On Saturday 4th February, Wandering through the Baroque is dedicated to the English composer Charles Avison. The fact that he made many arrangements of the music of his Italian colleagues shows that he had more admiration for them than for his immediate colleague Handel.
Charles Avison was born in 1709 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the north of England. From 1724 to 1735 he stayed in London to complete his musical education and then returned to Newcastle, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Handel was a celebrated composer in his time. But Avison didn’t want too much of his music. He thought Francesco Geminiani was a better composer. He expressed his admiration for his oeuvre by adapting his violin sonatas opus 1 into concerti grossi.
Domenico Scarlatti could also count on Avison’s appreciation. He also honoured this by taking a number of his harpsichord sonatas as a starting point for concerti grossi.
In the programme we hear some of both collections, performed by The Avison Ensemble and by Café Zimmermann. In addition, some original chamber music works will be played by the London Baroque ensemble.
The most curious work in the programme is undoubtedly a psalm setting by another Italian composer: Benedetto Marcello. He had set to music a number of paraphrases of the psalms in Italian, which caused a sensation throughout Europe, well into the 19th century. Avison provided some of them with an English text and we also hear one of them. This is performed by the British ensemble Voces8 and the instrumental ensemble Les Inventions.
Broadcasts Wandering through the Baroque: – Saturday, February 4th, 2023, 11 a.m.-12 noon – repeat on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023, 10 a.m.-11 a.m
