Norwich baroque rehearsal 1st feb 2012

French Baroque:

obscenely extravagant

over the top pomposity and grandeur

making up pointless rules of ettiquette in order to look down their noses at ordinary folk

lead-based make-up causes their hair to fall out and rots their teeth, so they apply even more to cover it up

they believe they are elegant, but it is in a completely false and grotesque way

they believe bathing is bad for you, so never wash, and instead just mask their stench with expensive perfumes

the kind of people who drive a bentley through a soweto township and complain about the stiching on the dashboard

comments on the recordings:
please excuse the lo-fi mp3s, it wasn't set to record in hq

rameau rigadon
- more contrast between first 4 bars (strong) 2nd 4 (relax)
- percussion, tempo needs to settle and triangle not quite the right sound for me, maybe something fizzier?
- fiddles, trills have really long appogiaturas on the beat, not in the air before it.
- b section - lets get more contrast (perhaps less lift on the upbeat) for the long dotted crotchet gesture.
rig II
needs darker contrasting colour, g minor, more mysterious, lets go higher up in the bow away from the bridge and use longer lighter bows.
recap
inegale has got a bit too dotted - just a light swing is all we need

rameau savages
so groovy!
bass drum very boomy - would like absolute clicky woody high pitched if poss. tempo sometimes rocky - can you set it and we need to be with you rather than the other way round?
B section lovely contrast to Bb - inegale a bit much here - just relax
C section - rancid.  Brilliant!  Wd be even better if it could be rancidly in tune too...awesome crescendo back into final A.  More lift at the end, so first note of last bar is completely connected to second note which finishes like a rebound in the air.

Rameau esclaves
could take loads more voodoo percussion!
again bass drum sound more teethy if poss
in the long notes in strings a huge amount more front on each note - Bang BANG Bang bang Bang BANG Bang bang - so they're all bangs just some are more bangy than others. Tribal dance. Sacrificing virgins, that kind of thing.
again the inegale is in danger of being a wee bit much in the smoother sections - it varies - in a g minor power stomp it works brilliantly really dotted, but in a sweeter bit we need a smoother more even line (but never equal)

Lully Alceste bruit trompettes
we really need to sort this opening, it's tricky!
can we have loads of minim crotchet crotchet minim in the perc and bass
loads more lift and life in the 2nd two crotchets in the fiddles
sorry my fault at the end it shouldn't slow down at all

Lully Atys Rondeau
yeah! really sexy!
maybe a bit more lifted in bass descending crotchets just at the end and in the petite reprise.

Lully Armide Pasacaillie
Great slow groove! Bass could be just a bit longer for my taste so maybe a whole minim length instead of a crotchet.
Maybe some more intonation would be nice occasionally in the first fiddles
Violas!!!  Loads of them!!!
Basses could we sex up those chromatic lines even more? stick into the string and maybe a hint of portamento?