Archives: EMAg Feature Article

Will Crutchfield’s new program at SUNY Purchase brings historical practices to early 19th-century opera.

Composers in the 21st century are taking music in all sorts of new directions by incorporating early instruments and vocal styles into their works. The results are bringing fresh horizons to everyone involved—creators, performers, listeners.

Regarding the ensemble’s transition to music past the Baroque, Suzuki focuses on links between works of different eras. “Now that we’ve completed all the cantatas and most of his instrumental music,” he said, “we are so much interested in following the line of the sacred music tradition, especially in the Masses. We’ve done the Bach B Minor Mass so many times, as well as the Mozart C Minor Mass, and now the Beethoven Missa Solemnis. These three compositions are interesting and closely connected. None of the three was written to be performed in a service.

The simple step, both in its natural and stylized forms, can deeply impact our general music making. When sculpting musical notes into gestures, for instance, think about how subtleties in bow (or air) speed and pressure can add variety and shape.

The world is throwing a grand anniversary party this year for one of the most deserving and long-overlooked artists in Baroque music, Georg Philipp Telemann. Everyone seems to be celebrating Telemann’s 250th Deathiversary: festivals, broadcasts, exhibitions, tributes, and tours are taking place from British Columbia to Australia.