Tag: James Johnstone

Pergolesi And Vivaldi, Florilegium, Wigmore Hall, 23 May 2010

A simply delightful concert at the Wigmore Hall. Mostly Pergolesi with a bit of Vivaldi thrown in for good measure.

Janie is especially partial to the Pergolesi Stabat Mater. His less well-known Salve Regina and the instrumental pieces were beautiful. In fact the whole concert was utter tonic for our ears.

Florilegium always look as though they enjoy playing together…for all we know they might be masters of deception on stage and like a nest of vipers in the green room…but we suspect that they are as they seem – a serene, coherent unit.

They were promoting their Pergolesi CD at that time and nearly coaxed me into buying yet another disc, but I do already have a couple of complete Pergolesi Stabat Mater recordings.

Here is a very interesting promotional sample from YouTube, with some of the performers explaining the music:

Oh what the heck, that Pergolesi album of theirs is only £8 as an MP3 download and those other Pergolesi pieces were stunningly beautiful. As I write in November 2017, down it all comes like magic through the ether to my computer!

Ciaccona, Wigmore Hall, 28 October 2001

Good gig this, at the end of a culture vulture week – two visits to the theatre Friday and Saturday, then this concert at The Wig on the Sunday.

We heard:

  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto in C for two harpsicords, BWV 1061
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata “Non sa che sia dolore” BWV 209

Ciaccona were very good.

I cannot find Ciaccona performances on-line. But here are some decent substitutes if you want to hear the programme.

Ich habe Genug is normally sung by a baritone, but here is a soprano singing it – albeit not Julia Gooding:

Kontrabande, Wigmore Hall, 24 January 2000

Crumbs, Janie and I went to the Wigmore Hall to see a lot of baroque concerts that season. Here’s another one we rated as:

superb.

Kontrabande were terrific. Had they been 1970s rock rather than 17th & 18th century baroque they might have been described as a supergroup. Dig this list of great names:

  • Charles Humphries,
  • Clare Salaman,
  • Jane Norman,
  • Katherine McGillivray,
  • Richard Campbell,
  • William Hunt,
  • Laurence Cummings,
  • James Johnstone,
  • Elizabeth Kenny.

This is what they played that night:

  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto for strings and basso continuo in D minor RV 128
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Cantata “Vestro Principi divino” RV 633
  • Antonio Caldara – Sonata a tre Op 1 No 5
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Stabat Mater RV 621
  • Antonio Caldara – Cantata “Soffri, mio caro Alcino”
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto for Lute in D major
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Cantata “Nisi Dominus”

I couldn’t find any YouTubes of Kontraband on-line, but the following one of Caldara sonatas and cantatas is very pleasing to the ear – I’d forgotten how much Caldara’s music pleased us that night: