15 February: Passacaglia Duo – Baroque pipes and Harpsichord
Passacaglia is an award-winning baroque chamber ensemble that performs in several guises ranging from a duo format to a multi-instrument line up, performing music by some of the greatest composers of the eighteenth century, as well as introducing audiences to new discoveries! With over 25 years of performing and recording experience, Passacaglia brings the music of the baroque era to life with a range of exciting, colourful and engaging programmes.
We welcome back Passacaglia, who last performed for us in 2022, but this time as a duo, featuring Annabel Knight (recorders, flute) and Robin Bigwood (harpsichord).
Annabel has established a successful freelance career which has taken her across the UK, Europe, America and the Middle East. As well as working with Passacaglia, she is a member of the recorder quintet Fontanella, which specialises in Renaissance and contemporary consort repertoire. She is the founder and director of the popular Woodhouse Recorder Courses and runs the recorder department at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Annabel can also be heard playing on film soundtracks including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Fantastic Mr Fox and Philomena.
Robin won the Broadwood Harpsichord Competition in 1995 and nowadays enjoys a career combining solo recitals, chamber music and orchestral continuo. He is a member of La Serenissima and the Feinstein Ensemble, and is a visiting teacher of harpsichord at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Also active in the field of recording and music technology, he works regularly as a producer, writes for Sound on Sound magazine, and founded the recording label Barn Cottage Records.
The programme of music the duo will perform is entitled ‘Made in Italy’. Sensational and dramatic, melodic and emotional, Italian music took London by storm in 1711 with Handel’s wildly successful opera, Rinaldo. The excitement and novelty of Corelli and Vivaldi’s instrumental styling were also catching on across the British Isles, attracting a cohort of Italian musicians to settle in Britain and, in the case of Francesco Barsanti, absorb Scots culture into his own music.
“Wonderfully passionate and detailed playing” Early Music Review
“A performance of irrepressible joy” Gramophone
Have a Listen:
https://youtu.be/SBEILeoy67U?si=cSDgmSPeLRSp_kfC
Concert Programme
- GF Handel (1685 – 1759) Excerpts from Rinaldo (1711), Ouverture – Lascia ch’io pianga, Allegro
- D Scarlatti (1685 – 1757) Sonata in A minor K 217
- A Corelli (1653 – 1713) Sonata in E major Opus 5, No 11 (1700) – Preludio – Allegro – Adagio – Vivace – Gavotta
- F Barsanti (1690 – 1772) The Lass of Peattie’s Mill from A Collection of Old Scots Tunes, 1742
- R Carr (fl 1684 – 87) Divisions on an Italian Ground from The Delightful Companion, 1695
INTERVAL
- F Giardini (1716 – 1796) Sonata V in G minor from Sei Sonate di Cembalo, 1752. Allegro – Minuetto
- F Barsanti Lochaber from A Collection of Old Scots Tunes, 174 – Sonata in G minor op 1 no 3 (1724) Adagio – Allegro – Largo – Gavotta – Minuet
- D Scarlatti Sonata in A major K 220
- A Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) Concerto in A minor op 3 no 8, 1711, arr W Michel – Allegro – Larghetto spiritoso – Allegro
