Paul Cavalconte: I'm Paul Cavalconte from WQXR, and along with my co-host, Nimet Habachy, we are broadcasting live tonight from Naumburg Orchestral Concerts here at Central Park.
Tonight, our featured artists are Nosky's Baroque Band, led by the wonderful Aisslinn Nosky. For those of you who are regulars to the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, you may remember Aisslinn performed here last summer with this band, as well as her role as Concertmaster for the Handel and Haydn Society.
Please welcome Aisslinn Nosky to the mic.
Now you've been here a few times now, and I'd like to ask you as a veteran of this wonderful and inspiring outdoor space, what is special about playing here in Central Park?
Aisslinn Nosky: Well, this atmosphere is something that I've never had matched anywhere I've traveled in the world. I live not far from here on the Upper West Side. And there's nothing like the feeling of walking across the park to play for fellow New Yorkers. It's really special.
Paul Cavalconte: So we're going to be treated to Early Music. Is there a theme for the first part of the program?
Aisslinn Nosky: Rock and roll.
Paul Cavalconte: Rock and roll. It was the rock and roll of its time, and it's percussive, and it's even out of tune occasionally.
Aisslinn Nosky: What?
Paul Cavalconte: That's rock and roll. Well, no, you get those instruments in tune after a while, although the humidity is our enemy this evening, but we'll be patient with the tuning.
And could you please tell us what we'll hear first?
Aisslinn Nosky: This is a Sinfonia by Dall'Abaco, a very well known Italian composer in his day, and it's very exciting. It felt like a very good way to start off the party.
Paul Cavalconte: Okay, Aisslinn, well, we're going to let you get ready. I know there is some tuning to be done, and once again, we're going to hear the Sinfonia in D major by the Italian composer Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco from the Naumburg Orchestral Concert in Central Park with Nosky's Baroque Band.
Nimet Habachy: Paul is going to be joining me very shortly, and we are just going to wait for a little bit of tuning up, and we'll be ready to go.
And hello everybody, I'm Nimet Habachy, and it's so nice that you're there, and you should see the crowd that's here. It is a delightful thing to look upon. The umbrellas have been put away, at least for now, and with any kind of luck, they will stay put away, But we're here and we are going to hear some wonderful music, seven glorious pieces of Baroque music.
So Paul has joined me, and Paul, welcome to our table.
Paul Cavalconte: We're standing by, as mentioned, the tuning is on and the program begins in just a few moments. These wonderful period instruments are very sensitive and the humid June air has got to agree with them.
Nimet Habachy: I can imagine.
Paul Cavalconte: But it's a real treat to hear this music in a live broadcast and in an open air space in New York with an attentive full house crowd.
MUSIC: Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (1675-1742), Sinfonia in D Major, Op. 6, No. 12, (1735)
Paul Cavalconte: That was the Sinfonia in D Major from Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, played by Nosky's Baroque Band. Paul Cavalconte here with Nimet Habachy at the broadcast bench. Like opera, hearing Early Music and Baroque period music live is the experience. It is so vibrant when you see the physicality of the performers.
Nimet Habachy: It's the most extraordinary piece that could have begun the concert. It was perfect. It was just the right style.
MUSIC: George Frideric Handel, Concerto Grosso in A minor Op.6, No.4, HWV 322, (1732)
Nimet Habachy: A Concerto Grosso in A minor by George Frideric Handel, performed by Nosky's Baroque Band. I'm Nimet Habachy and we're live in Central Park tonight for the opening evening of the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, right here at the Bandshell in Central Park. Paul Cavalconte is with me and what a wonderful beginning we've had.
Paul Cavalconte: The Handel owes to Corelli, we'll hear music by that composer later in the program. Now we're going to move on to something by a Dutch composer, Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, another Concerto Grosso. In addition to being a composer, he was also a diplomat and a nobleman.
Nimet Habachy: Quite right. He developed a love for music and composition in his youth and he wrote a set of concerti that he called the Concerti Armonici. And for many years, we didn't know that van Wassenaer was the composer responsible for these pieces because he published them anonymously, and they're often been attributed to Pergolesi. However, in 1980, a musicologist found a copy of the score in van Wassenaer's handwriting, complete with a note about how he came to compose and publish the Concerti Armonici.
Paul Cavalconte: And we're going to hear one of those pieces now, his Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G Major Nosky's Baroque Band, live on WQXR.
