Telemann's Paris Quartets and other delicacies from 1737 November 16, 2012

Barefoot Chamber Concerts continues its mission to help you start the weekend right. The series ("an enterprise noted for both its quality and informality" - San Francisco Classical Voice) presents really good music in the right acoustic and without the formality of most classical music events. Our concerts start at 6 on Fridays and last no more than 75 minutes. Kids are very welcome if quiet, and admission under 18 is free. Light refreshments are available before, during, and after the concert. There will be ample time to move on to other evening entertainments.

For the second concert of Barefoot's regular season we are delighted to be able to present a program based on Telemann's celebrated Paris Quartets. In 1737 Telemann travelled to Paris and stayed for a year, bringing a set of 6 quartets with him, which were both published, and played in public, to great critical acclaim. The original players were the finest musicians available at the court: Blavet, Guignon, J-B Forqueray, and Eduardo.

Today's players are the modern equivalent. Flutist Janet See, violinist Carla Moore, violist Peter Hallifax, and harpsichordist Katherine Heater, all well known to Bay Area audiences will play 2 of these justly celebrated suites, together with other pieces by Boismortier and Marais that date from that supremely elegant epoch in Parisian history.

In Baroque chamber music, the trio sonata and the solo sonata with continuo had already emerged as the dominant small ensemble forms. Telemann, ever an independent spirit, wrote his share of these staples, but he is unique in that he wrote at least 24 very substantial quartets as well. Not only is the form unusual, the style also is unique. Telemann succeeded in incorporating an entirely French sensibility into his own eclectic compositional language.
The program will be approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. The usual light refreshments will be available.

Official Website: http://barefootchamberconcerts.com