Lands of the Free

Notated music has always contained a degree of interpretation and improvisation; in the 17th and early 18th centuries, this improvisation played many roles. Sometimes it was decorative ornamentation around written notes, or completely new pieces generated by improvising upon a common bass line. Other times, it was a way of establishing a key or connecting more structured episodes to each other. Styles of improvising differed as much as their nation’s languages, and this program explores the ways the lively, charming, and surprising ways they coexisted and influenced each other.

Artists

Carrie Krause, baroque violin

Manami Mizumoto, baroque violin

Keiran Campbell, cello

John Lenti, theorbo