MUSIC: Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Concerto Grosso No.1 in G major, (1740)
Paul Cavalconte: Classical New York, 105. 9 FM and HD, WQXR, Newark, 90. 3 FM, WQXW, Ossining. Another Concerto Grosso played by Nosky's Baroque Band live at the Naumburg Bandshell. That was the composer Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. I'm Paul Cavalconte at the broadcast bench with my fellow WQXR host, Nimet Habachy.
Nimet Habachy: Lots of feet tapping. That was so full of rhythm and so much excitement. Everybody here seems to be absolutely spellbound. There is no movement. Everybody is listening with absolutely rapt attention.
And the next piece on the program is by composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli. And not only was he a composer, but he was also a violin player with a little bit of flair, the Paganini, you might say, of his time. And he's sometimes called the father of modern violin virtuosity. The piece we'll hear is his Concerto Grosso in E flat, which, like the Handel piece that we heard earlier, is partially modelled after Corelli's Opus 6 Concerti.
MUSIC: Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Concerto Grosso in E flat major, Op. 7 No. 6,"il Pianto d'Arianna” (1741)
Nimet Habachy: Pietro Antonio Locatelli's Concerto Grosso in E flat, known as Il Pianto d'Arianna, The Leaping of Arianna, with a little bit of competition from birds and a helicopter. What a wonderful, wonderful piece of music we just heard.
Paul Cavalconte: And those ambient sounds are part of the fun, as we broadcast live from Central Park in the heart of New York City, the historic Naumburg Bandshell.
And behind us, the sun is setting over the historic Majestic Towers apartment building on Central Park West. We are in an alley of elm trees surrounding this marvelous square with people who have brought food and drink, and a convivial atmosphere. It's one of the joyous reasons why summer in New York is worth sticking around for, and we're here to bring you the entire season through the summer.
I can tell you about additional shows that'll be broadcast. The next concert will be June 25th. It's going to be the Brooklyn-based ensemble, The Knights. They will have a concert of Mozart, Beethoven, and the 19th century French composer, Louise Farrenc, who was a groundbreaker in demanding equal pay for her compositions. Now that is in two weeks and all these concerts are free and open to the public, but you can listen to them live on the radio.
Nimet Habachy: Well...
Paul Cavalconte: We have a guest. Let's welcome Aisslinn Nosky to the microphone live here on WQXR. Paul Cavalconte with Nimet Habachy.
Now, some of the composers that we just heard, Handel and Locatelli, are more familiar names, but how did you hear about our Belgian friend, Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer?
Aisslinn Nosky: Oh, well, his music was recommended to me by a friend of mine in Europe. She said, well, in her opinion, he's very underrated. In fact, for a long time, a lot of his music was thought to have been written by Pergolesi misattributed. And I guess he was a nobleman, as well as a composer, and didn't really seem to make that much fanfare about his composing abilities. But I don't know about you, but I think it's absolutely marvelous music, very inventive.
Nimet Habachy: Absolutely, yeah, definitely. And what else have you found in your peregrinations in Europe? Have you found many other composers that you've brought to us or brought to other audiences over the years?
Aisslinn Nosky: I've worked with a lot of groups in Europe, mostly in London, in and around London and in Holland. So I've been introduced to a lot of composers that I might not have known if it wasn't for my Dutch friends. Van Hellendaal is a wonderful composer of the 18th century. There are kind of too many to enumerate now, but it's been nice to bring them back over the pond.
Paul Cavalconte: It's not only historical music, but historical instruments that we are hearing, and these amazing specimens of music making are very sensitive to, for example, humidity and the outdoors. Now, tonight is not exactly very high on the spritz meter. It's relatively mild. There have been some really thick summer nights when you've had to perform, and that affects the sound of the instruments and the time that you need to tune. So tell us about that technical aspect of making this music happen.
Aisslinn Nosky: Yes, well as your listeners will know that the instruments are of course made of wood, which is porous, but unlike other instruments, our special 18th century instruments have strings that are made of intestine gut, and they're very porous, especially compared to metal, which is what you might hear most.
So, when there's humidity, it it gets right into the string, and of course it changes the length of the string, which changes the pitch of the string, which is why we have to spend a little extra time tuning. It's worth it.
Nimet Habachy: Well, it sounded just fine.
Aisslinn Nosky: Thank you.
Nimet Habachy: Not a problem. How long have you been together? How long has the group been together?
Aisslinn Nosky: Well, this group has played a few concerts. We come together to perform as Nosky's Band whenever we can. It's been maybe two and a half years now. But we all play together in different ensembles. We're very good friends and you'll see us up and down the East Coast in a lot of different groups.
