By Jack Firneno | Photos Courtesy of Lewis Baratz
At a time when technology allows virtually anyone to record and archive a musical performance, it’s easy to forget that centuries’ worth of music hasn’t been heard in its original form since it was first performed. Modern orchestras and ensembles may have the sheet music to a concerto or symphony by Mozart or Bach, but, like a story repeated only by word of mouth, today’s version can be very different from the original. “Baroque composers and performers approached music with different philosophies than those of today,” explains Lewis Baratz, director of the Bucks County-based ensemble La Fiocco. “And although we use many of the same instruments, they were constructed very differently than they are now.”
By using only instruments that were made during that time or created by modern craftsman who specialize in recreating period instruments, La Fiocco attempts to recast both obscure and well-known pieces as they were originally intended to be heard. “Stringed instruments at that time used gut rather than steel strings, and woodwinds were made of wood, not metal like today,” Baratz says. “Their tones are darker and rounder, and each note and key has a distinct color. This is opposed to modern instruments, which are built to provide brilliant tones and more consistency.”
“Many have said that hearing these pieces played this way has opened up a whole new dimension of the music.” – Lewis Baratz
Employing their unique understanding of the composer’s intentions at the time the music was written as a guide, Baratz hopes that even casual listeners of classical and Baroque music will find La Fiocco’s performances much different – and hopefully just as enjoy- able – as those same pieces as played by modern orchestras. “Composers of that era understood that different keys, even if they were close to each other, represented different emotional qualities,” Baratz says. “The instruments they used played to those qualities.”
And just as composers wrote music which reflected this notion, many other ideas and themes used in the Baroque era are not present in the music written today or in the contemporary performances of earlier works. “Like jazz musicians, soloists at that time were expected to add improvisation and ornamentation to the written score, especially in slower passages,” Baratz explains. “There’s also a concept of speech in the compositions. A lot of it tells a story and goes through the emotional qualities of a narrative. Many of the melodic fragments relate directly to classical oration.” Understanding these ideas, he says, greatly changes an ensemble’s interpretation of the written score.
To ensure authentic recreations, La Fiocco works from facsimiles and mimeographs of the original scores rather than use modern recreations, which often modify and reinterpret the works. “It’s a part of why we chose to work so much out of Bucks County,” Baratz says. “It’s a very historic and culturally rich area, and a lot people are serious history buffs. It’s a great environment where people can appreciate what we’re doing. And so far, we’ve gotten a very warm reception.” And among their growing fans, Baratz is especially happy to see music students taking an interest in the performances: “Many have said that hearing these pieces played this way has opened up a whole new dimension of the music and helped them understand their own instruments much better.”
La Fiocco will be performing Oct. 16 at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J.; Oct. 29 at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury; and Oct. 30 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Doylestown.
For more information, dates and tickets, go online at lafiocco.org.
