Mostly Baroque:  'Double Triple'

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Two orchestral works with three soloists apiece – two triple concertos! – feature in today's concert:

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Firstly, the imposing first movement from the beautiful Concertante for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn and Orchestra (1804) by Bernhard Crusell. This Finnish-Swedish conductor, composer and virtuoso clarinetist wrote three clarinet concertos, but is perhaps best known for his Concertante. A little younger than his contemporary Beethoven, Crusell also translated major Italian, French and German operas for Swedish performances, including Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. 

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Secondly, the Concerto in G for Flute, Oboe and Viola GWV.333 (1731) by Christoph Graupner, a contemporary of Handel and Telemann, and one-time rival of JS Bach. The recent revival of Graupner's music has plenty of material to work with from this prolific composer. There are nearly double the number of surviving manuscripts than extant from JS Bach, including 113 sinfonias, 85 suites, 44 concertos, 8 operas, 1,442 cantatas and 123 keyboard works. 

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The programme opens with Toccata, a fanfare from the opera 'Orfeo' (1607), by Claudio Monteverdi.

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Selections from Henry Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen' (1692) exhibit a bright, more flamboyant side of baroque music. This suite features trumpets and oboes with strings in contrasting overtures, symphonies and dances.  

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The concert also includes selections from WA Mozart's Galimathais Musicum (1766), a quodlibet (medley) comprising an assortment of short movements in various styles, concluding with a fugue on a theme based on the Dutch national song "Willem van Nassau". Mozart was 10 years of age when he wrote this while on tour in western Europe.