Paul Cavalconte: Now, you'll be returning in July on the 23rd with the Handel and Haydn Society. What sort of program can we expect?
Aisslinn Nosky: Well, yeah, that'll be quite contrasting to this. We're going to play a Handel organ concerto. We'll have a little portative 18th century organ on the stage, played by my colleague Ian Watson. And we're bringing a luminous soprano with us, Joelle Harvey, who's a good friend of mine and I think one of the most beautiful singers working today. And she's going to treat us to some Handel. It's going to be a really fun night. Yeah.
Nimet Habachy: Oh my goodness. We look forward to it already. Oh, yes, me too.
Paul Cavalconte: And tell us what's coming up after intermission.
Aisslinn Nosky: Yes, we are going to play a little bit of Corelli. No Italian Baroque styled program could, could, could go without Corelli. He's one of my favorites. And then we're going to play a little bit of Telemann, which is some of the danciest music. It's pretty catchy. People might not recognize it as Telemann. And then we end with a, quite, well, a virtuosic violin concerto, let's say, by good old Vivaldi.
Paul Cavalconte: Wow, that sounds like quite a program. We look forward to it. We're going to take a pause to give you a break to allow our crowd to mill about and we'll enjoy some music that was recorded here at the Naumburg Bandshell in the summer of 2012. Here are The Knights to perform Wagner's Siegfried Idol. You're listening to Classical New York WQXR, live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park.
MUSIC: WAGNER SIEGFRIED IDOL
Paul Cavalconte: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, welcome back to the second half of this concert by Nosky's Baroque Band.
I'm Paul Cavalconte from WQXR and right now we're speaking with the cellist from the band, Guy Fishman.
Guy Fishman: Good evening, good evening.
Paul Cavalconte: So Guy, tell us about the draw to Baroque.
Guy Fishman: Draw to Baroque. Well, you know Paul, this music is music that is designed to move and to excite and entertain. And the way these composers did that is write music that was based on human speech. Very important to distinguish human speech as opposed to animal speech. And dance...,
Paul Cavalconte: it was a news story this week.
Guy Fishman: That's right. and dance. And so. How to speak this music, how to emphasize and de-emphasize just like when we speak, how to dance, how to put some feet on the ground and other feet above, you know, how to make it come alive is what we do with no help from the composer. There's almost no markings on the page other than the pitch and how long it's supposed to last. And so there's a lot of investigative work and you have to sort of play this with your ears open and mind going and kind of invent it as you go. So that's what I love doing.
Paul Cavalconte: And adding to the conversational aspect of this music and the humanity of the sound, a lot of people have pointed to the cello in particular as being an instrument that has a tonality that is very similar to the human voice, but there are differences between the modern and Baroque cello. Can you explain that for us?
Guy Fishman: So yeah, the difference mostly my colleague and I are playing instruments that are actually from the 18th century. And they are, The difference really is the setup, the kinds of strings that we use, the the bow that we use, the fact that we hold the cello with our legs, as opposed to using the end pin.
Paul Cavalconte: Viola da gamba.
Guy Fishman: Well, cello da gamba, exactly. And then really the difference is the approach, the way you think about the music. The instrument, you know, there are wonderful players who use modern instruments, who play Baroque music beautifully. And so really it's a, it's a way of thinking about sound production and ensemble and all of that stuff we just talked about.
Paul Cavalconte: So earlier we heard some music by George Frideric Handel that was an homage to Arcangelo Corelli. Now it's time to bring Corelli to the fore, give him the spotlight. Can you tell us about the Corelli music that we're about to hear?
Guy Fishman: Well I love playing Corelli because Corelli was the, I mean he was the most famous composer in Europe. He's the only composer I know of whose music was published the entirety of the 18th century. People wanted music that was written today. His kept being republished. And he lived and worked in Rome. This cello was made in Rome in 1704. That's a few years before Corelli died, so it's possible that Corelli heard this cello. Who knows? Thank you. I did nothing for it. I did nothing for it.
Paul Cavalconte: In the house.
Guy Fishman: But thank you very much. And Corelli was said to, when he played the violin, he was said to play so emotionally that his eyes rolled back into his skull. He was so into it, and you really hear that in his music. It's so moving and very, very dance-y, so the best balance of those two elements.
Paul Cavalconte: Well, it's time, Guy Fishman, for you to work your way back to your position in the orchestra and get that cello positioned exactly as it must be for you to get the rich sounds out of it. Thank you, Guy Fishman!
So once again, to kick off the second half of our program, it's Arcangelo Corelli's Concerto Grosso in C minor performed by Nosky's Baroque Band live at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park on WQXR.
