Carnival of Seasons
St Werburgh's Church,
Chester, 11 July 2006
Concert is much too tame a word to describe an evening
with Red Priest, a small, but exciting baroque group which
takes its name from Antonio Vivaldi, the red-haired priest
who taught and composed for the students of the
Ospedale de la Pieta in Venice.
From the moment the musicians came on, we knew this
would be no ordinary concert. Piers Adams, recorder
soloist and founder of the group, resembles nothing so
much as a cross between the Pied Piper and a troubadour,
and the other members of the group, Julia Bishop, Angela
East, and Howard Beach, are clearly thoroughly in sympathy
with each other and with his ideas.
Spring
The concert opened with "Spring" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons". The
solo violin part was transferred to the recorder in this arrangement,
and the twittering birdsong of the opening movement was never more
clearly depicted than in Piers Adams' processional entry. Later in the
piece, Howard Beach deserted the harpsichord in favour of a violin in
order to represent the barking dog of the second movement.
The second element in "Spring" in this Carnival of Seasons was
Biber's Easter Sonata, "The Crucifixion", played by Julia Bishop and
Howard Beach. This was a disturbingly graphic account, which even
included the nails being driven home.
Summer
The mood lightened with the start of Summer, represented by Jacob
van Eyck's variations on a popular song entitled "What shall we do
this evening?", played with staggering virtuosity by Piers Adams.
This was followed by a suite from Henry Purcell's "A Midsummer
Night's Dream", which included dances for fairies, savages, and
the ethereal "followers of night". The first half came to a
close with Vivaldi's "Summer", with more birdsong, including the
tiny sopranino recorder's presentation of the goldfinch, and the
sudden summer storm which brought the first half of the concert to
a tempestuous conclusion.
Autumn
Angela East began the second half with a Prelude by Bach, then was
joined by the rest of the ensemble for "Autumn" in which Piers Adams'
recorder became the hunted stag, finally expiring before our very eyes.
This was followed by "The Witches' Dance" by Robert Johnson, in which
the effect of the already rather chilling music was heightened by the
performers' cackles and hisses!
Winter
Winter began with Arcangelo Corelli's "Christmas Concerto", itself a
work almost as familiar as the Four Seasons, but seen in a different
light in this arrangement. Finally, Vivaldi's "Winter", enlivened
this time by a Caribbean reading of the Largo, before the final
movement ended the concert in the most exhilarating fashion.
Breathless
As one whose acquaintance with the recorder - a plastic treble,
played at school - was ever of the chilliest, this concert was a
great revelation to me. It was thrilling to hear what the various
recorders can do in skilled hands, not to mention slightly
disconcerting to see Piers Adam play two recorders simultaneously.
Vivat Vivaldi! Vivat Red Priest!
Review (c) Rachel Wright, 2006
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