Summerwinds Festival: Tabea Debus, Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima: Barocco splendente
“Barocco splendente” – radiant Baroque! With power, the “stile moderne” conquered the North at that time, from Rome, the “Eternal City”, and foremost from Venice, which still today bears the ancient nickname “La Serenissima”: the Most Serene, Brightest, Richest-and-Most Beautiful.
From Venice, Vivaldi shaped the music of the era; in Rome, the violin virtuosos Antonio Montanari and Giuseppe Valentini composed. They focused on expressive melodies and dramatic expression in their works. This was new. Prior to this, Italy had already invented the concerto, the concertare as collaboration and competition of different sound groups or of tutti and soloist. The alternation of solo and tutti passages, opulent ornamentation, motoric rhythmic structures, and basso continuo accompaniment – all of this served to intensify the musical affect.
This captivated the Germans, including the court conductor Heinichen in Dresden, one of the most significant music centers in Europe, and the High Ducal Anhalt Court Conductor Fasch in the small, elegant residence city of Zerbst. “Infected” by Italian influences, the two invented virtuous, yet clear and elegant melodies, orchestrated with color, and contrapuntally enriched the orchestral parts while surprising harmonically: “Barocco splendente”!
Tabea Debus, one of the internationally leading recorder players of her generation with home bases in Hanover and London, and La Serenissima, the most renowned, “most serene”, British ensemble for the music of 18th-century Venice and its related composers, let their program sparkle, letting it dance. “Barocco splendente” is vitality and taste, naturalness and perfection at the same time. Thus, Classic FM, the most important classical radio station in Great Britain, does not exaggerate with its praise: “They really put the rock into baroque!”
Barocco splendente
Joh. Friedrich Fasch (1688–1758): Concerto for Recorder, Strings, b.c. F Major
Joh. David Heinichen (1683–1729): Ouverture-Suite for Strings, b.c. G Major, S 205 | Sinfonia to the opera "Mario" (Venice, 1713) for Recorder, Strings, b.c.
Antonio Montanari (1676–1737): Concerto for Flautino, 2 Violins, b.c. B Major
Giuseppe Valentini (1681–1753): Concerto XI for 4 Violins, Viola, Cello, b.c. A Minor, op. 7
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741): Concerto for Recorder, Strings, and Continuo C Minor, RV 441
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
