As part of Baroque Month, Bachtrack has been quizzing leading Baroque ensembles around the globe about the challenges of running a period instrument ensemble and how to build new audiences for their work. We also ask for some Baroque recommendations to introduce new listeners and which lesser-known composer they think deserves greater notice.
Founded in 1991, Florilegium quickly established a reputation as a versatile ensemble, tackling anything from intimate chamber works to big choral repertoire. Flautist and recorder player Ashley Solomon co-founded the ensemble and is the group’s director. He agreed to take up the challenge of our Baroque Inquisition.
1. What is one of the main challenges of running a period ensemble today?
One of the main challenges we face in running a chamber/mid-size baroque ensemble is funding. This is something most groups struggle with and has always been the case, certainly since we set up Florilegium in 1991. In recent years it has become slightly easier to find support for recordings through schemes such as crowd-funding or our own “Friends of Florilegium”, however the day to day running costs, promoting the ensemble to keep it in the public eye still remains a challenge.
2. How do you bring in new audiences?
Programming is fundamental to bringing in new audiences. We are constantly renewing programmes, looking for new repertoire (like our Bolivian Baroque project) and often new ideas are stimulated by Festivals or promoters who have particular themes. This enables us to think creatively about the repertoire we specialise in. Obviously, popular programmes will almost certainly guarantee you a full house, but Florilegium have always been interested in promoting unknown repertoire alongside better known composers and works. Some venues and their audiences have more conservative tastes so you need to consider these limitations when planning repertoire.
3. What piece would you recommend to introduce listeners to Baroque music?
There are many wonderful Baroque works that can be used as an introduction to this period of music. As a collection for me, Bach’s Six Brandenburg Concertos are exceptional works and form a great demonstration of all the imaginable possibilities inherent in a certain musical form. Each of these six concertos calls for a different combination of soloists, every one unprecedented in its choice of instruments and still without parallel today. Bach gives solo roles to members of all three orchestral families (strings, wind and brass), and often groups them in unexpected combinations. All the concertos demand and celebrate the performer’s virtuosity as much as they demonstrate Bach’s wonderful skill. The union of joyful music-making and compositional brilliance combine to put the Brandenburgs among those rare works that delight connoisseurs and amateurs alike.
4. Which lesser-known Baroque composer would you like to hear performed more often and why?
For me the lesser-known composers at the end of the 17th and early part of the 18th century in France really hold the key to the perfect aesthetic of Baroque music – gesture, dance movements, balance of phrasing, ornamentation are all there in abundance. Of course we know of the great composers such as Lully, Leclair and Rameau, but I am thinking of composers such as Monteclair, Rebel, Bernier, Campra and Charpentier.