers of early music through her many recordings, which have included the complete Telemann violin concertos, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and the Brandenburgs themselves.
In the ensemble will be such familiar faces as Edmonton Symphony’s concertmaster Robert Uchida, joined by Baroque specialists from across Canada and the United States.
Viol player Joëlle Morton, for example, directs a chamber music series in Toronto and regularly appears with such ensembles as Tafelmusik. Soile Stratkauskas, a specialist on early flutes, moved to Canada after a successful career in Europe, and founded the Victoria Baroque Players. Harpsichordist Gilbert Martinez divides his time between his native Denmark and California.
The festival opens on Friday evening with an intriguing concert of works for soprano, trumpet and strings featuring Edmontonian soprano Dawn Bailey and trumpet player Justin Bland. Bailey, who was an undergraduate at the University of Alberta before studying in Europe, has made Baroque music central to her concert and recording career, appearing with such well-known groups as Tafelmusik. Bland is a young trumpet player from Las Vegas (he’s also a countertenor who has sung with Opera Cleveland).
The concert includes one of Couperin’s best-known works, the Trio Sonata Le Parnasse ou L’apothéose de Corelli, cantatas for trumpet and soprano by Alessandro Melani, trumpet music by Purcell, and a Bach cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51, for soprano, trumpet, strings and bass continuo.
Saturday afternoon’s concert is titled Tea with Telemann, with Edmonton’s Bill Damur on Baroque flute. Telemann has somewhat taken a third place to Bach and Vivaldi in the Baroque pantheon, rather unfairly as his lively music is almost invariably attractive. The concert presents some of his chamber music, including the A major fantasia for solo flute.
The festival closes on Sunday with a concert featuring chamber music by some of the best-known Baroque composers, including a recorder sonata by Vivaldi, a trumpet concerto by Albinoni, and an overture by Telemann. The emphasis here is on Baroque winds and brass, with the visiting specialists as soloists.
“It’s going to be a very intimate evening. Audiences will find the Baroque instruments so much more mellow than modern instruments,” says van Lier.
The festival’s tradition of workshops for Edmonton’s musicians continues. On Saturday morning there is a Renaissance Reading Session, led by Damur, where musicians can bring their instruments to play early music. Cath Jackel and the Borealis Renaissance Consort lead a Renaissance dance session, where participants will learn such dances as the pavane and the bransle — no previous dance experience is necessary (Saturday 12.30 p.m.)
On Sunday afternoon there are a series of master classes, given by Wallfisch, Martinez, Stratkauskas and corni da caccia player Steve Denroche — a wonderful opportunity for younger Edmonton instrumentalists. The master classes are also open to the public who wish to listen in.