# "Jazzy" Baroque Chamber Performances/Recordings



## cheregi (Jul 16, 2020)

I have 'jazzy' in quotes because I'm using that term very very loosely - 

I've been reading specifically about early Italian Baroque monodies, cantatas, and similar genres, and how extraordinarily much their notation (archetypically basso continuo + melody) left in the hands of performers - and, on top of this, the proliferation of treatises on improvisation and ornamentation, including, for example, advice on how to stretch and play with rhythm in all kinds of ways... I'm curious to hear recordings that reflect this sense of what I'm reductively calling 'jazziness', and would love recommendations!

EDIT: I know there is a kind of established 'Baroque ornamentation' style that appears on many recordings... but I think there is much more to this that remains, in my view, underexplored - especially in areas of rhythmic emphases and fluctuations. I guess I'm interested in more 'extreme' or heterodox takes on 'Baroque ornamentation/improvisation' - if nothing else, just for contrast!


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes indeed, Baroque music is very much jazz like in construction. You have the bass line and a treble line mixing in. It is only natural that good music began that way. Listen to any recordings of trio sonatas, which is one of the earliest "formal" Baroque chamber music whereby the treble and basso continuo lines are more apparent.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

cheregi said:


> I have 'jazzy' in quotes because I'm using that term very very loosely -
> 
> I've been reading specifically about early Italian Baroque monodies, cantatas, and similar genres, and how extraordinarily much their notation (archetypically basso continuo + melody) left in the hands of performers - and, on top of this, the proliferation of treatises on improvisation and ornamentation, including, for example, advice on how to stretch and play with rhythm in all kinds of ways... I'm curious to hear recordings that reflect this sense of what I'm reductively calling 'jazziness', and would love recommendations!
> 
> EDIT: I know there is a kind of established 'Baroque ornamentation' style that appears on many recordings... but I think there is much more to this that remains, in my view, underexplored - especially in areas of rhythmic emphases and fluctuations. I guess I'm interested in more 'extreme' or heterodox takes on 'Baroque ornamentation/improvisation' - if nothing else, just for contrast!


John Lewis (WTC) and Uri Caine (Goldberg Variations)

For HIP ideas about rubato and ornamentation, performers to explore are Sergio Vartolo, Wolfgang Rübsam, Matteo Messori, Jaroslav Tuma, and Ton Koopman. There is a lot of HIP improvisation on record in the context of baroque keyboard music, but I haven't explored it seriously - maybe investigate William Porter.


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## cheregi (Jul 16, 2020)

Thanks! This is a lot to investigate.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

The _Triple Violin Concerto_ by Vivaldi is a real barn-burner. Here Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Pinchas Zukerman really swings especially in the last movement where the they set the battlefield on fire.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Check out the Modern Jazz Quartet. Their Blues On Bach CD in particular.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

L'Arpeggiata & Christina Pluhar have a jazzy go at Handel.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Well here's a more literal interpretation of a "jazzy baroque chamber performance":






There's a lot to love here. Really an exceptional performance; you can hear the energy of the three musicians. Would have loved to see it live.

Check out this one as well:






And I'll second John Lewis.


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## cheregi (Jul 16, 2020)

Yea, these more literal Baroque-music-played-as-jazz type pieces are not what I was initially looking for, but they are certainly wonderful in their own right. And I didn't know there would be so many examples of that kind of idea! Kind of like the exact opposite of Wendy Carlos' synthesizer-Bach, which emphasizes the 'strictness' and maybe what could be mistaken for 'artificiality' in Bach...


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