Vocatio:Responsio is lucky to be able to record each of its concerts, publicising some of the best highlights online to its YouTube page. Below, you can sample this content, alongside some taster programme notes of each piece!
Mozart: Symphony in F Major, K.112
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Menuetto & Trio
4. Molto Allegro
Written in 1771 during his second extended stay in Milan (where he was focusing on his opera Ascanio in Alba), this symphony is described by Nicholas Kenyon as his last childhood symphony - after this "we are in the beginnings of a different world".
Mendelssohn: Symphony in E Minor, MWV N3
1. Allegro di Molto
2. Andante
3. Allegro
Mendelssohn's first six symphonies, written as exercises for his tutor Carl Friedrich Zelter, were all composed in 1821. They have a strong emphasis on counterpoint and harken back to earlier forms, such as the Italianate concerto which is heard in this work.
Georg Muffat: Sonata in D Major, No.1 from Armonico Tributo
1. Sonata. Grave - Allegro e presto
2. Allemande. Grave
3. Grave
4. Gavotta. Allegro e forte
5. Grave
6. Menuetto. Allegro e forte
Samuel, our music director, claims that this is the best eighteenth-century concerto grosso of all. Highlights include the divided violas, adventurous harmony (particularly the Grave) and the good nature of the dances.
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in E-Flat Major, No.5 from Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione
1. Presto
2. Largo
3. Presto
With the nickname "The Storm at Sea [La Tempesta di Mare], this highlights one of the many overtly programmatic concertos in Vivaldi's oeuvre. He paints this through waving dynamics, thunderstrokes and incessant, driving semiquavers throughout the three movements.