Summerwinds: Tabea Debus & La Serenissima

Barocco splendente

"Barocco splendente" - radiant Baroque! The "stile moderne" conquered the north with might and main from Rome, the "Eternal City", and first and foremost from Venice, which still bears the old nickname "La Serenissima" today: the most illustrious, the most cheerful, the richest and most beautiful.

From Venice, Vivaldi shaped the music of the era; in Rome, the violin virtuosos Antonio Montanari and Giuseppe Valentini composed. They were concerned with expressive melodies and dramatic expression in their work. That was new. The concerto had already been invented in Italy, the concertare as the interaction and competition between different sound groups or tutti and soloist. The alternation of solo and tutti passages, opulent ornamentation, motoric rhythms and basso continuo accompaniment - all of this served to heighten the musical effect.

This gripped the Germans, including the Court Kapellmeister Heinichen in Dresden, one of the most important musical centers in Europe, and the High Princely Anhalt Court Kapellmeister Fasch in the small, fine royal seat of Zerbst. Italian "infected", the two invented virtuoso, clear and elegant melodies, orchestrated them colorfully, interspersed the orchestral part contrapuntally and surprised harmonically: "Barocco splendente"!

Tabea Debus, one of the leading international recorder players of her generation with home bases in Hanover and London, and La Serenissima, the most renowned, "most illustrious" British ensemble for the music of 18th century Venice and its related composers, make their program sparkle, make it dance. "Barocco splendente" is vitality and taste, naturalness and perfection at the same time. Classic FM, Great Britain's most important classical music station, is by no means exaggerating with its praise: "They really put the rock into baroque!"