Flanders Recorder Quartet

This past Saturday, I attended a performance by the Flanders Recorder Quartet as part of the Arts At Argonne series. I've never attended a recorder performance before, so it was unusual. I also had this vision of the typical recorder that kids learn to play from and I don't mind admitting that I was a bit apprehensive that it is going to be just this monotonous recorder performance that would put me to sleep.

Well, slap me silly and call me a hollow stick! It was an astounding concert! First of all, the "recorder" appears to have many different siblings, and they all sounded differently from one another, very much like a string quartet. Secondly, the performance also had such a huge range of repertoire, from pre-Baroque era to modern avant garde incorporating various traditional sounds of Africa and South America.

I'm a sucker for ancient music. So when they played per-Baroque, even as far back as the 14th Century, music, that's right up my alley. But what is interesting about the concert was that, due to the intimate nature of the concert hall, the performers had time to describe the music and the history of the evolution of the instrument - the recorder - to the audience. They brought, and used, a large range of instrument, ranging from small, piccolo-type recorder, to this huge big-boy of a recorder that's roughly 7 feet tall and makes a very deep sound. It was a feast for the eyes and ears.

It was a tremendous concert. If you have a chance to attend one of the Flanders Recorder Quartet performance, I highly recommend it. I also immediately brought a couple of their CDs and am delightfully listening to it.

I hope the Arts at Argonne concert series survive. They have to cut back severely on their program due to funding cuts. Now, they can't even put out their program for the year due to lack of funding. So I was more than happy to support and attend this concert. Still, I wish others feel the same way since the concert hall was not even hall-full for this performance. It will be sad if this series cannot be sustained. I can say without a single doubt that THE BEST classical music experience that I've ever, EVER, had, was at one of the Arts at Argonne concert. It was a performance by I Solisti di Venezia a few years ago. I still fondly remember it to this day, and just the thought of the encore performance alone that they gave caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

Zz.