Juilliard415 Performs Dornel, Marais, Couperin, Leclair, Guignon and Lully

Yesterday, the Juilliard415 performed one of its free noontime recitals at Holy Trinity Church on Central Park West.  Unlike its sister series, Wednesdays at One, that are only an hour in length, the 415 ensemble often treats its audiences to full length recitals.  This one lasted an hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.  The 415 recitals also differ from other Juilliard performances in that they provide full program notes rather than a simple listing of the works to be performed.  This is greatly appreciated, especially as many Baroque pieces, and even the names of their respective composers. are thoroughly unfamiliar to modern day listeners.  The notes, written by the students themselves, are quite erudite and extremely helpful.

Before the performance began, Artistic Director Robert Mealey spoke briefly.  He indicated that during each semester the ensemble focused on the Baroque music of one particular nationality.  As this semester's focus was on French music, the program accordingly featured works by Dornel, Marais, Couperin, Leclair, Guignon and Lully.

The first work was Louis-Antoine Dorel's Suite in D minor from Livre de Simphonies, Op. 1 (1709) performed by Ambra Casonata (violin), Fiona Last (oboe), Neil Chen (bassoon) and Paul Morton (guitar).  The program notes for this work, written by Ambra Casonata, contained the interesting comment that: "The piece is not technically demanding; therefore, the players have to research a refined and tasteful sound appropriate for such a work."  I took this to mean that the very simplicity of the music gave the performers leeway to improvise as they played their parts.

Next was Marin Marais's Suite No. 1 from Pieces en Trio (1692) performed by David Dickey (oboe), Nayeon Kim (violin), Kamila Marcinkowska-Prasad (bassoon) and Evan Kory (harpsichord).  Although violin and oboe were used in this arrangement, the program notes by Evan Kory pointed out that recorders or flutes could be used in their place.  Obviously, arrangements for given instruments were much less formalized during the Baroque.  The absence of orchestras and ensembles as we know them today would have necessitated that a piece of music could be played with whatever appropriate instruments were at hand.

The third work was François Couperin's Dances from L'Espagnole from Les Nations (1726) performed by Jeffrey Girton and Augusta McKay Lodge (violins), Keiran Campbell (cello) and Leonard Schmid (harpsichord).  Another Couperin work was played later in the program.  That was La Paix du Parnasse (Sonade en Trio) from Concert en forme d'apothéose à la mémoire de l'incomparable M. de Lully (1724) performed by Toma Iliev (violin), Caroline Ross (oboe), Alexander Nicholls (cello) and Gabriel Benton (harpsichord).

Couperin was distinguished by his desire to reconcile the radically different styles of French and Italian music.  He was a fervent admirer of the work of both Lully and Corelli and composed pieces dedicated to each of them.  La Paix du Parnasse was an attempt to find common ground between the two countries' musical idioms.  Ironically, Lully, born Giovanni Battista Lulli, was himself Italian but evolved into such a Francophile that he used his position as superintendent of music under Louis XIV to rid French music of any foreign elements, particularly those of his own country of birth.

Following the first Couperin work came a series of excerpts from Jean-Marie Leclair's Deuxième recréation de musique, Op. 8 (1764) performed by Joseph Monticello (flute), Isabelle Seul-a Lee (violin), Julia Nilsen Savage (cello) and Robert Warner (harpsichord).  Leclair, a violin virtuoso, was another composer who followed Couperin in trying to integrate the disparate styles of French and Italian music.  Though the trio sonata was originally an Italian musical form, Leclair here filled it with flourishes in the French style, including its opening overture.  While I was listening to the piece, it seemed inordinately long for the two movements shown in the program.  After the recital had finished, Mr. Mealy was kind enough to write in for me on my program the titles of the five movements that had been left out, presumably due to a printing error.  After the work had concluded, the musicians gave a short encore highlighted by Joseph Monticello's incredible performance on a Baroque piccolo.

The next to last work was Jean-Pierre Guignon's Sonata in D major, Op. 4, No. 2 from Six Sonates en trio (c. 1742) performed by Ūla Kinderyté and Karen Dekker (violins), Oliver Weston (cello) and Adam Cockerham (theorbo).  Born Giovanni Pietro Ghignone, the composer was another Italian who found success in Paris where he was eventually appointed roy et maître des ménétrieres.  The program notes written by Adam Cockerham gave a rather negative description of the character of Guignon (whose name signifies "bad luck" in French).  Apparently, the composer was avaricious and litigious and heartily despised in his own time.  

The recital ended with Jean-Baptiste Lully's Dances from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670) performed by Jeffrey Girton and Karen Dekker (violins), Ūla Kinderyté and Netanel Pollack (violas), Oliver Weston (cello), Peter Ferretti (bass) and Adam Cockerham (theorbo).  As someone who had studied French literature in college, I was fascinated to learn that Lully had written incidental music to Molière's famous comedy.  And not only that, but also that during the premiere Molière himself had played the part of the foolish protagonist while Lully had danced in the ballet that followed the conclusion of the play.