With Manchester Baroque

Leeds Minster

Saturday 29 June 7.30pm

This programme of glorious 18th-century Baroque music is sure to raise the spirits.

Bach, Handel, Corelli, Scarlatti and Buxtehude each get to strut their stuff, displaying all the beauty, grace and emotional depth for which this period’s music is known.

And we’re delighted to welcome Manchester Baroque who will bring their period instruments and historically-informed performance skills to make this concert truly a delight and one to remember.

Programme

St Peter’s Singers

Manchester Baroque

Pauline Nobes artistic director

Alexander Woodrow conductor

This programme brings together some of the best music from the Italian and German traditions in the Baroque era. The Magnificat, often attributed to Buxtehude but without good evidence, actually bears many of the hallmarks of Franco-Italian composers such as Carissimi and Lully, and has a pleasant lilting style.

The Miserere by Francesco Scarlatti (brother of Alessandro and Uncle of Domenico) is a fine and under-rated work, a suitably plangent setting of Psalm 51 strongly characterised by the affecting musical vocabulary of the time. St Peter’s Singers performed it in 2022 under post-Covid austerity measures and are pleased to revisit it with proper orchestral involvement.

Corelli’s 12 Concerti Grossi Op 6, which feature a concerted group of soloists within a small instrumental ensemble, became hugely popular after their eventual publication in 1714, some thirty years after their composition. Handel was among many composers to copy and adopt the form, publishing in 1739 his own ”Opus 6′ set of 12 in honour of Corelli.

Jesu meine Freude is the most complex of Bach’s motets, being an elaboration of a well-known Lutheran hymn and demonstrating a wide range of compositional techniques, possibly with an educational purpose in mind. Yet for all the density of the musical thought and the serious engagement with the text, this is a joyful and uplifting work.

Composed in 1707 when the precocious and highly ambitious 22-year old Handel had just arrived in Rome, Dixit Dominus is a formidable tour-de-force from a composer who now found himself with access to some of the best musicians in Europe. Exhilarating for both performers and listeners alike, this work will provide a fine ending to this concert.

Since their launch in 2019, Manchester Baroque has built a reputation for engaging and vibrant performances of historical music on period instruments. Through concerts of chamber music, larger scale orchestral works and oratorios, Manchester Baroque is committed to the continued development of historically informed performances. They are normally to be heard in Manchester, so we welcome them to Leeds and are thrilled to make their work available to Yorkshire audiences.