180626 – Toronto Concert Orchestra

Peter Breiner’s “Beatles go Baroque” is an amazing compilation of Beatles hits arranged in the style of Bach. You’ll be charmed by these melodies in a classical treatment. On the same program, music by Corelli, Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op.3 No.3, and Canadian composer Carol Ann Weaver’s Ringing Peace. Soloist, Kaili Maimets, flute.

PROGRAMME

Corelli | Concerto Grosso in D major, Op.6 No.4
Weaver | Ring Out Peace from Earth Peace
Weaver | Leaping Impala from African Wilderness
Breiner | Beatles Concerto Grosso No. 3 (in the style of J.S. Bach)

[Intermission]

Corelli | Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op.6 No.3
Bach, JS | Air on the G String (Suite No.3, BMW 1068)
Handel | Concerto Grosso Op.3 No.3 in G major HWV 314

Conductor | Kerry Stratton
Flute Soloist | Kaili Maimets

PROGRAMME NOTES
Prepared by TCO's Assistant Conductor, Surinder S. Mundra

What do Handel, Corelli, Bach, and the Beatles have in common? They all wrote beautiful music that captivated, startled and most importantly, entertained their audiences all at once!

On a certain level, pairing music by that rock band from the psychedelic 60’s with what we think of as archaic ‘proper’ music from the Baroque period would functionally be a misnomer. After all, at first glance at least, the very spirit of the music by the Beatles betrays the order and precision of the music by those masters from the 17th century! Then why pair them?

‘Baroque’ literally refers to a malformed pearl bursting forth in every which way, embodying a musical form that in many ways spat in the face of convention. Bach, Handel, Corelli, and the like traversed relatively new and uncharted musical idioms (paving the way for ‘modern’ music), while abandoning the strict and austere musical aesthetic of the long standing conventional musical period: the Renaissance. Then again, that’s precisely what the music from the Renaissance did when it veered away from monophony, the gold standard of its day!

If we listen to this music carefully, we might conclude that so much and so little has changed in the human heart: the desire for self-expression and self-determination.

In the case of tonight’s programme, we are treated to music written by people who were both ordinary and extraordinary; they were living, breathing men with joys, passions, and struggles while venturing into new artistic lands. They were finding their own musical ways in their own times, while rediscovering humanity’s constant search for itself, expressed through the arts!

The music of the Beatles speaks so well to us because we can relate to its themes in the same way that the music of the Baroque masters speaks to us today.

What we may discover while listening, is that there is an overarching newness, freshness, and relevance to Baroque music. Paradoxically, we may also perhaps find in the music by the Beatles, an indebtedness to those towering musical geniuses from so long ago.

In keeping with the spirit of Bach, Handel, and the rest, it is most appropriate, and only fitting that we include new music in a ‘Baroque’ programme as we rock on!

BEATLES GO BAROQUE

Week 4 | Casa Loma Symphony in the Gardens Series