71. Crespo Series

Ariadne Daskalakis and Michael Borgstede bring us an exciting mostly Italian programme from the 18th Century Baroque. Buonaporte was a priest and a composer who had studied theology and composition in Rome. His Inventione in A major opens with a lyrical cantabile Aria, followed by a combination of recitative and extremely intricate faster movements. Geminiani was a gifted violin player as well as composer who lived and worked for a time in both London and Dublin around the 1730’s. His Sonata in C minor displays notably dissonant points of suspension in its opening Grave movement, with energetic, intricate Allegro movements to follow with sequence used as a recurring feature. Luigi Boccherini dates from the early classical era, composing his Op.5 Sonatas in 1768 at the age of 25. We can hear change in style here from the elaborate, ornate melodies of the previous two composers. In the opening Andante movement we hear a sense of the balance and symmetry of the classical style, with simpler melodic phrases. Handel’s A major Sonata is a familiar masterpiece bearing traces of his Italian years many years earlier. The only work by Vivaldi in this year’s programme provides an ornate and virtuosic close.