I've just got back from a concert at the Juilliard School in New York, by their newly-formed loud band. Apart from the problem that it wasn't at all loud (all pieces were performed by mixed shawms and dulcians, with the shawms played oboe style to balance with the dulcians; which to my mind is a complete waste of shawms) one interesting point was made about repertoire. This was a mention of the fact that the Philidor manuscript, a collection of reed instrument music from the late 17th century, includes a 'Symphonie du Misereres' which is from a (16th century) mass of Orlando de Lassus. Some solid justification then, that vocal sacred music was recycled by instrumentalists, including loud bands.
Perhaps still a stretch to justify our shawm and bagpipe versions of (13th century) Notre Dame polyphony, however.
No comments:
Post a Comment