Fretwork with Iestyn Davies: Concert

These stars of the early music world dazzle in a striking range of repertoire spanning four centuries. You’ll hear music by English masters including pieces by Byrd, Purcell and Jenkins from the heyday of the viol. Arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare and a “vocal concerto” by Johann Christoph Bach offer a spotlight for a Davies, a singer of “rapturous virtuosity and uncanny beauty” (The Independent). Partnering with “the finest viol consort on the planet” (Evening Standard, London), Davies conjures breathtaking colors and timbres: a palette perfect for a moment in the sunlit stillness of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Silent Noon. Program: [0:25] Introduction by Susan Vita, Chief, Music Division [07:00] William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) My mind to me Fantasia “Two parts in one” Ye Sacred Muses Browning [26:10] Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) The Sky Above Silent Noon [33:30] Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) Fantasia in Four Parts [39:00] J.C. Bach (1735-1782) Lamento [48:30] Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613) Beltà poi che t’a