Bossing Monteverdi

Just back from an experiment that failed in an interesting way. Nox illuminata had a concert programme at Sudhaus with pieces of Monteverdi's Orfeo and Bossa Nova, which they called Orfeu Negro after a famous movie by Vinicius de Moraes. Now the musical styles are obviously very different - 3 centuries a difference make. And yet, the themes are the same, so you would think that the music can be made to match. To make it short, it didn't work out, unfortunately.

I think it may have to do with the musicians being firmly (too firmly?) grounded in Bossa Nova, and trying to perform Monteverdi in the same way. This might really only work if you have musicians who are equally well versed in the free flowing, small form Bossa Nova as in Monteverdi's formal, complex court music of centuries past. The artistic director probably realised that herself, as the programme had a lot more Bossa Nova than Monteverdi. That way, I got a very fine Bossa Nova concert out of a musical experiment.

Also, J asked the other day what was happening to my blog, as there obviously wasn't really happening that much at all. I promise to work on getting my motivation back!