Beautiful Music

George Frideric Handel had a knack for great melody and drama in his music. Today’s Beautiful Music offering is from Handel’s oratorio MESSIAH — a dramatic duo between voice (bass Dashon Burton) and trumpet (John Thiessen) — you may want to sing along. Go ahead!      

Several years ago I had the chance to attend a performance featuring recorder virtuoso Matthias Maute. Thanks to his many terrific recordings, I already appreciated his amazing talents. But … WOW! … to SEE him in action took it to a new level. He plays extraordinarily technical passages with such ease and grace.  So today’s

Italian musician Arcangelo Corelli was a phenomenal, groundbreaking violin player and teacher. So today’s offering of Beautiful Music is Corelli’s 12 Trio Sonatas featuring his instrument.  

Organist Alcee Chriss is a leading young performer with a growing list of prestigious awards to his credit. He is the University Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and is a sought after performer. My offering today is one of his beautiful performances of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, transcribed from a concerto

The classic advice to aspiring writers is  to “Write what you know.” French baroque composer Marin Marais knew his hometown of Paris and its important landmarks, such as Saint Genevieve church. He composed a Sonata after the Bells of St. Genevieve, and you can hear not only the tolling church bells, but the hustle and

As familiar as we are with baroque era music and composers from regions such as Germany, Italy, England, and France, music from other areas is much less well known. So today, my offering of Beautiful Music is a recording of Russian Baroque vocal music — anonymous secular songs from 1690-1740 performed by Ensemble Syntagma.  

Happy National Rose Month! It’s a perfect opportunity to present you with this lavish musical bouquet — a 1707 oratorio by Alessandro Scarlatti, Il giardino di Rose, La SS. Vergine del Rosario. (The Rose Garden)  It’s a beautiful historical instrument performance by Il Complesso Barocco, led by Alan Curtis.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAyfduOOHWs

A few days ago, I had the great pleasure to speak with a musician I’ve known about for decades, but had never encountered personally. Mark Kroll is a champion of the harpsichord — a performer, teacher and scholar, and a delightful raconteur! Our conversation will be posted on SundayBaroque.org in the Interviews section soon. In

It’s gratifying to be able to share less well known music and musicians with you. Today, my offering of Beautiful Music is a a Bolivian Festival — a concert performance of Bolivian Baroque music!    

What a thrill to discover an ancient yet modern-sounding motet by a composer whose name was new to me: Vicente Lusitano. The 16th century Portuguese musician was also an ordained priest for the first part of his adulthood, and he traveled to Italy for his musical career. Below is a biography so you can familiarize