Jon P. Speller

What can the history of a nation's football reveal about that nation's wider political and socio-cultural identity? How can the study of local football culture help us to understand the powerful international forces at play within the modern game?

I had always been attracted by baroque music — I still remember how I felt when I first heard recordings of Bach’s cantatas by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt — and I began my training in baroque oboe when I was a student at the Conservatoire Supérieur of Lyon; since then I have shared my life with the baroque recorder player and oboist Héloïse Gaillard. Given my knowledge of baroque interpretation, this project’s particular challenge was to find a way to play in period style on modern instruments. This was a great challenge for myself and for the virtuoso musicians who surrounded me for this recording; knowing the requirements of the style, we all took part in meticulous work on ornamentation, articulation and messa di voce as well as in a more general study of musical rhetoric to develop coherence and expression. For variety of timbre, I decided not only to include works for violin but also to alternate bassoon and cello for the continuo, depending on the work concerned. Our recording was made in the Amuz church in the historical heart of Antwerp; it was an intense moment of pleasure and exchange for the entire ensemble that I hope will be felt by our listeners as well. Eric Speller