Voices of Music Focuses on Arcangelo Corelli

The Voices of Music ensemble playing the D major (fourth) concerto grosso from Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 6

This afternoon I returned to YouTube for the latest Sundays at Ten Web site, compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) in a collection of selections from past performances. The title of the program was Corelli in Rome, Episode 45 from Season 5. It was framed by two of the concerti grossi in Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 6 collection, the second in F major and  the fourth in D major. The “core” of the program consisted of two Adagio movements from his Opus 5 sonatas. The first of these was from the third sonata in C major for violin, followed by the fourth sonata in F major for recorder. That latter was given a publication by John Walsh with rich ornamentations, and that version was performed by Hanneke van Proosdij. The violin sonata was performed with Augusta McKay Lodge, accompanied at the harpsichord by Paolo Zanzu. The remaining work on the program was the Ciaconna movement from the final (twelfth) sonata da camera in the Opus 2 collection.

Taken as a whole, the selections proceeded at an engaging clip. The Opus 6 performances both lasted about ten minutes, while all of the single-movement offerings were less than four minutes in duration. As usual, the camera work provided a useful guide to following how the thematic material would migrate from one instrumental voice to another. While the video was a collection of performances taking place on different programs, the sequencing of the individual selections made for a coherent account conceived to survey Corelli’s achievements. By all rights, this would have stood up perfectly well as a “live” recital program!