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Barsanti & Handel: Edinburgh 1742
Ensemble Marsyas, Peter Whelan
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2017, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Editor's Choice, August 2017
Under the incisive direction of Peter Whelan, the group is on ebullient form as it explores the vogue for the French horn in Scotland…Barsanti emerges as a worthy rival to Handel’s festive verve…Renard’s...
Barsanti & Handel: Edinburgh 1742
Ensemble Marsyas, Peter Whelan
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2017, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Editor's Choice, August 2017
Under the incisive direction of Peter Whelan, the group is on ebullient form as it explores the vogue for the French horn in Scotland…Barsanti emerges as a worthy rival to Handel’s festive verve…Renard’s...
About
The popular Ensemble Marsyas returns with a diverse programme to be launched at the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival of concerti, wind music and Scottish songs by composers Francesco Barsanti and George Frideric Handel, centred around the music composed for The Edinburgh Musical Society.
Horn soloists Alec Frank-Gemmill and Joseph Walters take centre stage in Handel’s Concerto for French Horns, exemplifying the extraordinary vogue for horn music at this time. Timpanist Alan Emslie joins them for Barsanti’s Concerti grossi Op. 3, an unusual concertino comprising timpani and natural horns.
Barsanti’s four ‘Old Scots Tunes’, notable as one of the first examples of Scottish Traditional music to be faithfully transcribed, introduces fiddle player Colin Scobie. Completing the programme is Handel’s aria ‘Sta nell’Ircana’ from Alcina, featuring mezzo-soprano Emilie Renard, and the March for Wind Band, HWV 346.
The Edinburgh based chamber group comprises the best of a new generation of musicians specialising in early music across Europe. Ensemble Marsyas’ previous recordings of Zelenka, Fasch and Handel each received several five star reviews.
Peter Whelan is the founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Marsyas and is in constant demand as both a performer and director.
Contents and tracklist
- Emilie Renard, Peter Whelan, Ensemble Marsyas
- Alec Frank-Gemmill, Joseph Walters, Peter Whelan, Ensemble Marsyas
- Colin Scobie, Philippe Grisvard, Gulrim Choi
- Colin Scobie, Philippe Grisvard, Gulrim Choi
- Colin Scobie, Philippe Grisvard, Gulrim Choi
Awards and reviews
-
Gramophone MagazineAwards Issue 2017Editor's Choice
-
Presto Editor's ChoiceAugust 2017
November 2017
Under the incisive direction of Peter Whelan, the group is on ebullient form as it explores the vogue for the French horn in Scotland…Barsanti emerges as a worthy rival to Handel’s festive verve…Renard’s fiery performance of Handel’s aria ‘Sta nell’Ircana’ from Alcina completes an assured disc of horn-infused Baroque finery.
Awards Issue 2017
In the expert hands of Ensemble Marsyas and their horn players Alec Frank-Gemmill and Joseph Walters, [the Barsanti concerti] turn out to be works of enormous joy and spirit. Their sound world will be familiar to many from Handel Water Music, [though] the chortling energy Barsanti conjures in his allegros has an abandonment that might have been a bit too boisterous for a royal river party.
October 2017
In all five Concerti Grossi the Edinburgh-based Ensemble Marsyas play with impeccable stylistic elegance.
August 2017
It might look at little esoteric on paper, but this reconstruction of a typical Edinburgh Musical Society concert in the mid-eighteenth century is brought off with captivating brio from all involved, with delightfully boisterous contributions from horn soloists Joe Walters and Alec Frank-Gemmill.
Peter Whelan and his terrific Ensemble Marsyas reconstruct a typical society concert and it’s a rich insight, played with great style and charisma.
23rd September 2017
They're delectable pieces, snappily performed.
