Sparkle and Brilliance

The irony — poignant or delicious according to your point of view — would not have been lost on many members of the audience, I'm sure. Fresh from the previous evening's party by the Seine (Vivaldi's serenata La Sena Festeggiante in Buxton Opera House), leader Adrian Chandler and four fellow-members of the ensemble La Serenissima — Camilla Scarlett, violin, Elitsa Bogdanova, viola, Gareth Deats, cello and Robert Howarth, harpsichord — presented A European Union: The development of a 'Mixed Taste' (St John's Church, Buxton, UK, 12 July 2016). It gave an overview of how French, German, Italian and other national styles were celebrated and imitated by composers from other countries, laying the foundations for the musical classicism that followed...