Musica Dolce

Musica Dolce are delighted to have recorder player Christine Lucerne joining them, as well as mezzo soprano Helena Markovitch. They have a varied programme featuring French, Italian and German Baroque composers.

The French works include a set of dance movements with a rustic feel by Joseph de Boismortier and a set of movements from Francois Couperin’s suite The Apotheosis of Corelli. Given Couperin’s admiration of the Italian composer Corelli, it is fitting that they have also included a work by Corelli in this programme. A canzona by early seventeenth century composer Frescobaldi featuring sections of contrasting mood and tempo and arias by composers Monteverdi and Strozzi (the latter of whom was one of the few female composers of the era) round out the Italian contribution to the programme. German composers Telemann, J.S. Bach and Fasch also feature.

The work by Telemann-Canonic Sonata No. 5 is performed by two recorders, each of which play the same melody a few bars apart, while the Sonata by Fasch, performed by Musica Dolce on two recorders, bassoon and harpsichord features a particularly challenging part for the bassoon. A beautiful aria by Bach for oboe d’amore, contralto and harpsichord, completes the programme.