November 10, 2007

 

Concert at 8:00 pm

Unitarian Church of Princeton

 

“Because I like the low notes”—The continuo players’ revenge!

 

Donna Fournier, viola da gamba

Janet Palumbo, harpsichord

John Burkhalter, recorder

 

with guest artists

 

Lynn Fergusson, viola da gamba & baroque cello

Lewis Baratz, harpsichord & recorder

Amy Warren, viola da gamba

Samuel Lavery, cello

 The November 10 concert, billed as “the continuo players’ revenge” puts the musicians who usually play the accompanimental parts in Baroque music, or basso continuo, in the soloist’s chair.  Almost all Baroque chamber music is built on the model of a soloist or group of soloists accompanied by the basso continuo, which often consists of a bass viol player and harpsichordist. 

For this concert, two pair of continuo players join forces to take turns as soloists.  Guest artist Lynn Ferguson will be the soloist in Geminiani’s cello sonata op. 5, no. 3 in C major.  Playing viola da gamba, she will share the spotlight with Triomphe’s viol player Donna Fournier in Marin Marais’ Suite in D for two bass viols.  Harpsichordist Janet Palumbo will be featured as soloist, playing a selection of J. S. Bach’s Two-Part Inventions.  This will be an opportunity to hear these works, typically studied by every piano student today, performed on the instrument used at the time they were composed.  Lewis Baratz, who will play the harpsichord accompaniment in the Marais Suite, will take the lead as recorder player, along with John Burkhalter, in two works: a French suite of dances by Antoine Dornel and Boismortier’s Sonata for three treble instruments, op. 34, no. 5.  In this last work, Donna Fournier will join the soloists, playing treble viol.

Seventeen-year old cellist Samuel Lavery, a senior at Princeton High School, will make a special guest appearance, playing the Prelude and Sarabande from J. S. Bach’s Suite No. 6 for unaccompanied cello.  Generally regarded as the most cerebral and difficult of Bach’s suites for solo cello, this virtuosic work is rarely heard in concert.

PROGRAM:

Francesco Geminiani	Cello Sonata in C Major, op. 5, no. 3
J.S. Bach	Two-Part Inventions (selections)
Marin Marais	Suite in D for 2 bass viols and basso continuo
J.S. Bach	Suite No. 6 for unaccompanied cello, Prelude and Sarabande
Antoine Dornel	Suite in D Minor for 2 recorders and basso continuo
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier	Sonata for 3 treble instruments and basso continuo, op.34, no. 5

Funding for these concerts is made possible in part by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission and through a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.