The outlandish English Baroque group Red Priest has been around since 1997. The chronology of its recordings may be difficult to divine from copyright dates or online date orderings, for the group recently acquired the rights to its earlier albums and began reissuing them on its own Red Priest Recordings label. The first, if you want to take them in sequence, was Priest on the Run. Pirates of the Baroque, however, is not a reissue but an album newly recorded in 2006. It's of a piece with the others, but somewhat different. ...
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The outlandish English Baroque group Red Priest has been around since 1997. The chronology of its recordings may be difficult to divine from copyright dates or online date orderings, for the group recently acquired the rights to its earlier albums and began reissuing them on its own Red Priest Recordings label. The first, if you want to take them in sequence, was Priest on the Run. Pirates of the Baroque, however, is not a reissue but an album newly recorded in 2006. It's of a piece with the others, but somewhat different. Whether you're new to Red Priest and wondering where to start or already familiar and interested in following the direction it is going, here's the rundown. Red Priest, whose name comes from Vivaldi's nickname, reduces Baroque scores to a consistent quartet of recorder, violin, cello, and harpsichord. That ensures that, no matter how hairy things get, there's a musical anchor for the listener. And that's good, because as a rule things get plenty hairy. Earlier Red Priest albums have...
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