The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN

Italian or French? In the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe, two national musical styles were seen as opposing and in contest, though composers increasingly brought them together. This concert brings the styles to life in works by some of the brilliant composers of the times: Corelli, Couperin, Clérambault, Rameau

The music

François Couperin (1668–1733):
from Huitième Concert: Ouverture & Grande Ritournelle
from Concerts Royaux: Concert no. 1, Menuet en trio
from Pièces de clavecin Deuxième Livre (1717), Septième Ordre: La Ménetou
from Concert VIII (dans le goût Théâtral): Loure, Air de Baccantes

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749):
La Magnifique
Prelude
L’Abondance

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713): Opus 2 no. 12, Ciacona

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault: Chaconne in A major

François Couperin: L’Astrée

Marin Marais (1656–1728): Tableau de l’opération de la taille

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault: L’Anonima

Jean Philippe Rameau (1683–1764): Pièces de clavecin en concert no. 5: La Forqueray, La Cupis, La Marais

The musicians

(Nicolette Moonen violin, Oliver Webber violin, Reiko Ichise viola da gamba, Silas Wollston harpsichord)