GOING FOR BAROQUE
Red Priest’s unique performances breathe life into musical genre, Jeff DeDekker writes.
WhAt they’re trying to do is tell A story And mAke it Come Alive. BACk in thAt period, musiC wAsn’t like it is now or even the wAy it wAs in the RomAntiC Time .... They’re At the stAtus they Are BeCAuse they AlwAys present greAt stuff. Lore Ruschiensky
When it comes to baroque music, Red Priest is in a league of its own.
With their performances described as a combination of the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers and Cirque du soleil, Red Priest has taken its brand of baroque to a new level resulting in an incredibly successful career.
Since forming in 1997, the quartet — comprised of Piers Adams (recorder), Adam Summerhayes (violin), Angela East (cello) and David Wright (harpsichord) — has performed more than 1,000 concerts worldwide. Based in the United Kingdom, Red Priest is currently on a short tour in North America, which includes a stop in Regina on Sunday as part of the Cecilian Chamber Series.
Red Priest will be performing Gypsy Baroque Fantasy and according to Lore Ruschiensky, the artistic and executive director of the series, it’s a program that isn’t to be missed.
“I had heard about this group and I was very interested in them, and then a couple of years ago we went to New Orleans and they just happened to be playing there. That’s when I saw them live and went, ‘Absolutely.’ Once you experience them live that you can tell if they ’ll be a good show and these guys definitely are,” said Ruschiensky.
“What they ’re trying to do is tell a story and make it come alive. Back in that period, music wasn’t like it is now or even the way it was in the Romantic Time .... They ’re at the status they are because they always present great stuff.”
Baroque music was composed originally from 1600 to 1750 and featured scripted music that also allowed the musicians to improvise. Instrumentation at that time was limited with the recorder serving as one of the primary instruments in the genre.
For many people, their memories of the recorder dates back to their days in elementary school and how much they hated having to play the instrument.
“That’s what everybody says,” Ruschiensky said with a laugh.
While for many people a recorder is just a hollow stick with four holes in it, there are reasons why it is a vital part of the genre.
“That simplicity is where the Baroque music stuff came from in the beginning because you don’t get a complicated instrument. There’s the desire for music, the simplicity part of it and then gradually music develops,” explained Ruschiensky.
“Composers have a want and they say, ‘I need something that can play higher or play lower, can play this or play that,’ and then with the development of any instrument, technology and the people who want to use it pull together. The demands are put in and then someone comes in and invents it or creates it.
“The reason students are taught on recorders is, No. 1, recorders are cheap, and No. 2, it’s a simple instrument.”
What sets Red Priest apart from most baroque groups is their musicianship and flamboyant performing style. The group is comprised of four superb musicians — “And Piers Adams is the world’s best recorder player,” said Ruschiensky — that goes outside the box for its performance style. It’s their remarkable ability to improvise and make the music their own that makes Red Priest unique.
“It’s been said that baroque is closest to jazz because it can still be improvisatory, which Red Priest most definitely does. With a lot of research, incredible techniques and incredible musicianship, they then take it and present it the way they think it would be, which is not the formal salons of Europe like classical music would’ve been,” said Ruschiensky. “There’s that Gypsy aspect of it but the music allowed for the instrumentation to be changed. Baroque musicians are set into, ‘It must be this instrument,’ because instruments were just being developed as well.”