Continuo

For opera newbies, the continuo is a bassline played continuously (as the name implies) under the recitative or vocal line. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The strings and the continuo lutes had a fiercely tart and tangy sound, deliberately unsensual and arresting. ❋ Heidi Waleson (2011)

The orchestra and continuo musicians, led by Grant Gershon, captured the spirit and swing of the music, but then, orchestra players are no strangers to Vivaldi. ❋ Heidi Waleson (2011)

Our band included the minimum of strings, we used chamber organ without harpsichord for our continuo group, and fielded a choir of sixteen. ❋ Unknown (2011)

Artistic director Aapo Häkkinen anchored the ensemble from the harpsichord, providing a solid rhythmic foundation with his dynamic continuo realization. ❋ Charles T. Downey (2010)

Patricia Mabee provided informed harpsichord continuo with an opportunity to shine bright in the fifth concerto's extensive solo cadenza. ❋ Rodney Punt (2011)

Highest praise is due to the four continuo players, ever sensuous and vivid. ❋ Unknown (2011)

As the three sopranos of La Venexiana show, they are wonderfully supple, ornamented settings, with striking contrasts between the single-voice numbers and the gorgeously rich textures of the three-voice ones, while the viola da gamba, lute and harpsichord provide the most tactful continuo support. ❋ Unknown (2011)

Creation is the bringing into and sustaining in existence [creatio ex nihilo et creatio continuo]. ❋ M_francis (2009)

Italiano · USA: pellegrinaggio continuo sulle orme di Into the wild ❋ Unknown (2009)

The sextet that performed (a pair each of violins and violas, and a continuo pairing of cello and harpsichord) offered a mixed baroque program in which three string sonatas by Tomaso Albinoni were heard alongside concertos and sonatas by Bach and Vivaldi, and by the less-encountered Georg Muffat and Henricus Albicastro. ❋ Post (2010)

The chorus of 34 and orchestra 42 players plus a continuo group of eight were superb; a group of the players even performed onstage in costume for the Dream scene. ❋ Heidi Waleson (2011)

The CD by the Ghielmi brothers surprisingly features a fortepiano rather than a harpsichord as its cembalo continuo, on the reasoning that Bach was familiar with very early models of the fortepiano (invented in 1698) and is even known to have played the instrument. ❋ Unknown (2010)

(The continuo section, with Susan Woodruff Versage on harpsichord, Mark Shuman on cello and Daniel Swenberg on theorbo, was also very good.) ❋ Unknown (2010)

Soprano Soo Young Kim Christfield – who boasted pure and soaring high notes, but sounded tentative and underpowered throughout the rest of her range – sang three Bach cantata arias, with an excellent continuo group made up of Mate, violinist Emily Leader, flutist Elisabeth Plunk and cellist Charlie Powers. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Karin Mushegain and Steven LaBrie, from the company's apprentice program, ably took the two smaller roles, and the supportive continuo playing, especially from lutenist Michael Leopold, was a plus. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Here it was performed with reduced forces: lute, two violins and a continuo of cello and theorbo (a very long bass lute). ❋ Unknown (2010)

Ex Cathedra and director Jeffrey Skidmore had opted for something of the middle ground, with medium-sized choral forces and a continuo ensemble consisting of organ, harp, theorbo and banjon – a forerunner of the modern bassoon. ❋ Unknown (2010)

This was a revival of John Cox's enchanting 2005 staging, with a fine young cast and a small, accomplished orchestra, the sound brightened with imaginative and prominent fortepiano-led continuo. ❋ Unknown (2010)