Once again, today provided me with the opportunity to catch up on the Sunday Mornings at Ten video series, compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) and now available for viewing through YouTube. The title of today’s release was Back to School, Episode 29, Number 10 in the VoM collection of Sundays at Ten videos. The program title suggested that the works on the program were selected “to help reduce distractions, to relax and improve focus and concentration” during the course of study.
Screenshot of Kati Kyme, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Tanya Tomkins, Elizabeth Reed, William Skeen, and Farley Pearce (behind Skeen) playing the last of the six Brandenburg Concertos
My “years of study” have long passed, but that did not detract from my appreciation of the program. It was framed by two different approaches to the concerto genre by the two most familiar composers of the Baroque period. It began with Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1051, the sixth (and last) of the Brandenburg Concertos, which, as one of my fellow students once proclaimed, was scored for six parts: two viole da braccio, two viole da gamba, cello, and violone. At the other end, the program concluded with the sixth of the twelve Opus 3 concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, given the overall title L’estro armonico (the harmonic inspiration). The violin soloist was Augusta McKay Lodge.
Both of these concertos are “old friends” among my listening experiences. They framed three pieces all encountered for the first time. Lutenist David Taylor began with a performance of the “Ricercar alla Spagnola” by Vincenzo Capirola. This was followed by two recorder trios (soprano, alto, and bass) composed, respectively, by Josquin des Prez (“De tous biens plaine”) and Jacob Obrecht (“Tandernaken”). Overall, there was much to both appreciate and learn over the course of this morning’s program.
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