It was the early 1970s, right at the time when period instrument orchestras began to emerge in Europe, that several young Juilliard students decided to form their own group. But at first the Aulos Ensemble, as they called themselves, wasn’t just about playing historical instruments. “That didn’t start until our third season,” said oboist Marc Schachman, one of the group’s founding members. “We all played a lot of chamber music at Juilliard and when we left we decided to become freelance musicians in New York. But we also wanted an outlet for chamber music.”
In the early years, Aulos played everything, from baroque to Maurice Ravel and Elliott Carter. But when the first European period instrument groups came to the United States, Schachman and his colleagues were more or less hooked. “Once we were exposed to this, we got some old instruments,” Schachman said. He and the others in the ensemble played only one concert on early instruments to see how it would go. “The audience ate it up, so we decided to do the same program again, and for us as a group that was it.”
Aulos Ensemble
And now, some 40 years later, the Aulos Ensemble is one of the premiere original instrument groups in the world. “It’s been a fantastic run,” Schachman said.
Schachman and his band will be returning to Utah this week after an absence of some seven years. They’ll be at Brigham Young University for a mini residency and a concert on Feb. 8.
The program they’ll be playing is titled “Masters of the High Baroque” and will focus solely on works by the most important composers of the early 18th century, the so called high (or late) baroque: Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau. “These are all big names,” Schachman said, “but more significant than that is the fact that the program shows the variety of styles being written and performed during this period.”
Each composer is represented by a prototypical genre, Schachman said. For Vivaldi, it’s the concerto (G minor, RV 107). Bach and Handel will each have a trio sonata on the program (G major, BWV 525; and D minor, op. 2, no. 6, respectively). For Couperin it’s one of his many suites (8ème Concert, “Dans le Goût Théatral”). And rounding out the concert will be a suite from Rameau’s most famous opera (Les Indes Galantes). “It’s a grand tour of Europe.”
The Bach sonata was originally written for organ, Schachman said. “We transcribed it and it works very well for flute, violin and continuo.”
Couperin was court composer to Louis XIV and wrote much of his music in a theatrical style. “The 8ème Concert is a large work and verges on the orchestral in its writing.”
The suite from Rameau’s opera is the latest piece on the program, Schachman said. “We’ve taken dances and airs from the opera and reduced them for a chamber ensemble. It’s the most colorful music we play.”
While Vivaldi, Bach and Handel are familiar to anyone who listens to baroque music, Couperin and Rameau have been neglected. But there is a reasonable answer for that, according to Schachman. “French music is a little less accessible than Italian music, especially when it’s played with modern instruments,” he said. “It’s more fragile. But it’s spectacular.”
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: Aulos Ensemble
- Venue: Madsen Recital Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University
- Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8
- Tickets: $17 general, $10 students with ID, $14 seniors and BYU alumni
- Phone: 801-422-4322
- Web: www.byuarts.com