Fringe Concert redux

We should have posted about last Friday’s recital before the better part of six days had gone by, but the days were too filled with concerts, exhibition-related activities, and travel to write about the highlight of our Boston trip.  And yes, it was a highlight: the performance went well, we had a most appreciative audience, and all instrument makers involved were pleased with the collaboration.

Here is the final list of instrument makers:

Warren Ellison (violin after N. Amati)

Timothy G. Johnson (violin after A. Amati)

Dmitry Badiarov and apprentices (violin)

Gabriela Guadalajara (violin after Stainer)

Daniel Larson (violin after A. Amati)

Francis Beaulieu (piccolo violin)

A. David Moore (continuo organ)

You can visit the Gamut Music website to watch a short video taken by Daniel Larson of the opening sections of “The Ascension.”

Edith had a grand time visiting the luthiers’ exhibit booths on Saturday to try out their violins in normal tuning and on other repertoire (Bach and Fontana).  Now that she could listen to the violins without an agenda of matching them to specific pieces, she enjoyed hearing how much each instrument’s sound had opened up after having been played for a couple of weeks (and, in some cases, having had slight adjustments).  She found herself equally disappointed and relieved not to be in the market for a new instrument!

One of the wonderful aspects of Friday’s recital, as well as the previous Saturday’s in Madison, was the opportunity to feature readings of biblical prophecies relating to each of the “portraits” in our program—whether predicting the event itself or sharing an “affect” with the respective partita—and to print the events’ narratives along with the program notes:

Annunciation—Isaiah 7:14 with Luke 1:26–38

Presentation—Isaiah 42:6–7 with Luke 2:25–35

Crucifixion—Isaiah 53:4–5 with John 19:18–30 and Matthew 27:50–54

Resurrection—Job 19:25 with Matthew 28:1–10

Ascension—Psalm 47:5–7 with Luke 24:50–52

Descent of the Holy Spirit—Joel 2:28–29 with selections from Acts 2

Our thanks to Murray Somerville for gracing the Boston performance with his readings, and to the Rev. Franklin Wilson for doing so in the Madison performance.