Antico Moderno presents Stylus Phantasticus

Antico/Moderno is a group of musicians dedicated to commissioning and creating new music for old instruments.

Antico Moderno’s Stylus Phantasticus pairs virtuosic Italian Baroque works from the 17th century with two newly-commissioned works for period instruments by the American composer William Cooper and Korean Eun Young Lee.

Personnel

Edson Scheid, baroque violin
Heloise Degrugillier, recorders
Jacques Lee Wood, baroque cello
Bálint Karosi, harpsichord
William Cooper, conductor

Jesse Irons Artistic Director
Bálint Karosi, Executive Director

“The playing was nevertheless superb, assured and the ensemble flawless, even in the frequent changes of tempo and tricky transitions of these early-Baroque examples” -- Boston Musical Intelligencer, January 23, 2016

Suggested donation: $25

Notes

The Boston-based Antico Moderno is a new, fantastically unique period chamber ensemble. Born out of a mutually shared passion by its members for both historically informed performance on period instruments and the creation and performance of new music, A/M seeks to combine these two seemingly disparate musical worlds by commissioning new works specifically for historical instruments. Collaborating closely with their composer-in-residence during every step of the compositional process, Antico Moderno presents exciting, intelligent, and trailblazing programs that incorporate works both old and new on period instruments. Currently the ensemble-in-residence at First Lutheran Church in Boston, Antico Moderno has been visiting artists at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Yale School of Music.

The title "Gil" means "road" in Korean. Like in English, road means not only a street but also the timeline of your life, past, present, and future. In Korea, there is a saying that when you are a child, your fire is in your feet. So you move around all the time and can't stay in one spot

even for a moment. When you are a young woman or man, your fire is in your heart. So you fall in love. When you get older, your fire moves to your your head. So you start to think a lot more than before. I tried to convey this concept in this piece. Writing music for old instruments has been giving me a great opportunity to expand and enrich my compositional road. This piece is the second version of "Gil" -- it is now longer and a double bass is added. -- Eun Young Lee

"Sonata a Quattro" is scored for alto recorder, violin, cello and harpsichord. Cast in three movements, the work takes as its starting point methods of thematic exposition found in Baroque trio sonatas. However, the work quickly veers into more contemporary sounds, making use especially of fluttertongue in the recorder. The first movement is constructed in sonata form as a debate between lyrical, contrapuntal material, a more agitated, aggressive type of music. The second movement is slower, more meditative and brooding, and the final movement is a virtuosic finale that gathers some of the loose ends of the first two movements. -- William Cooper

Program

Sonata Ottava
Giovanni Battista Fonata (c. 1580-1630)

Sonata a Quattro (NYC premiere)
William Cooper

Sonata "per sonat con due corde," op. 8
Biaggio Marini Marini

Gil (NYC premiere)
Eun Young Lee

Sonata a tre
Giovanni Paolo Cima (c. 1570-1672)

Sonata Decima
Dario Castello (c. 1590-1658)

Ciaccona
Antonio Bertali (1605-1669)