A Feast with Italy: Ensemble Zefiro
A Feast with Italy: Ensemble
Zefiro
Long before the age
of the ipod or the home stereo, 18th century aristocracy
maintained a ‘Harmonie’ – usually a wind octet, for
bringing out at the latest party, social function or
banquet. Having powdered your wig, donned your best pink
silk stockings or your hooped skirt, you would arrive at the
palace and the music would be playing – the
‘Harmonie.’ Typically six to eight musicians would
perform Tafelmusik - or "table music" -
essentially “Musak” for the 18th century, to accompany
the feast. But this music would be composed by some of the
best composers of the time, including none other than
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And being Mozart,
it is worth listening to with your full
attention.
Chamber Music New Zealand are bringing this banqueting music to Aotearoa this August with a concert from Italy’s celebrated period wind Ensemble Zefiro. With music by Mozart, Telemann, Fasch, Handel and Haydn, good humour, sparkling joy and jaunty swagger abounds in these programmes. It seems incredible to us now that it was written as background music to a fancy dinner, but alternating between wry-humour and moments of heart-stopping poignancy this is chamber music of the highest quality.
Winners of the Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice award, Ensemble Zefiro's unique timbres and brilliant virtuosity has earned them a cult-like following all over the world. Founded in 1989, by the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, their recordings have also won the Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2009.
Performing on period
instruments, perhaps their sound can be proclaimed
as truer to the composer’s intentions than performances on
modern ones. Whereas modern instruments might provide a more
polished tone, the sound of Zefiro’s lighter, less
sophisticated instruments mingling in tangy harmony, without
entirely blending, will underscore the music’s rusticity
and humour.
This will be their first time in
Aotearoa, and these concerts will be sure to pick
up on every morsel of wit and ingenuity in the music, never
forgetting that the purpose of it was to entertain. You’ll
be elated by the easy elegance and bucolic enjoyment in what
promises to be a delightful concert.
ENDS