presents
Auditorium, APS Conference Center, Argonne National Laboratory
Saturday, February 14, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
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Program
Venezia, il paradiso di dolci suoni |
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| Music from Northern Italy in the period 1400-1600 by O. Petrucci, A. Agricola, J. da Bologna, J. Ciconia, T. Merula and others |
More on the artists, post-concert reception, location, and ordering tickets below.
This program is partially supported by the University of Chicago and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
The Flanders Recorder Quartet truly deservers the term "The Ambasadors of the Recorder". The Quartet was founded in 1987 and since has become a prominent fixture in the world of early music. The group has performed in major concert venues such as Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera City Hall (Tokyo), The Cloisters, The Frick Museum and the Morgan Library (New York), Spivey Hall (Atlanta), Orchesterhaus Salzburg, to name a few. Flanders Recorder Quartet concerts are a regular feature at early music festivals from Helsinki, Paris, Tokyo, Hawaii, Salzburg and Ljubljana to Mexico City, Boston, Vancouver, Singapore and Taipei.
The quartet is made up of the 4 renowned recorder players Bart Spanhove, Tom Beets, Joris Van Goethem and Paul Van Loey. There has been many a memorable moment during the career of the Flanders Recorder Quartet: In 1990 the quartet walked away with first prize at the prestigious "Musica Antiqua" competition in Bruges, Belgium. In 1997 the ensemble was taken on board by the OPUS 111 record label in Paris. Their three record releases, "Armonia di Flauti", "Viva l'Amore" and "Magic" were singled out and distinguished with a "Repertoire 10" rating. "Magic", moreover, was awarded the coveted "Tech-Art Prize 2002" and was received with excitement and praise by the international professional journals. In 2004 and 2005 the Aeolus label - with which the quartet has an exclusive contract - released "Consort of Flower Parts" with music by Matthew Locke and a Bach recording with fugues, concerti and fantasias. Their new CD Banchetto Musicale received two 5-star awards from the German magazine Fono Forum: highest ranking regarding both performance and sound.
The Quartet spotlights the recorder, so often underrated for the past 200 years, and lets it shine again in all its glory. In a wide variety of programs, the quartet performs with great virtuosity, using appropriately chosen examples from its unique collection, thus making each and every concert an unforgettable happening. Some of the most intriguing recorders in the collection are: the Virdung (1511) copies crafted by recorder builder Adrian Brown; ten recorders copied from the collection of Henry VIII, the 2.30 meter (7ft 6in.) tall baroque sub-bass designed and built by von Huene in Boston and modern recorder models made by Coolsma from Utrecht in the Netherlands. Such an array of unique and very rare specimens provides a feast for the eyes and the ears and serves as a convincing plea in honor of the instrument.
With contagious enthusiasm, the members of the Flanders Recorder Quartet show their pedagogical prowess during demonstration performances and masterclasses. A consequence of their teaching activities is the publication of the book, "The Finishing Touch of Ensemble Playing" written by Bart Spanhove (Alamire Editions, 2000).
The Flanders Recorder Quartet is highly praised for its arrangements and for the inspiration it has been to a large number of contemporary composers that has resulted in more than 40 compositions being written for the ensemble. The German music publishing company, Heinrichshofen, has launched a series of publications entirely dedicated to the group and aptly called, the "Flanders Recorder Quartet Series".
"The players swayed and swooned, combining the breathy timbre of a portative organ with the expressive interplay of a fine string quartet."
-- New York Times
"Their homogenous and crystal clear sound, their technical perfection and stylish interpretation are the unmistakable trade mark of the Flanders Recorder Quartet's ensemble playing. There is a perfection and purity nearing the ethereal..."
-- Deutschland- Radio, Berlin
"The real music-lovers found in the performance of Flanders Recorder Quartet: a brilliant mastery of instrumental technique, a deep understanding of Bach, both in spirit and note."
-- Kommercant, St. Petersburg, Russia
"...the flutes of the Flanders Recorder Quartet give us a variety of colors that one would have thought impossible on these instruments."
-- Le Monde de la Musique
"...Beguiling lightness of touch and clarity of texture…surprising amount of colour…The performances are brilliant."
-- Fanfare
"If Mozart, who, it is said, did not like the flute, had heard this recording, there is no doubt that he would have been conquered. Virtuosos as well as poets."
-- Le Monde de la Musique
"Remarkable are the pure intonation, the faultless tone quality and the artistic variety of the quartet."
-- Darmstadter Echo
"One can say many things about them except that what they play is early music: everything lives, breathes, palpitates, as if one were witnessing an exhilarating act of creation. It's exceptional."
-- Repertoire
More information on the artists can be found here.
The audience is invited to join the artists at a reception following the performance.
The concert will be presented in the Auditorium of the APS Conference Center (Bldg. 402) at Argonne.
The concert is open to the public.
Photo ID is required to enter the laboratory site.
Visitors need to register prior to the event
by calling 630-252-4793 during regular working hours.
Don't know how to reach Argonne? Confused about the layout of the laboratory site? Here are some navigational aids:
Admission to the concert is $25.
Note that unused tickets from the previous season (2007-2008) will be honored at this event.
Call 630-252-4793 to order your tickets now,
VISA and MasterCard accepted;
or use the
ticket request form
to order your tickets by mail.
Remaining tickets will be sold in the lobby of the Argonne Cafeteria (Bldg. 213) between noon and 1:00 p.m. during the week immediately preceding the concert.
The Auditorium Box Office will open one-half hour before the performance.