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CD Review: Vivaldi Cantatas, Thrilling and Intimate

‘Vivaldi: Cantate per soprano I’ is the first of two volumes dedicated to Vivaldi’s chamber cantatas for soprano, part of Naïve’s colossal Vivaldi Edition. This new recording of six cantatas, composed between 1718 and 1735, reveals the depth of Vivaldi’s ingenious ability to shape moods, timbres, and emotions. Italian soprano Arianna Vendittelli and Abchordis Ensemble, led by Andrea Buccarella, have imbued this music about love with their own sense of drama, daring, and intimacy.

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Bobby Horton, HIP to American Folk Music

Alabama folk musician Bobby Horton takes a historically informed approach to folk music from many American genres. He’s worked closely with popular documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, whose ‘The Civil War,’ ‘Baseball’ and other PBS programs bear Horton’s mark as a performer, collector, composer, and adviser. His contributions to more than 20 National Park Service films reflect his intense interest in conservation and centuries past. Horton is on the soundtrack for Ken Burns’ latest project, ‘Benjamin Franklin,’ which airs on PBS starting April 4.

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Discovering Baroque Music with the HBCU Early Music Initiative

To inaugurate the HBCU Early Music Initiative Project, two of Early Music America’s IDEA Taskforce members, harpsichordist Joyce Chen and viola da gambist Patricia Ann Neely, gave an engaging demonstration on baroque performance practice at Delaware State University. This outreach event was presented to a diverse group of student and community members, including non-majors taking intro to music courses and music majors who are planning on pursuing graduate degrees.

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CD Review: How Much ‘Historical’ Performance Do We Really Want?

A new recording of Debussy’s opera raises complicated and interesting questions on issues of vocal sound and the attitude towards performance style. Do we want to adopt every aspect of Debussy’s sound world into our own? Do we prefer to call upon the highly refined and skilled vocal qualities that are prevalent today, or are we obliged to adhere to the styles of the past?

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CD Review: Orlando Consort Premieres Music from Golden Age Florence

The Orlando Consort’s latest album explores music from GuillaumeDu Fay, Heinrich Isaac, and numerous anonymous pieces. But a standard treatment of the Florentine Renaissance this is not. In conjunction with research by musicologist Patrick Macey, who authored the detailed liner notes, the album presents a surprising number of premiere recordings.

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