Tag: Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman, Wigmore Hall, 13 October 2001

This might have been the first time we saw Ton Koopman lead the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Decades later, we helped Ton celebrate his 80th birthday.

Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024

Excellent they were too, both in 2024 and in 2001.

In 2001 we saw/heard:

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber – Battalia
  • Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer – Concerto No 2 in B flat major
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto in B minor for four violins, cello and strings Op 3 No 10 (RV580)
  • Carlo Farina – Capriccio Stravagante
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G Major BWV 1048
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Here is the andante from the Wassenaer:

I cannot find a recording of Koopman’s lot doing the Farina, as it were, but this Irish interpretation is rather jolly:

The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman did most of their recording of this type of stuff in the late 1980s. Here’s an example of their Brandenburg Concerto performances:

A Late Night Prom With The Scholl Siblings & The Frieburg Baroque, 27 August 1999

This was a super way to kick off a bank holiday weekend. Janie and I had taken the day off work. No sign in the diaries of us eating out – perhaps we ate at Sandall Close and then jumped in the car to go to Kensington.

Interesting concert – Janie is partial to a bit of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, so that would have been the clincher. The other three pieces were rare items, all of which were getting their Proms premier that night.

  • Francesco Durante – Concerto No. 4 in E minor
  • Antonio Vivaldi – Filiae maestae Jerusalem, RV 638
  • Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer – Concerto No. 5 in F minor
  • Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – Stabat mater

Here’s a beautiful recording of Andreas Scholl singing the Vivaldi piece (with a different orchestra), embedded from Andreas Scholl’s YouTube Channel:

I cannot find a review of the concert we heard, but I can find a most interesting preview in The Telegraph, including an interview with the Scholl siblings:

Scholl x2 Telegraph Rye Scholl x2 Telegraph Rye 21 Aug 1999, Sat The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

As Andreas himself says, the Royal Albert Hall is far from perfect acoustically for baroque music, but it does have a unique atmosphere of its own. This concert was a good one.