James A. Butterfield News
composer
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2024-04-24
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2024-03-05 07:39:00
Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments - London Handel Players
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - title pageSix Concerts avec plusieurs instruments: Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann; London Handel Players, director Adrian Butterfield; Wigmore HallReviewed 1 March 2024An evening of colours and timbres as London Handel Players explore multi-instrument concertos including some intriguing solo combinations, all performed with style and engaging aplombBach's manuscript for his Brandenburg Concertos describes them as Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments and the London Handel Players, director Adrian Butterfield, used this title for their Friday 1 March 2024 concert at Wigmore Hall which featured six concertos, two each by Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi, for a wide variety of plusieurs instruments. The fashion for multi-instrument concertos seems to have come to a head during the 1720s and 1730s (Bach's Brandenburg Concertos manuscript is dated 1721) and the results vary from two or three instruments to a positive concerto grosso-like ensemble.We began with Telemann's Concerto in E for flute, oboe d'amore, viola d'amore and strings, three rather quiet […]
2023-11-14 08:54:00
Engagement, exploration & discovery: London Handel Players return to Handel at Home for Total Eclipse
[…] popularity of the publication of his music in editions for amateurs to play. It was even more the case during Handel's day. During his initial period in London, he seems to have been uninterested in publishing and John Walsh pirated several editions before the composer took a hand and involved himself in the works being published.The London Handel Players' Handel at Home series on SOMM explores this approach to the music. The ensemble, Rachel Brown flute/recorder, Adrian Butterfield, Oliver Webber and Naomi Burrell violins, Rachel Byrt viola, Gavin Kibble cello, Carina Cosgrave double bass, Silas Wollston harpsichord, has returned to Handel's music in chamber arrangements, both contemporary and their own. On this second volume, Total Eclipse we have music from Rinaldo, Radamisto, Samson, Giulio Cesare and The Choice of Hercules plus a Sonata a 5, in arrangements for ensemble or in transcriptions for harpsichord.Within seven weeks of Handel's first opera for London, Rinaldo, making its […]
2023-10-21 11:15:00
What's not to love? Glamour and heart as Puccini's little swallow returns to Opera North
[…] creating a lively and vividly engaging atmosphere, well supported by Ross McInroy, Satriya Krisna, Paul Gibson and Andrew Randall as their male counterparts.The full chorus only really came into its own in Act Two, here a vibrantly active depiction of Bullier;s with solos from Charlie Drummond, Molly Barker and Amy Freston. The chorus was in good form and whilst there were six dancers, everyone was on the moved. There was also small solos from Gillene Butterfield and James Davies.Conductor Kerem Hasan and the orchestra did the work proud, Hasan's way with the score meant we got a whole sequence of beautifully long-breathed, flexible melodies.No-one dies and there is no intense tragedy. Adami's libretto might be close to the lightness of operetta, but Puccini clearly invested in his Commedia Lirica and in his characters. Here we had Puccini's glorious melodies sung by an admirably youthful cast in a production which looked […]
2022-08-08 09:07:00
Two very different approaches to Bach's Goldberg Variations from harpsichordist Nathaniel Mander & violinist Jorge Jimenez
[…] d'amore at West Green House Opera - opera reviewSerious Songs: Jess Dandy & Martin Roscoe in Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Strauss at Wigmore Hall - concert reviewSouth Pacific: Stupendous performances from Julian Ovenden & Gina Beck head this striking new version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic - music theatre reviewLittle Women & after: I chat to composer Mark Adamo about the UK premiere of his opera & more - interviewWelcome to L'isola di Alcina: Glyndebourne's first production of Handel's opera - opera reviewFrench-style elegance, Italian lyricism and virtuosity: Adrian Butterfield in Leclair's violin sonatas - record reviewHome
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