B’Rock - In Furore (concert 07/08/2015)

If there is one thing that symbolises musical vanity, it is virtuosity. Rapid runs, great leaps and other grace-notes: they impress and delight, but are sometimes also dismissed as sheer ostentation. Yet this negative connotation only arose in the 18th century, when the concerto, the opera and the associated divi enjoyed their heyday. B’Rock and the mezzo-soprano Mary-Ellen Nesi prove that virtuosity need not be gratuitous – not even in the music of Vivaldi. Alongside the restrained Sinfonia al santo sepolcro, we hear two solo motets and a number of concertos in which the violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky has the chance to shine. Vivaldi is accompanied by Geminiani and Caldara, whose oratorio La Morte d’Abel paints a portrait of the first human to die. Mary-Ellen Nesi Soprano Dmitry Sinkovsky violin B’Rock Orchestra