Purcell - 'Trumpet Tune' from King Arthur, Act 4

Full-length recording of the 'Trumpet Tune' from Act 4 of Purcell's opera King Arthur, performed by AAM principal trumpeters, David Blackadder and Philip Bainbridge.
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ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
director: Richard Egarr
leader: Kati Debretzeni
Trumpets: David Blackadder, Philip Bainbridge
Recorded at All Saints, Tooting, London
September 2017
Music Producer: Tim Oldham
Balance Engineer: Andrew Mellor
Filming: Guy Wigmore
Project: Season Sessions 17-18
with grateful thanks to the AAM Strategic Recording Fund

[@MelodyChangDipABRSMCTABRSM]

How nice music. Thanks for sharing!

[@ChowMeinWarrior]

Wow

[@marhar2]

Beautiful! What is the name of the large lute-like instrument at time 0:10 ?

[@AcademyofAncientMusic]

Hi Mark - that's a theorbo, expertly played here by Alex McCartney. You can see a little more of him playing in this video: th-cam.com/video/FnelO_4bc2Q/w-d-xo.html and there are more to come which will showcase this remarkable instrument more!

[@BurtBowers]

Could never figure out why in the world does there need to be a conductor in a orchestra who really is going to be watching them when your trying to focus on playing your instrument & reading song notes makes no sense to me..

[@guyg4801]

They are there to keep tempo and give cues on when to come in and volume. Usually you already know the notes so you don't have to stare at sheet music. It's just there for reference.

[@musicalaviator]

In the case of Baroque (and earlier?) music, the "Conductor" is there to ... usually play the harpsichord when there's part for it, and then to direct the musicians in other ways when there isn't.
The conductor (or the head nodder when they play harpsichord) is there to ensure everyone is in time (to the nearest planc-second) with body gestures. More important the further apart everyone is (sound travels quite slow. In a large hall your ear may pick up some delay if say, you have trumpeters far off from the rest of the orchestra or choir or a large group spread out a bit over the stage). It's all about starting together.