Word: harpsichords
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Hoffmann's second failure at love is with the delicate, aria-singing, harpsichord-playing Antonia (Sarita Cannon), the damsel with a voice as clear and melodic as that of her dead mother, whose enormous portrait looms in the family's salon. The only problem is that Antonia's gift is killing her: if she continues to sing, the strain will destroy her. Benaim fills the role of the malevolent physician Dr. Miracle who also arranged the demise of Antonia's mother, urging the daughter to sing and sing until she is prostrate, dying on the davenport, still belting out Hoffmann...
Originally written for organ or harpsichord, the continuo of the four concertos was performed by renowned Boston keyboardist John Gibbons. Opting to play the harpsichord only for the silvery depictions of drunkenness, frantic hunts and feasting of the F major Autumn concerto, Mr. Gibbons adroitly adapted an organ set at modern pitch to the other three seasons' orchestrations. He generously restrained his playing and rightly gave center-stage glory to the spellbinding pied piper figure of Ms. Robison...
...rich initial phrasing of the baroque guitar played with bravura by Olav Chris Henriksen. With Gibbon's rhythmic, plucking continuo, the music lulled guests into imaginary dulcet slumber. During the Allegro, the orchestra, which had been struggling a bit at first with dynamics and synchronicity, finally gelled and the harpsichord rocked along, tying the ends together splendidly...
Amid the last decade's early music boom, Mr. Wispelwey emerged as one of Europe's first general specialists, performing on both modern and historical instruments. Purists delight in the integrity of hearing a Scarlatti sonata on harpsichord or a Telemann fantasy with an oboe d'amore, as opposed to the anachronistic performance on modern piano and clarinet. Fans extoll the virtues of hearing the compositions of such Baroque uber-studs as they would have been heard once upon a time. For this, the unaccustomed ear might have been a little challenged upon hearing the more delicate and subdued tonal...
...orchestra, led by conductor Craig Smith, plays the harpsichord-dominated melodies in a light, melodic style that pleasantly complements the performers...