Between Manor and Folklore

The Chamber Concert Between Manor and Folklore is an excellent opportunity to learn about Italian, English and Greek chamber music of the turn of the 20th century. The works of Bottesini and Respighi show the style and temperament of the composers of the Apennine Peninsula. Giovanni Bottesini wrote the Grand Quintetto in C minor in 1858. This is an unusual, outstanding composition of this Italian virtuoso of double bass. Ottorino Respighi, on the other hand, was the one who breathed new life into the development of Italian instrumental music in the first decades of the 20th century. His Suite No. 3 — Ancient Dances and Arias is the best example of this. It is a neoclassical composition based on Renaissance and early Baroque works for lute and guitar. Gustav Holst's Brook Green Suite is a 1933 song written with young musicians in mind. The suite exudes warmth and neoclassical simplicity, moreover, the composer refers in it to folk English melodies. Another example of English chamber art inspired by ancient folklore is Peter Warlock's 1926 Capriol Suite. This is one of the most famous works of this composer. The piece consists of a six-part cycle of stylized Renaissance dances, based on melodies from the sixteenth-century dance treatise Orchésographie by Thoinot Arbeau. At the end we will hear the work of the Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas. It will be the Five Greek Dances (created on the basis of his monumental cycle of 36 dances). It is also one of the most popular songs of this creator. Composed between 1931 and 1936, they brilliantly combine authentic Greek folklore with modern compositional techniques.