Step into a soundscape where the past is not preserved but vividly made present. The Concerted Consort opens our season with music that transforms Renaissance polyphony and early Baroque textures into living architecture—precise yet organic, ordered yet flowing like a secret garden of pathways and streams. Each work shapes part of this musical landscape, guiding us through centuries where voices, lines, and ideas collide and bloom anew.
Obrecht’s Fors Seulement anchors us in the intricate counterpoint of the Northern Renaissance. Originally a popular French chanson by Ockeghem, the melody is woven by Obrecht into a delicate web of new voices, expanding a simple song into a richly layered tapestry. This reimagining of borrowed material reflects the spirit of this concert: old lines reborn through new interplay, reminding us that tradition is never static. Schmelzer’s Harmonia à 5 brings vivid Baroque flair, scored for five-part strings and continuo. The piece moves through contrasting sections and surprising shifts in rhythm—including a rare 5/4 dance—showcasing Schmelzer’s playful approach to form and his talent for turning structure into lively conversation. Here, individual lines sparkle in dialogue yet always fold back into a unified, resonant whole.
Buxtehude’s Quemadmodum desiderat cervus adds a sacred glow. This intimate sacred concerto spins out Psalm 42’s imagery—“As the hart longs…”—through a gentle chaconne. A simple, repeating bass pattern underpins tender variations for solo voice, violins, and continuo, the parts weaving together like a quiet river through ordered hedges. In this seamless dialogue, Buxtehude makes spiritual longing both timeless and immediate.
Muffat’s Passacaglia in G unfolds like a grand Baroque garden in sound. A steady ground bass anchors twenty-five variations that draw on French elegance and Italian ornament, each layer adding new pathways of counterpoint, imitation, and dance-like gesture. As the variations build, the ensemble blossoms into intricate textures—proving how a simple pattern, shared and reworked by many voices, becomes something gloriously alive.
Locatelli’s Concerto Grosso in D captures the vibrant energy of the Italian ensemble tradition. Inspired by Corelli but flavored with Locatelli’s own flair, this piece balances solo brilliance and collective resonance. Quick and slow dance movements flow into each other, shifting the spotlight from the bright interplay of soloists to the full ripieno’s rich sonority. This fluid exchange embodies the essence of the concerto grosso: individual lines and shared structure in constant, joyful motion.
Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor crowns the program with a dazzling flourish of color and dialogue. From its first bars, the four solo violins leap into conversation, trading motives in pairs, echoing phrases, and spinning off into brilliant runs. The lively outer movements overflow with playful invention, while the slow movement offers lyrical respite—each violin singing in turn. This vivid interplay makes the ensemble feel like a living network of lines, each voice shaping the whole. Through this exuberant finale, the past truly becomes present: bold, expressive, and resonant once more.
Program
Jacob Obrecht (1457–1505) — Fors Seulement
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620–1680) — Harmonia à 5
Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707) — Quemadmodum desiderat cervus
Georg Muffat (1653–1704) — Passacaglia in G Major
Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695–1764) — Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 1, No. 9
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) — Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor
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