Musings In Concert Berkeley Early Music Festival

Join Beneath A Tree for Musings, an immersive concert reimagining baroque music through folk, contemporary sounds, and bold creativity.

Musings — Program Notes

Beneath A Tree — Baroque to Folk
Composers: Gail Hernández Rosa (b. 1980) & Daniel Turkos (b. 1984)

Musings is a collection of reimagined works inspired by fragments of history, beloved texts, folk traditions, and the unending curiosity that fuels artistic creation. Each track begins with a muse—some ancient, some modern, some personal—and grows into something newly shaped through improvisation, composition, and collaboration. The album invites listeners into a world where baroque meets folk, classical meets contemporary, and memory becomes the spark for musical invention.

Reimagined

Muse: Bach Minuets & Gigue, from Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007 & a seed planted by a dear friendComposers: Gail Hernández Rosa & Daniel Turkos

A highly respected colleague and lifelong Bach interpreter once shared their belief that “Bach never wrote melodies—only harmony.” This single statement became the seed for Reimagined. What happens when Bach’s solo lines—played here on octave mandolin—are treated purely as harmonic material? What emerges when a new violin melody is composed atop Bach’s implied bass and inner voices?

The result is a dialogue across centuries: Bach’s harmonic genius transformed into a foundation for new musical storytelling.

Uncle John’s Band

Muse: Robert Hunter’s lyrics, Emily Dickinson’s poetry, and the original Grateful Dead acoustic recordingComposer: Daniel Turkos

Emily Dickinson’s poem #478 asks us to consider time, love, and the fragility of life:

“I had no time to Hate—
Because the Grave would hinder Me…”

Robert Hunter expresses a similar sentiment in his own way:

Ain’t no time to hate, barely time to wait…

Perhaps Dickinson’s meditation was Hunter’s unwitting muse. Both poets center the urgency of living fully—and lovingly—while we can.

Turkos’s reharmonization frames these lyrics with the contemplative “tick-tock” of the octave mandolin, inviting listeners to reflect on their own passing moments. As the opening track on the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead (1970), Uncle John’s Band was Turkos’s entry point into the world of acoustic folk music. Here, it becomes a bridge between past and present, poetry and song.

O, Were I on Parnassus Hill

Muse: Robbie Burns’s poem & Hernández Rosa’s years in Scotland and Galician Ancestry.Composers: Gail Hernández Rosa & Daniel Turkos

In this setting, the poetry of Robbie Burns takes center stage. The sparse opening melody evokes the distant Corsincon hillside, while pizzicato strings echo the trickle of the River Nith. Within the guitar’s resonance lives a tribute to Galicia’s Spanish Celtic heritage—a musical whisper passed down through generations. Burns gazes upon the Scottish landscape and remembers his wife dancing on the hill—a moment of aching beauty.

The music mirrors this memory: beginning with minimalist text painting before blossoming into lush, springlike harmonies.

Wondrous Machine

Muse: Henry Purcell’s “Wondrous Machine” & Artificial IntelligenceComposer: Daniel Turkos

Purcell’s celebrated ode to the organ becomes a lens through which to explore our modern fascination—and unease—with artificial intelligence.

Turkos reimagines Purcell’s contrapuntal oboe lines on synthesizers, grounds them with baroque bassoon ostinatos, and propels them forward with electro-pop rhythms. The fusion of 17th-century craftsmanship and 21st-century technology asks: What does it mean to be a “wondrous machine” today?

The result is a vibrant reframing of Purcell that invites new listeners to discover baroque music.

Greensleeves

Muse: English folk tradition & time spent with loved onesComposer: Daniel Turkos

A melody known for centuries becomes a reflection on past joy, present gratitude, and the hope of future togetherness. The violin’s playful variations dance through a large-scale baroque hemiola, suggesting two overlapping time signatures.

The familiar tune becomes something fresh—nostalgic yet forward-looking.

Organ Preludes — BWV 624, 637, 721, 639

Muse: J.S. Bach & ECM Euro-JazzArranger: Kjell Nordeson

In this unconventional trio of baroque viola, baroque double bass, and vibraphone, Bach’s dense organ textures gain new transparency. Each movement begins with a free improvisation, allowing the ensemble to explore the timbral colors of a rarely heard combination.

The result is meditative, spacious, and unmistakably contemporary—yet rooted in Bach’s harmonic language.

Suite de Bailes Barrocos

Muse: Latin American heritage & the dance suites of the French baroqueComposer: Daniel Turkos

Drawing on melodies preserved in manuscripts from México, California, and Argentina, this six-movement suite celebrates the convergence of European forms and Indigenous traditions across the Americas.

Many of these melodies—documented in the José María García and Santiago de Murcia manuscripts—were danced on the 1775 expeditions between México and Alta California. Turkos’s settings honor these cultural crossings, weaving them into a vibrant new suite.

Closing Reflection

Musings challenges the conventional sound world of historical performance. It invites listeners to experience the baroque from fresh perspectives—blended with folk traditions, contemporary composition, and electronic textures. From Purcell refracted through AI, to Bach reimagined as harmonic landscape, to dances born of cross-cultural exchange, the album expands what historical performance can be while honoring its roots.

Above all, Musings invites curiosity: a chance to listen, reflect, and rediscover.