The Nightingale in Love 

Combining buoyant dance rhythms, sonorous textures and beguiling melodies, the contrasting styles of French and Italian music are featured in this programme as seen through the eyes of Bach and his contemporaries.

Framing his captivating Overture in the French Style, and Concerto in the Italian Style will be colourful descriptive music by Couperin referencing love, including 'Le Rossignol en amour'; along with sonatas by Scarlatti which betray their operatic origins with lush harmonies, seductive melodies and infectious rhythms.

JS Bach (1685-1750) Italian Concerto in F, BWV 971
D Scarlatti (1685-1757) Sonatas – in B minor, Kk 197/87; in A, Kk208/209; in G, Kk144/427
INTERVAL
Couperin (1668-1733) Selections from Ordre XIV
'Le rossignol-en-amour', 'Double du rossignol'
'La linote-éfarouchée', 'Les fauvétes plaintives'
'Le rossignol-vainqueur'
JS Bach French Overture, BWV 831

David Francis harpsichord