Priest on the Run

Red Priest (Artist), Vivaldi (Artist), Handel (Artist), Purcell (Artist), Telemann (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 15, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dorian Recordings
• ASIN: B00004UDES
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,437 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sonata terzo, for 2 instruments & continuo No. 3 in A minor (Sonata Concertate I/2)

2. Spanish Dances for viola da gamba, harpsichord, treble recorder in G, violin and bass violin

3. Trio for recorder (or flute), violin & continuo in A minor, 'Gypsy Sonata' (Essercizii Musici No. 5/10), TWV 42:a4: Largo

4. Trio for recorder (or flute), violin & continuo in A minor, 'Gypsy Sonata' (Essercizii Musici No. 5/10), TWV 42:a4: Vivace

5. Trio for recorder (or flute), violin & continuo in A minor, 'Gypsy Sonata' (Essercizii Musici No. 5/10), TWV 42:a4: Affetuoso

6. Trio for recorder (or flute), violin & continuo in A minor, 'Gypsy Sonata' (Essercizii Musici No. 5/10), TWV 42:a4: Allegro

7. Cancion del emperador, for vihuela

8. Renaissance Revels

9. Canzona d'Espagna No. 1

10. Sonata Cucu, for violin & continuo

11. Aria quinta sopra la Bergamasca (Book 3)

12. Work(s): Two in One upon a Ground for voice flute, violin and harpsichord

13. Aria Amorosa (arrangement from Trio Sonata Op. 2/1)

14. Sonata (Fantasia), for viola da gamba in D major (GMM No. 45), TWV 40:1: Andante

15. Sonata (Fantasia), for viola da gamba in D major (GMM No. 45), TWV 40:1: Vivace

16. Zefiro's Ground, for recorders, violin & continuo (after Monteverdi & Cazzati)

17. Chamber Concerto, for recorder, violin, bassoon or cello & continuo in D major, RV 92: Allegro

18. Chamber Concerto, for recorder, violin, bassoon or cello & continuo in D major, RV 92: Andante

19. Chamber Concerto, for recorder, violin, bassoon or cello & continuo in D major, RV 92: Allegro

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Priest, September 7, 2000

By 

Ronn McFarlane (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Priest on the Run (Audio CD)

Red Priest is a group that has it all: incredible virtuosity, a fearless, fiery, improvisatory approach and a rare lyrical sensitivity. The enormous liberties taken in these performances are the freedoms one takes when one is completely at home with the style of music. They never go too far. In fact, going too far is beside the point in a style of music that so encourages passion and extravagance. That is the very lifeblood of this music. What matters is whether the extravagant musical gestures ring true. Red Priest always amplifies the spirit that already exists in the music, and gives me a whole new interest in this music. I say goodbye to boring, polite performances of Vivaldi and his contemporaries. Along with Il Giardino Armonico, Red Priest is creating a whole new standard in Baroque music performance

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Priest Rocks!, August 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Priest on the Run (Audio CD)

Thank heavens we've gotten past the time when "authentic instruments" were synonymous with deadly dull, painfully studious and prissy performances. With groups like Red Priest (and others like Il Giardino Armonico, Musica Antiqua Koln, etc.), we know that those days are gone forever. In the hands of Red Priest, this music literally jumps off the page and into your face! First this group contains four of the most outrageously virtuosic players I've ever heard playing "Early Music". They make each piece crackle with excitement. Second, they manage to inject a lot of imagination, and a certain sense of saucy fun into their performances. Regardless of the little liberties they might take, I think the performances are justified in purely musical terms. After all, this is music that was meant to delight and entertain in its own time. The variety of pieces is great, and the recording as a whole is just plain fun! I loved it from start to finish.

Just one question: is it really humanly possible to play the recorder that fast?

I'll be on the lookout for more treats from Red Priest!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly wild ride--great, grand fun!, November 24, 2002

By 

Brianna Neal (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Priest on the Run (Audio CD)

"Antonio Vivaldi, the Red Priest of Venice," the program notes begin, "was once described as a man with 'too much mercury in his constitution'. Perhaps the author of this damning indictment, writing at a time when musical tastes were swinging away from Baroque extravagance towards cool classicism, was unaware of the fantastic, fiery origins from which the flambouyant priest's music had sprung." Red Priest, the quartet featured on this album, endeavors to showcase these "fantastic, fiery origins" by presenting a series of selections from several centuries' worth of Vivaldi's musical predecessors and contemporaries, including Ortiz, Castello, Purcell, Telemann, Ucellini, and Handel. And they do so with fine, finger-flying flourish that makes the heart race! The CD ends with an invigorating performance at breakneck speed of Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major, RV 92, which after his death acquired the apt title of "Priest on the Run". All four performers are truly stunning. Julia Bishop plays her 1741 Carcassi violin with a mixture of technical precision and gypsy flare. Piers Adams' recorders sing with wild abandon. Julian Rhodes provides perfectly suited keyboard continuos, with the occasional grand, fiery flourish that only a manic harpsichordist can achieve. And I was especially pleased to see that Angela East was also given ample opportunity to display her own virtuosity on gamba, 'cello and bass violin. Sometimes it seems the poor low-string player in a Baroque quartet gets lost beneath the showy improvisations of the higher instruments, and indeed is often stuck droning an elegant but simple ground, over and over and over again. "Don't feel bad for me," a 'cellist friend of mine once remarked, "I'm used to it; that's just the way it is." But well-chosen selections on this recording, such as the "Canzona D'Espagna" by Bartolomeo de Selma e Salaverde, featuring bass violin, and Telemann's "Fantasia for Viola da Gamba", allow Angela East to shine as well, and deservedly so! If you enjoy Red Priest, you'll also like the inspired frolics of Hesperion XX in their album "Ostinato," which features the music of some of these same composers.