Colonial America

Description

EDITORIAL REVIEWS Spirited new sounds from across the sea to the shores of the New Land. From the first colonists to the American Revolution and the birth of our republic Hesperus Early Music Ensembles music reflects a time of new ideas, freedom and vitality. In town and village, parlor and ballroom, from the Appalachians to the great concert halls hear the musical pulse of early American music performed on a wide variety of folk and early music instruments. Includes: lively country-dance tunes, evocative Shape Note Hymns, old time Appalachian fiddle tunes, graceful European parlor music, French cotillions, divisions and improvisations. Introduction -The English Colonies in America were a patchwork-not just of territories whose boundaries became state lines, but of people from different places and classes with widely different values and experiences. This recording presents music from that patchwork; from England, the Colonial homeland; Scotland and Ireland, the homes of the largest groups of immigrants outside England; and France, the ally of the Patriots, and music written in the United States. More recordings by HESPERUS from Maggie's Music are Celtic Roots featuring Scottish fiddler, Bonnie Rideout and Early American Roots. Hesperus Ensemble is THE sought after musical group for period music that is both authentic, and most important fun, lively and spirited. They are frequent performers at the Smithsonians Institute of American Music and can be heard on the soundtrack or the Paramount film with Johnny Depp entitled Sleepy Hollow! Excerpts from liner notes:2.A Set of English Country Dance Tunes: Maiden Lane, Jack O'Lent, Chestnut, Bonny Broom - The visionary London music publisher John Playford first published his English Dancing Master in 1651. It was reprinted 18 times over the next 77 years and is still popular today. 3. Parting Friends/Primrose - These tunes have come down to us in choral arrangements called shape-note hymns . REVIEW "Hesperus casts an unbroken spell with its nimble balancing of fidelity and freedom." -- The Washington Post "Hesperus is a cutting-edge consort,consummate musicians with unqualified command of their instruments...thrilling from beginning to end." -- American Recorder Magazine "Hesperus may be the most affable, entertaining purveyors of obscure early repertory on the current concert scene." -- San Francisco Examiner ABOUT THE ARTIST HESPERUS ENSEMBLE IS: Tina Chancey,Bass viola da gamba, fiddle & recorder;Scott Reiss,Recorders & pennywhistle Grant Herried, Lute, theorbo, early guitars & recorder. From the stage of Lincoln Center to Germany, Bolivia & Singapore-Hesperus is a group with a vision, performing eight centuries of music from four continents. With impressive credentials in early music, its members are some of the nation's first and most important performers of "chamber folk" music, bringing the energy and spirit of traditional music to virtuoso performances on an impressive array of folk and early music instruments. Appearing frequently at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (where it was a resident ensemble from 1989-1996), Hesperus can be heard on TV, film and radio, most recently in the films Sleepy Hollow and Reluctant Saint: Francis of Assisi. The group has received multiple WAMMIEs from the Washington Area Music Association, the Baltimore Chamber Music Award, the Music and Humanity Award (Gretna, PA), the Elizabeth Campbell award from the AAUW, and the Logan Chamber Music Award for Outstanding Educational Programming. TINA CHANCEY, founding member and co-director of Hesperus, plays early and traditional bowed strings, from medieval rebec to fiddle. She is a specialist on the 18th c. pardessus de viole, performing at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Dr. Chancey's articles on early music appear in scholarly and popular publications.GRANT HERREID is a multi-instrumentalist who performs with Hesperus, Piffaro, and Artek. He also teaches at Mannes College of Music and directs the New York Continuo Collective. SCOTT REISS, founder and Co-director of HESPERUS, was also founding member/co-director of the Folger Consort for 21 years. His articles appear in Continuo, American Recorder, Early Music America and Tibia. Earthwatch funded his research on Celtic music, which formed the basis for his chapter in Celticisms: from Center to Fringe (Scarecrow Press, 2003). Scott also directs SoundCatcher workshops. See more