Tafelmusik review

Hi :) sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been a little caught up with school work. :(

Anyways. Here's a music review I did for a "Tafelmusik" concert (they're a group of Canadian players who play baroque music). Enjoy? :P

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When I arrived at the City Recital Hall half an hour before the Tafelmusik concert, I was not quite sure what to expect. Although I had previously read a few reviews done by others and had known that this would be a concert filled with baroque music and accompanied by images of outer space, I didn't realise how unique this concert was going to be.

What I saw were a bunch of vibrant musicians, holding beautiful baroque-period instruments and moving together with the same body and soul. These energetic musicians looked like they were having the time of their lives, swaying to and fro and sometimes even doing traditional court dances around the harpsichord and the cellists. What enriched our appreciation and interpretation of the music was the encaptivating actor's brief [and sometimes not so brief] interludes between the relatively short pieces, and it really informed and entertained the audiences. This concert served as an informer and eye-opener to both the astronomers and the concert-goers in the audience: the astronomers were exposed to some of the finest baroque music ever played, while the musical side of the audience, including me, were enlightened to the stories of how astronomy began and the controversies that arose against Galileo's discoveries.

I found that the verbal interludes really adds to the characters of the pieces, as the phrases set up the audience in a particular mindset for the next piece, which allowed us to appreciate the music at an angle where we had never been before. The humour added by some parts of the monologues and sometimes even by the movement of the musicians, and this really added interest for the audience as a whole, especially for the younger audiences who came to look at the stars.

The atmosphere of the concert space was very relaxed and comfortable, as the audiences laughed at the jokes as they pleased. The musicians moved freely in and out of the audience, making good use of the surround-sound effects and at the same time almost inviting the audience to join them as they expanded the stage. I am sure that everyone enjoyed the concert as much as I did (if not more), and the musicians definitely enjoyed themselves just as much as they gave us an encore piece and a reprise of the courtly dance they had played previously. Although they have already won over the hearts of many around the world, I wish them success in their many performances in years to come.

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Comments? :)