Baroque Music



On Tuesday evening I attended the Baroque Band concert at Symphony Center. The evening was a delight of beautiful, but unfamiliar, Baroque works highlighted by two Oboe concertos performed by Alex Klein.
The Baroque Band, under the direction of Artistic Director Garry Clarke, assembled a melodious and inspiring selection of pieces ranging from Concerto Grossi by both Arcangelo Corelli and Francesco Geminiani to Concerti a cinque by both Tomaso Albinoni and Antonio Vivaldi. There were also two concertos by Alessandro Scarlatti and one by the lesser known Benedetto Marcello. The highlights of the evening were the two oboe concertos which ended each half of the program. Alex Klein demonstrated his substantial skills with the Baroque Oboe in Albinoni's Concerti a cinque, Op. 9, No. 2 in d minor and Vivaldi's Concerti a cinque, Op. 8, No. 9, RV 454 in d minor. The combined skill of Alex Klein and the Baroque Band made this a memorable evening of Baroque music with a focus on the Italian contributors to the era.

I particularly enjoyed the Geminiani with its second movement Giga that was based on a melody from one of Corelli's Concerto Grossi. It is a famous melody that, many years ago, I played in transcription for oboe solo during my high school years.