Early Music/Baroque

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Review

Varieties of Virtuosity

Rebekah Ahrendt - March 3, 2009

In the first of its two programs at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church this past weekend, Le Concert des Nations presented a potpourri of baroque classics titled “Les Goûts Réunis.” The title really ought to have been “Greatest Hits of the Baroque,” or — better — “Savall’s Number Ones.” Of the program’s six pieces, four were bona fide classics, the others evident favorites of Jordi

Ye Sacred Clerestory

Catherine Getches - March 2, 2009
In a concert titled "Ye Sacred Muses — Music of the Chapel Royal" the choral group Clerestory gets back to its cathedral roots and music that inspired the ensemble's name. On the program are lesser-known a cappella works by Purcell, Byrd, Tallis, and Handel, side by side with a few compliations devoted to great Queens, and more familiar works by other greats (composers, that is).
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Review

When the Audience is the Congregation

Anna Carol Dudley - February 10, 2009

Heinrich Schütz suggested that his Musikalische Exequien could be a substitute for a German mass. Warren Stewart has taken him at his word, incorporating the work into a full-length church service. Stewart’s Magnificat, complete with two organs, a continuo group, and eight singers (including a preacher and a deacon), performed the mass Saturday night at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley. The so-called audience served as congregation, joining in on some verses of the chorales.