Mannes Baroque Chamber Players

In recital yesterday evening, the Mannes Baroque Chamber Players commingled works by well known seventeenth and eighteenth century composers (Antonio Vivaldi, Henry Purcell and Arcangelo Corelli) with those of their less famous contemporaries (Dario Castello and Francesco Geminani).  Though the performers did not play on original instruments, the strings did use the Baroque bows rather than their modern counterparts.

The first piece to be performed was Castello's Sonata No. 7 from Sonate concertante in Stil Moderno, libro secondo.  Not very much is known of the Venetian composer Castello, not even his dates of birth and death.  The program indicates that he flourished circa 1620, and the Wikipedia article speculates that he may have perished in the plague in 1630.  This particular sonata was scored for an interesting combination of instruments - harpsichord, violin and bassoon.

Next on the program were three Fantasias by Henry Purcell - the No. 7 in C minor, Z. 738; the No. 12 in D minor, Z. 743; and the No. 8 in D minor, Z. 739.  Purcell is best known today, along with Benjamin Britten, for being one of the very few talented composers to have been born in Britain.  This historical accident has provided him much greater posthumous renown than he would otherwise have enjoyed.  The fantasia itself was a form popular primarily in the Renaissance and had already fallen out of favor during Baroque period. Purcell's were among the last written in the genre.  The instrumentation was for string quartet, but with two violas rather than two violins.

The final piece to be performed in the first half of the program was Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op. 3, No. 11 (1711), one of the twelve concerti contained in L'estro Armonico. This collection, one of the earliest works published by Vivaldi, had an enormous influence in the development of the Baroque repertoire.  Six of these concerti were later transcribed for keyboard by Bach.  In an online article, the conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood writes:

"Of the whole set, it was the Eleventh Concerto which excited most comment and imitation. The drama of its opening could never be repeated, but the following fugue subject tempted many to the sincerest form of flattery. It was even remarked on that Vivaldi, 'being of a volatile disposition (having too much mercury in his constitution)', should have shown such contrapuntal skill."

The first work performed after intermission was Geminani's Variations on La Folia after Corelli's Violin Sonata, Op. 5, No. 12.  Geminani, in his youth in Italy, studied the violin under Corelli's tutelage.  After having left Italy and settled in London, he enjoyed success by transcribing Corelli's sonatas into arrangements for string orchestras. The performance of this piece served as a good introduction to Corelli's own Sonata in D, Op. 5, No. 1, which was played immediately afterwards.

The final work on the program was Vivaldi's Concerto in G minor for Two Cellos, RV 531. This was the only concerto composed by Vivaldi for two cellos and was probably written specifically for two of the composer's students at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice.  Despite the unusual choice of solo instruments, this is an exceedingly popular piece and has been recorded often, most notably in recent years by Yo Yo Ma on Vivaldi's Cello.  The largo, in which the soloists are accompanied only by harpsichord and a third cello, is particularly beautiful in its languid phrasing.