The English Concert

The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket. Nadja Zwiener has been orchestra leader (concertmaster) since September 2007.

The English Concert and Choir

The English Concert was founded by Trevor Pinnock and others in November 1972. The date of foundation is often given as 1973, probably because they started with seven people and only later progressed onto the orchestral repertoire as their number increased. They were one of the first orchestras dedicated to performing baroque and early classical music on period instruments, their repertoire from then to now ranging approximately from Monteverdi to Mozart.

Their London debut was at the English Bach Festival in 1973, which led to their first recording in 1974, Sons of Bach harpsichord concertos, on CRD records. They first played at The Proms in 1980, and toured North America in 1983. The group gained much recognition from their prolific number of recordings with Archiv Produktion from 1978 until 1995, during which they recorded most of the major baroque repertoire.

Concerto grosso

The concerto grosso (pronounced [konˈtʃɛrto ˈɡrɔsso]; Italian for big concert(o), plural concerti grossi [konˈtʃɛrti ˈɡrɔssi]) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno or concerto grosso). This is in contrast to the solo concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra.

The form developed in the late seventeenth century, although the name was not used at first. Alessandro Stradella seems to have written the first music in which two groups of different sizes are combined in the characteristic way. The name was first used by Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori in a set of 10 compositions published in Lucca in 1698.

The first major composer to use the term concerto grosso was Arcangelo Corelli. After Corelli's death, a collection of twelve of his concerti grossi was published; not long after, composers such as Francesco Geminiani, Pietro Locatelli and Giuseppe Torelli wrote concertos in the style of Corelli. He also had a strong influence on Antonio Vivaldi.

Concerto Grosso (Tamberg)

Eino Tamberg's Concerto Grosso, Op. 5, was composed in 1956. It was awarded a gold medal at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students the following year and was subsequently performed through both the Eastern and Western Blocs, launching the Estonian composer's career.

Tamberg's Concerto Grosso is scored for a wind quintet consisting of flute, clarinet, trumpet, alto saxophone and bassoon, piano, percussion and a string orchestra, and consists of three movements lasting ca. 25 minutes:

A high-spirited neoclassical composition, it is representative of the mild modernism promoted by the Soviet regime though the Thaw after years of harsh artistic repression, and it is notable for its use of the saxophone, which had been banned in 1949 as a decadent instrument. Tamberg would use no less than three saxophones in his next composition, the Symphonic Dances.

Quotes

References

Concerto Grosso (Vaughan Williams)

Concerto Grosso is a work for string orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Originally composed in 1950 for a performance by the Rural Schools Music Association conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, the piece is unique in that the orchestra is split into three sections based on skill: Concertino (Advanced), Tutti (Intermediate), and Ad Lib (Novice) which only plays open strings. The piece is in five movements, and performances generally run for 14 minutes.

Movements

Grosso

Grosso is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Turin. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,002 and an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi).

Grosso borders the following municipalities: Corio, Mathi, Nole, and Villanova Canavese.

Demographic evolution

References

Grosso (surname)

Grosso or Del Grosso is an Italian surname:

See also

Groschen

Groschen (Latin: Grossus, German:  Groschen , Italian: grosso or grossone, Czech: groš, Lithuanian: grašis, Estonian: kross, Polish: grosz, Albanian: grosh, Hungarian: garas, Russian, Ukrainian, Macedonian and Bulgarian: грош (groš), Romanian: groș) was the (sometimes colloquial) name for a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe (Bohemia, Poland), the Danubian Principalities. The name, like that of the English groat, derives from the Italian denaro grosso, or large penny, via the Czech form groš. The Qirsh (also Gersh, Grush, Γρόσι (Grósi) and Kuruş), Arabic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Greek and Turkish names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, are derived from the same Italian origin.

History

Names like Groschen, grossus/grossi, grosso, grossone, grosz, gros, groš, groat, Groten, garas etc. were used in the Middle Ages for all thick silver coins, as opposed to thin silver coins such as deniers or pennies. Historically it was equal to between several and a dozen denarii.