"Caprice" from Louis-Antoine Dornel's Première Suite
Recorded at the Hill-Physick House, Society Hill (Philadelphia)
Video Editing: Dave Tavani
Camera Work: Dave Tavani and Gustavo Garcia
Production and Sound Engineering: David Walters

Kammermusik in Quarantine

Please enjoy the first videos in our “Kammermusik in Quarantine” series, recorded remotely to bring music to you during the COVID-19 pandemic. While you’re there, subscribe to our YouTube Channel to stay up to date with more videos as they are available!

Rebel, performed by Geoffrey Burgess, Rebecca Humphrey, and Leon Schelhase in Australia, 2012

The quarantine period has allowed us to plan for an uncertain future, but has also given us time to take stock of what we have already achieved. One surprise was when we were going through old recordings, and found this one that Leon, Becca, and Geoffrey made back in 2012. We realized that it was the first time the three of us played together. We had the chance to make a recording on a visit to Melbourne, Australia. The release was never forthcoming, but we were able to get the master, we had it edited it a couple of years ago, but didn’t know what to do with it until now. When the group listened to it again we all realized that there was something thrilling and fresh about it. It was time to unleash if from its hiding place and share with our followers.

Jean-Féry Rebel is most famous for his theater and dance music, such as Le Chaos which emerges from the cacophony of a seven-note discord, and Les caractères de la danse, a whirlwind tour of dance miniatures, but he was a brilliant violinist, and wrote many instrumental pieces. This sonata is from a set he published in 1712.