Baroque Spring

In one of my early tutti talks, I mentioned the BBC Radio 3 blockbuster series Baroque Spring, which was presented throughout the month of March.  This was such a dynamic and comprehensive overview of a period of music which has underpinned and nurtured so much which followed that I felt it was deserving of an entire tutti talk to itself.

When I say Baroque music has fed into the repertoire that followed it, there are great examples in 20th and 21st century music of how inspiring the baroque composers have been. 

To take just a few random examples -
in jazz, the Jacques Loussier Trio and the Swingle Singers; in popular music, Procul Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale and more recently, a marvellous arrangement of Let it Be, written for Lesley Garrett and recorded on her CD The Singer.

Then there are some of the direct tributes such as Percy Grainger's Handel in the Strand or Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (on a theme by Purcell), here played by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

For the more quirky - have a look at this mobile/cellphone video - a very enterprising way to spend their advertising budget!

If you type the word baroque into the tutti searchbox, I guarantee you will be surprised at what pops up!

It's a lovely summer's day here in Norfolk and I'm looking out into clear skies - England are dominating the battle for the Ashes and the weekend beckons - close to perfect!!

More tutti talk soon, so,
That's it for now . . .