News

Steven will be travelling out to Holland later this week for rehearsals and a recording of wonderful polychoral music by Antonio Bertali (1605-1699). A fantastic team of singers, wind players, strings and continuo join forces. The sessions will take place in the Zeeuwse Concertzaal, Middelburg.

Recorded in September, this disc of fascinating music is now available for purchase direct from the Zefir Records website. Bustijn's suites were obviously known beyond the Low Countries. Johann Gottfried Walther mentioned the collection in his Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) and included suite no. 8 in a manuscript anthology of keyboard music. The scribe of the piece in this compilation was Walther's and Johann Sebastian Bach's pupil Johann Tobias Krebs.

Follow this link to the SOUNDCLOUD website - OAE November podcast.

After two highly successful concerts in Greenwich, Steven Devine and the Trinity Laban Chamber Orchestra appeared live on BBC Radio 3 as part of the "Early Music Show".
Hosted by Catherine Bott, this special edition came live from the Greenwich International Early Music Exhibition, and featured artists such as L'Arpeggiata, Pantagruel and Red Priest. Steven Devine played JC Bach's Concerto in D Major with the orchestra - the last movement of which features "God Save the Queen" (Charlotte, in this case).

Still available on the BBC until Saturday 19th November at The BBC I Player

For more details, see http://www.bachlive.co.uk/archives/2011/08/01/21st-bachfest-2011/

Steven Devine plays organ and harpsichord continuo for the renowned Taverner Players for this first full reconstruction and recording of the funeral music for J. S. Bach’s patron, Prince Leopold of Cöthen. Bach’s years in Cöthen were musically fertile and Prince Leopold was a knowledgeable and committed supporter of music and the arts, so it’s ironic that much of Bach’s output during those years has been lost or even destroyed. The score for Trauer-Music, written in 1728 on the occasion of the Prince’s sudden death at the age of 34, has almost completely disappeared, yet through the discovery of numerous clues in other works and writings, Parrott has been able to recontruct what was clearly a heart-felt homage.

More information here.

Chamber Vespers: Miniature Masterpieces of the Italian Baroque

The Divine Vespers, a service of evening prayer in the Roman-Catholic Church, has provided both occasion and inspiration for some of the most sumptuous music ever composed. But not many churches in the seventeenth century could afford the lavish instrumental and vocal resources needed to play the likes of Monteverdi’s grandiose Vespro della Beata Vergine. For many of the smaller and more provincial churches, an acceptable compromise at evening service was the playing of smaller-scale sacred chamber music. This led in the seventeenth century to a tremendous outpouring of sacred music for small groups of singers and instrumentalists, as performed by The Gonzaga Band on this disc.

During Vespers, it became commonplace to alternate the obligatory psalms with a number of extra-liturgical instrumental pieces. This recording follows the same structure. The psalms, by Banchieri, Finetti, Petrobelli, and Monferrato, are complemented and framed by a variety of joyous instrumental works by Tarditi, Cima, Piccinini, Frescobaldi, Crotti, Sances, and Cazzati.

The Gonzaga Band was formed by the cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997 to explore historical approaches to the performance of vocal and instrumental music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its line-up is project led: the very best vocalists and period instrumentalists are ‘hand picked’ according to the specialist requirements of each programme. On this recording, The Gonzaga Band is joined by the mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson and cornettist Gawain Glenton.

Sadly, the advertised soloist for the concert on 27 August, Rebecca Bottone, is ill and we're very grateful that Mahiri Lawson has agreed to sing at short notice.

Michael Church wrote: "Devine's approach...is remarkably expressive"

"What is striking about this set of Goldbergs isn't any stylistic innovation or scholarly insight, which must be second nature to this esteemed musician, but Devine's presentation is so direct, bright, and energetic, it sustains interest all the way through and holds the variations together on the strength of his vitality."

Read the whole review here

Steven's new recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations has received another great review, this time from the Musical Pointers website...see http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/reviews/cddvd11/BachGoldbergDevine.html

New Chamber Opera's Summer production this year is Salieri's Falstaff. Steven Devine conducts a starry cast including Giles Underwood as the eponymous hero, Merryn Gamba, Rachel Shannon, Kate Semmens and Tom Kennedy. Orchestral accompaniment is provided by the Band of Instruments led by Carolin Balding. For performance dates, please see diary pages.

Click here to read: The Guardian/Observer website.

Beautifully recorded on the performer's own harpsichord - a copy of the 1710 Fleischer by Colin booth, this new recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations hopes to present the work in a clear, fresh light.