Baroque In The North was formed in 2003, initially as a chamber ensemble (Northern Baroque). Their Baroque & Beyond Summer concert series has been aimed at improving access to live music for all and is taking place in venues across Derbyshire in 2022. This concert series has been generously supported by a grant from the Continuo Foundation.
I had assumed this would mainly be the 4 Seasons supported by a bit of Bach and Handel, and went along to the concert principally to see if this group might be bookable for my own village church sometime in the future.
In fact, it was very much more interesting than what I was expecting – we heard music by De Boismortier, Rameau, Vivaldi, Telemann, Daquin and Chedeville, played by a harpsichordist, a period instrument ‘cello player, and someone playing a Baroque violin, an alto recorder and a variant form of bagpipes. All of it was new to me, and there was much that was enjoyable and worthwhile to listen to
Although they could have done with, for this particular audience, some opening description of what was meant by Baroque music and what period we were talking about, nevertheless by and large the introductions by the musicians were clear and informative – also scholarly. I had no idea that Louis XIV has generated an enthusiasm for bagpipe music as part of his emphasis on pastoral idylls, that he played them himself, and that he generated a craze for them amongst the French aristocracy, for whom composers wrote bagpipe suites and sonatas
The concert lasted about 70 minutes. It was thoroughly worthwhile
John's musical journey 