Like most early music ensembles, 415 has a flexible roster, but the core group of a dozen or so musicians gathers about four times a year for several weeks of rehearsal and performances. In the meantime, Chiara Banchini continues her career as a soloist, sometimes with mixed programmes in which Bach or Tartini can alternate with contemporary pieces, which she plays on a baroque violin. She doesn’t like to change instruments in the midst of the same concert. Her interest in contemporary music has led her to commission works from Takahashi and David Glaus, among others. She has also asked Michael Kaeser for a composition for the ensemble to be included in a future programme.

The first time I attended a 415 rehearsal, I was surprised to see another violinist standing, playing the solo part and directing the ensemble; Mme Banchini was sitting across the circle, tucked in among the other violinists. The almost palpable sense of harmony that prevails in the ensemble is certainly nurtured by a custom that allows each of the musicians , from time to time, to take the solo part and, following eighteenth-century practise, direct the concerto.

Ch.B.: Why shouldn’t I distribute the roles, let the others play solo parts in the concertos? All these musicians are my students and they play better than I do. Perhaps I have the edge with a little more experience. But that’s all. They are all soloists, and there is no shortage of concertos from the Italian baroque. In the programmes we are preparing at the moment, I think every one of the musicians will have his turn.

It is very difficult to show the slightest bit of originality in our programming. We have built our reputation as specialists in the Italian baroque. As a result we are constantly being asked to play the same things: Corelli (especially the inevitable opus 6 with its Christmas Concerto), Vivaldi - the Stabat Mater and the rest – and of course the Four Seasons. But that is where I draw a line. If there is one thing I do not want to perform, ever, it is the Four Seasons; we’ve heard it too much, and too often as a travesty of itself. It is true, there are not many surprises left to be discovered among the Italians of the time, nor the Italianates, including Handel. But if you look hard, you can still find a few.

Is digging deeper into the archives worthwhile?

Perhaps, but the results are not always up to what we would like, however good the interpretation. Certainly the temptation to exhume one more composer, one more piece is still there; with luck we could come up with the one that should not have fallen into oblivion. Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) [composer of “La Nemica d’Amore Fatta Amante”, the Ensemble’s most recent CD] is a case in point. Bononcini was not, by any standard, an indifferent composer, but he was practically forgotten in the wake of the scandal and disgrace that marked the last years of his life*.

There could be other happy surprises. In preparing his diploma at the Schola, David (Plantier) found a violin concerto by Valentini in the University Library in Basle. He will be playing it in one of our future programmes. That is another of our customs within the Ensemble. The musician who finds a piece of unknown music and brings it along has the ‘right’ –if we think it is worthwhile, of course– to play and direct it himself.