Tout Français Thoroughbass St Luke’s Anglican Church, Mosman November 16, 2014 Courtly dance music by lesser-known French composers was the focus for this concert given by Diana Weston – founder of early music ensemble Thoroughbass, with viola da gamba player, Shaun Ng and soprano Anna Fraser. Most of the works performed were composed during the…
JS Bach’s Mass in B minor BWV 232 is described by Sir John Eliot Gardiner in his recent book Bach, as “unprecedented in its scale, majesty and sobriety.” An ensemble taking on a performance of this masterwork has an exacting task in doing it justice. That task becomes even more formidable when the ensemble reaches…
With its roots in early music, Thoroughbass presents French courtly music and song, featuring the richly amber tones of the viola da gamba – an instrument beloved by Bach and by the French – from an era characterised by formality, procedure and excess, but also subtlety and ambiguity. Is this the ultimate in refinement and bon gout or mannered…