European Union Baroque Orchestra by Rebel, Jean-Féry, Bach, J. S., Zelenka, Leclair, J., Od (2023/2023), Dirigent Fransesco Corti, AMUZ, Antwerp, Belgium

The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) is making another appearance at AMUZ. Led by the harpsichordist and conductor Francesco Corti, the young musicians have the opportunity to perform iconic pieces of Baroque music repertoire. In Johann Sebastian Bach’s first Brandenburg Concerto and Zelenka’s Ouverture-Suite in F Major, the strings and Baroque oboes have every opportunity to shine. French Baroque music, with its refined rhythms and ornamentations, requires a different approach from Bach and Zelenka’s works for the orchestra. Francesco Corti has opted for a selection of instrumental pieces from Jean-Marie Leclair’s opera Scylla et Glaucus and Jean-Féry Rebel’s last composition, Les Eléments. In Les Eléments, Rebel evokes the creation of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, out of chaos. The opening section, evoking chaos, was composed in 1738 and begins with a chord that might easily have been a cluster from a 20th century score by Stockhausen or Ligeti.