Laurence Vittes Archive

Altius Quartet: “Dress Code” = Haydn Quartet in C major Op.74 No.3; Bolcom Three Rags; Arrangements of Dave Brubeck, Led Zeppelin, Ben E. King, and a-ha – Altius Quartet – Navona Records  

Altius Quartet: “Dress Code” = Haydn Quartet in C major Op.74 No.3; Bolcom Three Rags; Arrangements of Dave Brubeck, Led Zeppelin, Ben E. King, and a-ha – Altius Quartet – Navona Records  

Altius Quartet: “Dress Code” = Haydn Quartet in C major Op.74 no.3. Bolcom Three Rags. Arrangements of Dave Brubeck, Led Zeppelin, Ben E. King, and a-ha – Altius Quartet (Joshua Ulrich and Andrew Giordano, violins. Andrew Krimm, viola. Zachary Reaves, cello) – Navona Records  NV6078, 55 minutes, (4/14/2017) ****: Altius Quartet brings fresh life to a classic masterpiece within a contemporary framework… Whatever possessed the Altius Quartet to come up with a program blending the talents of Franz Joseph Haydn and William Bolcom with four pop arrangements turns out be a most fortunate inspiration, and the Altius Quartet chose wisely and played well, laying out their sequence of interspersed music like one continuous scroll. Haydn particularly benefits from this approach because it enables you to focus on and realize just how powerfully he creates his musical worlds. Each of the movements of his extraordinary String Quartet Op.74 No.1 has entirely its own personality and structure, each contains at its core an overwhelmingly affectionate joke, and each is blessed with rare beauties. The Quartet have captured this well, even adding to the occasion with a little joke of their own in the form of an unwritten crescendo on the opening chord […]

“Viva Italia: Sacred Music in 17th Century Rome” – Duke Vespers Ens., Mallarmé Ch. Players, Washington Cornett & Sackbut Ens./ Brian Schmidt – MSR Classics

“Viva Italia: Sacred Music in 17th Century Rome” – Duke Vespers Ens., Mallarmé Ch. Players, Washington Cornett & Sackbut Ens./ Brian Schmidt – MSR Classics

“Viva Italia: Sacred Music in 17th Century Rome” – GIOVANNI FELICE SANCES: Missa Sancta Maria Magdalenae and music by CARISSIMI, CHARPENTIER, PALESTRINA & VICTORIA – Duke Vespers Ens., Mallarmé Ch. Players, Washington Cornett & Sackbut Ens./ Brian Schmidt – MSR Classics MS 1580, 58:28 (4/13/16) *****: A terrific concert of vocal music from Rome. Recorded live in concert in April 2015, Durham’s excellent Duke Vespers Ensemble, with the help of equally accomplished colleagues, show a healthy bright-eyed enthusiasm and vocal splendor in music by Carissimi, Charpentier, Palestrina, Victoria and the always intriguing Giovanni Felice Sances, whose Missa Sancta Maria Magdalenae provides a thrilling world premiere. Born in Rome and subsequently a composer and tenor, Sances moved to the Hapsburg court in Austria where he served for more than 40 years, eventually rising to Master of the Imperial Chapel. His large-scale Mass, with its seven voices, six strings, two cornetti and four trombones, is a grand affair appropriate to only the second North American performance and the first recording. The easy expertise and wide knowledge of the musicians plus their roots in the Duke and Triangle communities, allows them to respond authentically for their listeners, as Sances did for his, and […]