Red Priest's Priest on the Run is its first album, as released in 1998 on Dorian Records and featuring harpsichordist Julian Rhodes, who tragically succumbed to cancer at age 36 in 2001. As the Red Priest himself -- Antonio Vivaldi -- is obviously standing front and center on the front cover you might think this is an album devoted to Vivaldi, which it is not; his Chamber Concerto in, D RV 92, subtitled "Priest on the Run," is nevertheless included and provides the collection with its title. Red Priest's take on Baroque ...
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Red Priest's Priest on the Run is its first album, as released in 1998 on Dorian Records and featuring harpsichordist Julian Rhodes, who tragically succumbed to cancer at age 36 in 2001. As the Red Priest himself -- Antonio Vivaldi -- is obviously standing front and center on the front cover you might think this is an album devoted to Vivaldi, which it is not; his Chamber Concerto in, D RV 92, subtitled "Priest on the Run," is nevertheless included and provides the collection with its title. Red Priest's take on Baroque music is highly energetic, involved, and popularly oriented; playing at very high speeds or bursting into passages of improvised music is not anathema to them and to entertain appears to be the main guiding principle, not wonky matters of historical correctness. Red Priest does not assemble programs according to historical relationships between composers or works; the effect of the program is the main motivating factor, whether a piece is edgy, exciting, or can be made to rock out,...
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