Nimet Habachy: The audience is getting ready for the second half. There are a few umbrellas, but we're going to ignore that subject.
It was said by Edgar Allan Poe, sound loves to revel in a summer night. It's very true. Everybody looks like they're having an absolutely wonderful time, and Paul is about to join me back at the bench. And we are looking forward to hearing Corelli together. What a wonderful compilation of Baroque composers. This is a really gloriously varied night, and a lovely, lovely New York experience. Obviously being enjoyed by very, very many. Welcome back, Paul.
Paul Cavalconte: Thank you.
Arcangelo Corelli is the inspiration in a couple of places in tonight's program, and as every last drop of tuning is squeezed out of these vintage instruments that bore witness to Corelli in his own time. Here we go.
MUSIC: Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 6 No. 3 (1712 or prior)
Paul Cavalconte: Arcangelo Corelli's Concerto Grosso in C minor, performed by Nosky's Baroque Band. Paul Cavalconte with you on WQXR, the first in a series of broadcasts this summer live from the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in the Bandshell in Central Park and Nimet Habachy, this is the acoustic environment that this music was designed for. To be amplified by that kind of a structure and to reach basically this size of an audience and often in open air settings.
Nimet Habachy: Absolutely, there was a great deal of it that went on because there was a tremendous amount of love of music in those days and there was no end to it. I mean there was, Vivaldi held forth and everybody in Venice for one, seemed to have music around them. I mean, this was an era when people heard music. That was what they did.
MUSIC: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), Quintet (Sinfonia Spirituosa) in D major, TWV 44:1
Nimet Habachy: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, Nosky's Baroque Band performing the Sinfonia Spirituosa in D by Georg Philipp Telemann.
Paul Cavalconte: Telemann wrote literally thousands of compositions.
Nimet Habachy: Oh, I think we're getting ready for the Vivaldi.
Paul Cavalconte: Yes, Vivaldi also was very prolific. In fact one pundit who was maybe not a fan, the composer Luigi Dallapiccola, is quoted as saying "Vivaldi didn't write 500 concertos, he wrote one concerto 500 times."
MUSIC: Antonio Vivaldi, Violin concerto in D major, RV 208 "il Grosso Mogul" (1720)
Paul Cavalconte: Alright. Alright. How about Aisslinn Nosky shredding right there. Amazing. From the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, Nosky's Baroque Band, Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in D Major. Inspired by the Mughal emperors of India. And the soloist tonight, Aisslinn Nosky.
Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, Nosky's Baroque Band, The Vivaldi Violin Concerto in D Major, Il Grosso Mogul, led by our soloist tonight, Aisslinn Nosky, in the two Allegro movements of this concerto, she had an opportunity to show off her amazing virtuosity and the audience they met responded exactly as they did in the time of Vivaldi and in the age before recordings. Shouting their approval through the work, applauding after each movement.
Nimet Habachy: Standing up and absolutely giving it their best, best applause.
Paul Cavalconte: Yes.
Nimet Habachy: And this is just the first of our broadcasts this summer from Central Park and the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts. And we're going to be back on Tuesday, June 25, with the Brooklyn ensemble, The Knights. They'll be performing a little Mozart, and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
And they are coming back out onto the stage.
Paul Cavalconte: Another bow.
Nimet Habachy: Another bow. And enormous applause.
Paul Cavalconte: Maybe a little more music, we're going to have to wait and find out.
Nimet Habachy: Let's see.
Paul Cavalconte: This very appreciative crowd, once again, getting very much into the open-air spirit of this event. No formality needed.
Nimet Habachy: Audience is just loving it, they're not going away yet.
Paul Cavalconte: They're standing there.
Nimet Habachy: Standing ovation. Well deserved.
Paul Cavalconte: This show has wound down, and it's time to give acknowledgement. Our great thanks to Christopher London, President of the Naumburg Orchestral Society, and his staff, including stage manager extraordinaire Pati Dynes.
Also thanks to Wilson's Showtime services and our friends at SummerStage.
The WQXR team includes engineers Ed Haber, George Wellington, Noriko Okabe, Bill Siegmund, Neal Shaw, and Ray Mandel-Mueller. Our production team, Eileen Delahunty, Lauren Purcell-Joiner, Counselor Max Fine, Maria Shaughnessy, and Christine Herskovits.
I'm Paul Cavalconte.
Nimet Habachy: And I'm Nimet Habachy. And we return you now to our WQXR studios in Lower Manhattan. Good night.