Academy of Ancient Music - Les Élémens

Wednesday 9 November 2022
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
A virtuosic celebration of nature and music

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Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings director & harpsichord
 
Rebel: Les Élémens
Telemann: Violin Concerto in A major ‘The Toad’
Vivaldi: Flute Concerto in D major ‘The Goldfinch’
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in E-flat major ‘The Storm at Sea’
Handel: Organ Concerto in F major ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’ Telemann:Overture in C major ‘Ebb and Flow’
 
Cuckoos, nightingales, flood tides and a big bang, as Laurence Cummings conducts a virtuosic celebration of nature and music – baroque style. 
For the composers of the 18th century, nature wasn’t an optional extra: it was an everyday reality. So of course it found its way into their music too, and this delightful concert finds frogs and toads invading a concerto, wind instruments turning into songbirds (both caged and wild) and composers in Venice and Hamburg putting to sea on the tides of harmony. 
 
In short, all of nature is here, in music that’s alternately playful, touching and elemental in its ingenuity and power. Laurence Cummings directs soloists from within AAM, and begins with arguably the most astonishing natural wonder in all baroque music: the ear-tingling chaos with which Jean-Féry Rebel opens his suite Les Elémens. Music that was ahead of its time then – and more timely than ever today. 
 

 

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