You’ve probably noticed that in our publicity for the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 that we’ve called The Whole Noyse a “period brass ensemble.” And in our season brochure, we said that our upcoming Bach Mass in B Minor would be the first historically-informed performance of the work in Hawaii.

First of all, the use of “period instruments” refers to musical instruments which are either restored or replicas of instruments which were used in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.  In earlier posts, I recounted Carl’s and my visit to the Cité de la Musique in Paris where we saw many historic musical instruments. In our Monteverdi performances, The Whole Noyse is using faithful reproductions of cornettos and sackbuts, forerunners of our modern trumpets and trombones. One of the facets of a “historically-informed” performance is the use of period instruments.

On this morning’s early TV show, Sunrise on Hawaii News Now (KGMB), anchor and classical music lover, Howard Dicus, had The Whole Noyse on the show, where you can hear the opening bars of the Monteverdi Vespers, as well as samples of the individual instruments. Click here to play the video clip. Carl’s on there, too!

In an earlier segment, Howard Dicus invited Richard Savino, theorbo, to demonstrate his instrument, which you can see by clicking here.