Our collective formed in 2016 out of a wish to freely explore a wide range of music on period instruments. Our creative home is at Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead (London), where we have developed our very own Baroquestock feastival, now in its third consecutive year. A unique fusion of music, food and community events, Baroquestock has grown to establish itself in the local community and beyond as an innovative and inclusive musical experience.
In our first two years we have spent a significant amount of time exploring repertoire for unusual combinations of instruments by lesser-known composers, and our first CD is the result of that journey. The music we have chosen for this project is all related to the 18th-Century concept of the Divertimento, in the true Italian meaning of the word. This was still a time when this kind of composition was considered "inferior" to the opera or the symphony, but curiously, in the case of Michael Haydn and Boccherini, it seems to allow space for greater freedom in terms of structure, scoring, and mood. Here the Divertimento remains a "balanced" conversation beetwen elegant people; each passing tempest of love lasts no more than two bars and might continue to be experienced inwardly by one of the players while the others are already in the pub drinking! At the same time, this "safe"and "controlled" context allows space for some eccentric secrets and innovative ideas which unfortunately the Romantic era, sometimes, seems to have forgotten. Lightness, which doesn't mean meaningless, seems here to be the answer to most of the problems.
As far as we know, these will be the first historically informed commercial recordings of these pieces.
L. Boccherini: Quintet Op.55 n.6 G436 for oboe, 2 violins, viola and cello
L. Boccherini: Sextet Op. 42 n.2 G467 for violin, viola, violone, oboe, horn and bassoon
M. Haydn: Divertimento MH199 for violin, viola, violone, oboe, bassoon
M. Haydn: Divertimento MH518 for viola, violone, oboe, 2 horns and bassoon.
ISTANTEcollective on classical instruments:
Beatrice Scaldini, Christiane Eidsten-Dahl: violin
Elitsa Bogdanova, Jordan Bowron, Emma Alter: viola
Kate Conway: cello
John-Henry Baker: double bass
Nicola Barbagli: oboe
Hayley Pullen: bassoon
Ursula Paludan Monberg, David Horwich: natural horn
Sound engineer: John Henry Baker
Producer: Joseph Davies
We are very excited that our CD will be published by Novantiqua Records as part of their "Tuscania" series.
www.novantiqua.net
Your generous donations will help cover the costs of research, recording and mastering for the CD as well as the musicians’ travel expenses. Thank you for your support in making this fantastic music live and breathe once more!
www.istantemusic.com