NOSPR Chamber Musicians / String Orchestra / Melodies with Air - NOSPR

Wind instruments have always dazzled when entrusted to virtuosi. The German Baroque master Georg Philipp Telemann was evidently acquainted with distinguished performers of the hunting horn (corno da caccia) for he composed several concertos in which this instrument occupies a privileged role. His godson, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, accorded similar esteem to the flute, a preference shaped by the influence of Frederick II of Prussia, who played the instrument himself. The third Baroque work in this programme, attributed to George Frideric Handel, is a compilation of sorts drawn from fragments of his other compositions arranged for the beautiful duet of oboe and bassoon.

A gentle echo of the Baroque era comes with A Fugal Concerto composed by Gustav Holst in 1923 – a neoclassical piece permeated with lyrical warmth. Just over a century earlier, Carl Maria von Weber had written his Andante and Rondo ungarese – a graceful and radiant example of early Romantic music.

Adam Suprynowicz

Concert duration: approximately 80 minutes