United States Baroque Limitless: Miloš (guitar), Les Violons du Roy / Jonathan Cohen (music director and conductor). Zankel Corridor, New York Metropolis, 30.11.2023. (DS)
Vivaldi – Sinfonia from L’Olimpiade, RV 725; Concerto in D main for Lute, Strings and Continuo, RV 93
A. Marcello – Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D minor, S D935
Boccherini – Fandango from Guitar Quintet in D main, G.448
J. S. Bach – Chaconne from Violin Partita No.2 in D minor, BMV 1004
Handel – Concerto Grosso in A minor, Op.6 No.4; Minuet from Suite in B-flat main, HWV 434
Telemann – Ouverture in B-flat main, TWV 55:B8, ‘Burlesque Overture’
Rameau – ‘Entrée pour les muses’ from Les Boréades
S. L. Weiss – Passacaglia for Lute in D main
Purcell – Suite from The Fairy Queen, Z.629; ‘Curtain tune on a Floor’ from Timon of Athens, Z.632
Because of an impressed collaboration between star guitarist Miloš and the Canadian Baroque ensemble Les Violons du Roy, New York audiences skilled a distinguished array of aptly chosen works in a glistening evening of efficiency. The live performance included well-known composers like Vivaldi and Purcell, and a few less-often-heard greats, such because the nobleman Alessandro Marcello and German lutist Silvius Leopold Weiss.
Les Violons du Roy carried out a number of items alone with a ferocity and driving vitality that may have made the live performance full in its personal proper, beneath the unwavering, joyful management of Jonathan Cohen, who additionally carried out on harpsichord. Their Handel Concerto Grosso was nothing in need of crisp and sensibly charming, whereas the post-intermission ‘Burlesque Overture’ by Telemann was filled with daring, diverse kinds and gleefully expressive turns – most welcome on any evening of the week.
Miloš carried out with the ensemble in about half of this system, together with a Handel Minuet and Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Main for Lute, Strings and Continuo. His Classical, extra fashionable strategy concocted a novel combination with the ensemble’s Baroque powerhouse experience. Whereas these works had been deliberately performed with a contemporary angle, it won’t be for everybody or for each piece. Nonetheless, it manifested particularly properly in Rameau’s ‘Entrée pour les muses’, which lent itself to the guitar’s caressing strokes in additional releasing, Romantic gestures.
The live performance’s solo showcase was J. S. Bach’s Chaconne for Violin, transcribed by Miloš. On this transforming, he introduced his classical fashion to bear on a bit seldom or by no means heard on guitar. A pinnacle of problem for solo violin, the Chaconne is infamous not just for its technical problem however a relatively unforgiving size that requires depth of musical interpretation, endurance and dedication. Although not a guitarist myself, I think about the chordal progressions might need been considerably simpler on guitar than violin, permitting for extra freedom of musicality.
Miloš’s interpretation infused the Chaconne with a quieter, extra delicate temper in comparison with the usually rousing, deeply resonant violin textures. It unfolded alongside a gorgeous journey wherein the guitar traveled by the harmonies and contrapuntal panorama in an exploration of expressive risk. Miloš’s final message, nevertheless, remained ambiguous – was this to be heard as a brand new perspective on a masterwork, or as a deconstructed re-working of type that may spotlight his instrument, the guitar?
As Miloš’s tour throughout the US continues into 2024, maybe the reply can be revealed. Both means, Miloš and Les Violons du Roy created a real gem of a live performance that may certainly please anybody from the Baroque connoisseur to the occasional concertgoer.
The night ended with two encores: Vivaldi’s Larghetto from Trio Sonata in C main, RV 82 and Harold Arlen’s ‘Over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz (arr. Miloš).
Daniele Sahr
