Viva Vivaldi

Thursday Concerts, Early Music — Flute player Erik Bosgraaf and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra conducted by Jarosław Thiel.

Jarosław Thiel (photo by Łukasz Rajchert), Erik Bosgraaf (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Original, or maybe changed by all cases of reconstruction and arrangement? Regardless of the form in which it is presented, Antonio Vivaldi remains the undisputed king of the collective imagination. His concerts from the Four Seasons series need not be presented. One of them — Zima — in a surprising arrangement for longitudinal flute, will also sound during Viva Vivaldi. At the centre of the programme were also compositions from another famous collection — L'Estro armonico, which at the beginning of the 18th century literally changed the way of thinking about instrumental music. Published in Amsterdam in 1711, it quickly became an international sensation. Vivaldi's music spread across Europe at the speed of light, and his style had a huge impact on an entire generation of composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach.
The program of this concert shows Vivaldi as a composer of extraordinary imagination who was able to turn instrumental music into stories full of emotion. The works presented in the program combine energy and expressive contrasts, so characteristic of the Venetian master.
The rarely seen protagonist of the evening is the flute, an instrument to which Vivaldi was able to give an extremely diverse face. In the famous and at the same time extremely witty Il Gardellino (Goldfinch), the music almost literally imitates the singing of a bird, full of lightness, ornaments and brilliant virtuosity. La Notte (Night), on the other hand, leads the listener into a world of mystery and ephemeral anxiety.
The program closes with a unique version of Zima from the Four Seasons series, developed for longitudinal flute. One of the greatest evergreens in the history of music is gaining a new sound, fragile and subtle at the same time. And perhaps even more clearly one can hear in this elaboration Vivaldi's remarkable ability to repaint with the sound of nature and the atmosphere.
The Wrocław Baroque Orchestra is one of the leading Polish early music ensembles. It is one of those teams that can bring masterpieces from three hundred years ago to life with their extraordinary interpretive freshness and energy. Their concerts are an intense, emotional experience of music performed with passion and imagination. Jarosław Thiel, an outstanding cellist who has shaped the character of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra since the beginning of the band's existence, is one of the most important figures of the Polish early music scene. His interpretations combine historical awareness with naturalness and dramaturgy, achieving an effect that is both extremely precise and emotionally contemporary.
Soloist — Erik Bosgraaf, Dutch flutist and musicologist, is recognized as one of the most outstanding and versatile early music performers in the world.

Maria Peryte