SCHECKMATE

The music of the Iberian Peninsula reflects the influence of Moorish, Jewish, and Christian cultures, among others. The ethnic musical traditions of the New World also played a part as they were carried back to Spain and Portugal, including genres like the sarabande and chaconne. This concert will feature music from the broad spectrum of Iberian influence, starting with baroque sonatas on period instruments by Giulio Ruvo from Naples (also in Spanish realm at the time) and by another Italian composer who taught at the Portuguese court and then moved to England, Giovanni Bononcini. Introducing the guitar portion of the program is ‘Pasa Calle’ by Jacques Bosch, a Catalan guitarist who moved to Paris, where he became known as ‘the lion of the guitar’. The program will conclude with cello and guitar arrangements of works by Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz, evoking the warm sound of Iberian sites and soundspaces.

Program:

Giulio de Ruvo (fl. 1703–16)
Sonata in g minor

Giovanni Bononcini (1670–1747)
Sonata in a minor

Jacques Bosch (1825–95)
—Pasa Calle

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)
—Granada

Enrique Granados (1867–1916, at sea on the English Channel)
—Andaluz

About the Performers:

Raffael Scheck comes from Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) and is Gibson Professor of modern European history at Colby College, where he has taught since 1994. Before becoming a historian, he studied cello for several semesters with Claude Starck at the conservatory of Zürich (Switzerland). He has specialized in baroque cello and performed with many baroque groups in Maine, including the Colby Collegium, BOOM (Baroque Orchestra of Maine), Music’s Quill, St. Mary Schola, Harmonie Universelle, and Blue Hill Bach. With theorbo player Timothy Burris, Scheck is member of the ensemble ScheckMate, which performs baroque music on period cello and theorbo as well as more recent music for modern cello and guitar. Scheck has contributed many times to the Portland Early Music Festival and plays in the Colby Symphony Orchestra. Former New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn called him “an expert Baroque cello player.”

Timothy Burris (archlute and guitar) has performed widely in Europe and the US, including many appearances with world-renowned early music specialists. Ciaccona, the most recent of his nine CD recordings includes his lute transcription of Bach’s monumental Ciaconna for solo violin. A Fulbright alum, Mr Burris is a graduate of The Hague’s Royal Conservatory and holds a Ph.D. from Duke University. A lute instructor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp from 1990-96, he is currently on the faculties of the Portland Conservatory of Music and Colby College. He also tutors French and Spanish at Portland’s Waynflete School.
La Semaine d’Anvers (Antwerp, Belgium) described a solo performance thus: “One perceives in him a distinguished musicality and a depth of artistry, which join with a solid and finely shaded technique to produce sonorities strongly evocative of the princely courts.”

Run Time: 45 minutes, no intermission.