Project R&C
The ensemble Project R&C, short for "recorder" and "cello," consists of recorder player Magdalena Spielmann and baroque cellist Szczepan Dembiński.
The two have made it their mission to research and practically revive the continuo practice that was widespread in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the cello as the only continuo instrument.
This historical practice is clearly evident in the instrumentation indications of numerous chamber music compositions since the end of the 17th century, where, as in Corelli's violin sonatas op. 5, it is stated "... per violino e violone ó cimbalo...".
This continuo performance still receives little attention in today's performance practice, in which the harpsichord is usually used as the continuo instrument. The fact that the exclusive use of the cello as an accompanying instrument was by no means only an embarrassment solution, but was expressly desired, is attested to by numerous contemporary documents. Giuseppe Tartini, for example, wrote about his "piccole Sonate" that they should only be accompanied by a cello. He himself was accompanied on his concert tours by the cellist Antonio Vandini, and we also know of the cellist G. M. Bononcini that he toured Europe with a violinist.
Founded in 2021, the ensemble is composed of recorder player Magdalena Spielmann, violinist Christophe Mourault, harpsichordist Sobin Jo and cellist Szczepan Dembiński, who met during their studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Pôle Alienor in Poitiers, France.
The focus of their interest is to make the extensive repertoire of baroque instrumental music with recorder, some of which is hardly heard, known to a wider audience.