Ottavio Dantone

Entertainment music at the highest level: with his Musica Serena, Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks pays tribute to Finnish conductor Juha Kangas on his 70th birthday. In the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, Johann Sebastian Bach composed his Brandenburg Concertos between 1718 and 1721 for the court orchestra, weaving Italian and French influences into a unique sound. Later in Leipzig, he wrote for the Collegium Musicum, made up largely of university students, his Orchestral Suite No. 3, which includes a solemn overture, the famous Air on the G String, one of the most recognizable melodies in music history, and stylized dances. In 1735, Handel presented his six Op. 4 concertos as interludes within his oratorios at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. With his dazzling virtuosity on the organ, he even rivaled Farinelli, the superstar singer then engaged at the Opera of the Nobility. In April 1749, King George II of England wished to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession with fireworks in London’s Green Park. He therefore commissioned Handel to compose orchestral music for military instruments. The composer, who unsuccessfully resisted the martial tones, later arranged his Music for the Royal Fireworks for winds, strings, and basso continuo. This version was performed only four weeks after the royal ceremony, at a charity concert at London’s Foundling Hospital.