This morning the Sunday Mornings at Ten series of videos compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) launched a new series entitled Musical Alphabet. The plan is to assign an early music composer to each letter of the alphabet and perform a sample of one of his (her) works. It is unclear at present how many programs there will be in this series, but the first of them accounted for the letters from A to G (with the disclaimer that a composer for the letter E had not been identified).
As might be guessed, the most familiar composer in this program was Johann Sebastian Bach. He was represented by one of his most familiar compositions. The concluding movement of the BWV 1042 violin concerto in E major featured violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock as the soloist.
The other familiar composer name was probably John Dowland. He was represented by the song “His golden locks.” Soprano Molly Netter was accompanied by three viols performed by Wendy Gillespie, Elisabeth Reed, and Farley Pearce.
Shirley Edith Hunt playing the first piece on today’s Sunday Morning at Ten program, composed by Carl Friedrich Abel (from the YouTube Web page for this selection)
The remaining selections were as follows:
- Carl Friedrich Abel: the WKO 208 Allegro movement in D minor, performed on a bass viol by Shirley Edith Hunt
- Vincenzo Capriola: “Ricercar alla Spagnola” performed on lute by co-director David Tayler
- Giovanni Battista Fontana: “Sonata Seconda” for violin performed by Alana Youssefian with continuo provided by Artistic Director Hanneke van Proosdij on harpsichord, cellist Elisabeth Reed, and Tayler
- Niel Gow: “Niel Gow’s Lament” was a duo for violin (Laura Risk) and cello (William Skeen)
This was a relatively short performance. As usual, individual selections were drawn from video recordings made at past performances, primarily (if not totally) at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Personally, I took this as a good example of brevity as the soul of wit; and I am looking forward to the next segment of the alphabet.
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