Baroque through Europe
In this richly variegated Christmas programme, B’Rock follows the star of the baroque through Europe. First stop: Corelli’s Italy. The eighth concerto grosso of his iconic Opus 6 is subtitled ‘for Christmas eve’, on account of the bagpipe-like drones in its concluding Pastorale. A similar effect can be heard in Alessandro Scarlatti’s O di Betlemme altera. The glowing arias and recitatives of this touching Christmas cantata are a perfect fit for soprano Julia Doyle – as is the virtuoso solo part of Handel’s Gloria, a recently rediscovered composition from his earliest Italian years. After a peregrination through Purcell’s England, the quest leads to France, where Charpentier and Delalande turned traditional Christmas songs into instrumental paragons of pastoral beauty. B’Rock comes to a halt in 20th-century Estonia, with the subtle suggestion of bell-ringing in Arvo Pärt’s mesmerizing Fratres.