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Home  >  Early Music Vancouver Past Events  >  Lutenist Ronn McFarlane in recital

Lutenist Ronn McFarlane in recital

Thursday July 30, 2015 | 12:00pmRoy Barnett Recital Hall | Map

Ronn McFarlane, lutenist


“His intense concentration, technical prowess and rapport with the audience showed that, in time, he could become the Segovia of the lute.” – Chicago Tribune

PROGRAMMEChromatic Pavan                  Peter Phillips    (c. 1560-1628)
Chromatic Galliard

Philip’s Dump                     Philip van Wilder (c. 1500-1554)

Forlorn Hope                        John Dowland    (1563-1626)

Pavana Bray                          William Byrd    (1542-1623)
Galliard

A Fancy #5                            John Dowland
Piper’s Galliard
Lady Clifton’s Spirit
A Fancy #73

Daniel’s Chaconne                Ronn McFarlane  (1953)

PROGRAMME NOTESA prolific composer of motets and instrumental music, Peter Phillips was born in England around 1560, and eventually settled in Antwerp. In 1593, he traveled to Amsterdam to see and hear Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck, whose music must have made a profound impression, judging from the contrapuntal refinement, sense of space and striking harmonies of the Chromatic Pavan and Galliard.

Philip’s Dump, based on only two chords (C and G) toggling back and forth, is stunning in its variety and range using only the simplest of music materials. One might think of a lutenist casually noodling between a pair of chords, yet the carefully paced structure belies the impression that we’re hearing a spontaneous improvisation.  I enjoy hearing the different approaches and tempos that various lute players have taken for Phillip’s Dump. But whatever the tempo, I find that the hypnotic “groove” of the piece always gets under my skin with each listening.

John Dowland’s mastery of fantasia writing for the lute is unparalleled by any of his Elizabethan contemporaries.  Fantasias were freely composed pieces which did not rely on dances, ballads or vocal models for their form.  These works usually began with points of imitation after which the composer would introduce contrasting chordal or homophonic textures, introduce new thematic material or continue developing the melodic ideas presented at the beginning of the piece.  Dowland’s fantasias encompass all of these possibilities.  Forlorn Hope is a true masterpiece of Elizabethan fantasia writing.  Dowland uses the motive, a chromatically descending line, to create crunching dissonant harmonies that explore the depths of despair as well as anger over an unjust fate.  After an imitative opening, A Fancy #5 breaks into rapidly alternating textures in an improvisatory, toccata-like style.  It is something of a textbook of idiomatic lute cliches sewn together to create a spontaneous sounding whole.  A Fancy #73 exists only in a single corrupt manuscript source and requires considerable reconstruction to make it presentable.  Yet, the inventive interplay of voices and the spectacular tremolo ending make the piece tremendously worthwhile.William Byrd was the most highly respected and admired composer of the English Renaissance, yet he wrote no music for the lute.  Lutenists of his day so loved his music that they created arrangements of Byrd’s compositions for the lute.  A number of these pieces can be found sprinkled throughout various Elizabethan lute manuscripts.  William Byrd’s beautiful Pavana Bray and Galliard are based on popular Elizabethan dances.  Yet in Byrd’s elegant settings for keyboard (intabulated for the lute by Francis Cutting) they are transformed into art music – intended more for the ear than the feet – though still retaining the characteristic rhythms and form of the original dance.

Daniel’s Chaconne (aka. Passacaglia) was written for and inspired by Daniel Shoskes who recorded the piece on his CD Patrons of the Lute.  Dr. Shoskes writes:  “When planning a CD entitled Patrons of the Lute – dedicated to composers who had day jobs (doctors, nobility) and who supported the professionals of the day – I thought it fitting to close the loop and end the recording with a new work that I commissioned from a modern composer/performer.”

Ronn McFarlane

Ronn McFarlane, lutenist

Grammy-nominated lutenist, Ronn McFarlane strives to bring the lute into the musical mainstream and make it accessible to a wider audience. Born in West Virginia, Ronn spent his early years in Maryland. At thirteen, upon hearing “Wipeout” by the Surfaris, he fell wildly in love with music and taught himself to play on a “cranky sixteen-dollar steel-string guitar.” Ronn kept at it, playing blues and rock music on the electric guitar while studying classical guitar.

He graduated with honors from Shenandoah Conservatory and continued guitar studies at Peabody Conservatory before turning his full attention and energy to the lute in 1978. The following year, Mr. McFarlane began to perform solo recitals on the lute and became a member of the Baltimore Consort. Since then, he has toured throughout the United States, Canada and Europe with the Baltimore Consort and as a soloist.

McFarlane was a faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory from 1984 to 1995, teaching lute and lute-related subjects. In 1996, Mr. McFarlane was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Shenandoah Conservatory for his achievements in bringing the lute and its music to the world. He has over 25 recordings on the Dorian label, including solo albums, lute songs, recordings with the Baltimore Consort, and Blame Not My Lute, a collection of Elizabethan lute music and poetry, with spoken word by Robert Aubry Davis.

Recently, Ronn has been engaged in composing new music for the lute, building on the tradition of the lutenist/composers of past centuries. His original compositions are the focus of his solo CD, Indigo Road, which received a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2009. His newest CD release, One Morning, features “Ayreheart,” a new ensemble brought together to perform Ronn’s new music.

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