First published 29 September 2023
Released today on YouTube, Arcangelo’s first studio film production presents the GRAMMY-nominated chamber ensemble in the remarkable setting of Sir Christopher Wren’s library at Trinity College, Cambridge.
The film presents musicians Georgia Browne (flute), Sophie Gent (violin), Jonathan Manson (viola da gamba) and Thomas Dunford (lute) alongside Arcangelo Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen in a performance of Telemann’s ‘Paris’ Quartet No.6 – a work painstakingly constructed by the composer to showcase the best of his craft to the most discerning audience of the day in the company of a hand-picked ensemble.
The film is released on the very day – Michaelmas – on which Telemann set out for Paris in 1737. The first performances of this work and the other ‘Nouveaux quatuors en six suites’, which Telemann gave in the company of leading French chamber musicians, would meet (certainly in the composer’s own account) with “the attention of the ears of the court and the town”, securing “an almost universal renown and increased esteem.”
Made over two days in January 2023, the film was shot by a six-strong team led by Director Andrew Staples working carefully under the watchful eyes of the Wren statuary, and in the embrace of shelves holding literary treasures from Oppenheimer’s ‘Trinity’ notebooks to the manuscript of ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’. The shoot was supervised and assisted throughout by Trinity College Librarian Dr Nicolas Bell and members of the College library staff.
Arcangelo General Manager Julian Forbes said:
This first Arcangelo film production has been a labour of love, steered in its initial planning stages through two Covid postponements that saw filming start two years later than planned. The completed film represents hours of input in the studio, and in prior rehearsals, by Jonny, Georgia, Sophie, Jonathan and Thomas, and many more hours of careful audio and video post-production by Andy and David. The result is a film which we think honours the highest standards of performance and production which our supporters and fans expect from our critically-acclaimed audio discography – whilst offering a fascinating and detailed view of the intimacies and intricacies of the ‘chamber ethos’ which defines Arcangelo’s creativity.
Arcangelo is grateful to the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, for permission to make the film at the Wren Library, and to its family of Friends and supporters for their essential and generous donations without which the film would not have been possible.