Göteborgs Konserthus Baroque Glow and Elegance

La verità in cimento (1720) is an opera seria in three acts, and the title means roughly “Truth put to the test”. The opera revolves around questions of identity, power, love and morality, and the overture is a clear example of Vivaldi’s way of combining dramatic intensity with formal clarity. As in many of his operas, the introduction is in three parts in the so-called sinfonia form (fast–slow–fast), a structure that both establishes the mood and prepares the audience for the stage drama. Unlike later opera overtures by, for example, Christoph Willibald Gluck, where the music is more deeply integrated into the drama, Vivaldi’s overture is more independent, and does not reproduce specific events from the plot. The opera itself takes place at an exoticized oriental court. The ruler Mamud has let his two sons grow up in simple conditions, to test whether a person's worth is determined by birth, or by upbringing and character.

Here elegance and liveliness meet, in music that shimmers with Italian Baroque joy. With its direct expressive power and infectious vitality, this is a gem that speaks straight to the heart. Francesco Durante was one of the most significant figures of the Neapolitan school and a highly regarded teacher, whose students came to characterize the 18th-century opera scene. He himself devoted himself primarily to church music and wrote no operas. But in his String Concerto No. 5 in A major, another side of the composer emerges. Here, instrumental expression is at the center, characterized by the elegance, clear form and vivid contrasts of the emerging galant style. In contrast to the more soloistically driven concert form of, for example, Vivaldi, Durante is more focused on the unity and balance of the ensemble sound. The music naturally alternates between lyrically thoughtful parts and more energetic sections with rhythmic driving force. With smoothly shaped melodies, transparent structure and a lively interplay between the strings, warm sounds are combined with vital energy. The result is music that feels both accessible and expressive.

The Concerto in G major for two violins shows another side of the composer, and here dialogue is at the center. The two solo parts alternate between interplay and competition in a lively musical fabric, where Vivaldi combines technical brilliance with melodic inventiveness. The concerto follows the same three-movement model as in the overture. The first movement, a ritornello, is characterized by energy and virtuoso interplay between the two violins, where imitations and rapid figures create a lively, musical dialogue. The slow middle movement forms a clear contrast, with its lyrical and singable expression. In the final movement, the driving energy returns in a danceable and playful ending, where the two solo violins excel in fast runs and virtuoso passages.

Sonata nr 3 C Major BWV 1005, arr. Terje Skomedal Adagio - Fugue Johann Sebastian Bach's six sonatas and partitas for solo violin are among the most important in the entire violin repertoire. Bach's first biographer wrote in 1802: " the best means to make an ambitious student a perfect master of his instrument". The demanding and brilliant works appeared during the period when Bach was employed by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen from 1717 to 1723. In contrast to the cello suites, for which no signed manuscript has survived, we can point to 1720 as the year of the six violin sonatas and partitas. Bach managed to make a clean copy of them. The works have become the prototype of solo violin pieces for generations of composers.

Composed in Hamburg in 1773, the symphony is part of a set of six string symphonies commissioned by the Austrian ambassador and music connoisseur Baron Gottfried van Swieten. At this time, C. P. E. Bach was a central figure in the development of the North German “emotional style” (empfindsamer Stil), whose task was to convey a clear and strong emotion. It is closely related to the literary movement Sturm und Drang, and they are the seeds of what would later become Romanticism. The “emotional style” is the poetic, tragic side, while “storm and longing” represents the epic struggle of humanity.

The Baroque Academy Gothenburg Symphony was formed around 2008 and consists of 20 musicians who are driven by the desire to explore and bring to life music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Concert master is Terje Skomedal. The ensemble has performed several concerts over the years with guest soloists and baroque specialists, such as Iwona Muszynska (violin), Takashi Watanabe (harpsichord), Stefano Veggetti (cello) and Philippe Pierlot (viola da gamba).In addition to a series of concerts in Gothenburg Concert Hall, the Baroque Academy has also played at the Auktionsverket in Gothenburg, Kulturbruket på Dal and several other places in Västra Götaland. In 2023 BAGS released an album with italian countertenor Nicolò Balducci.

Norwegian Terje Skomedal is principal for violin 2 in the Gothenburg Symphony. He studied at the Barratt-Due Music Institute in Oslo and with Giuliano Carmignola in Lucerne where he took a soloist diploma. Terje Skomedal has worked as concertmaster in the Norrandsoperan orchestra in Umeå and in several Norwegian orchestras. He has extensive experience as a chamber musician and has toured internationally with the chamber orchestras Oslo Camerata and Spira Mirabilis as well as appeared as a soloist with several Norwegian and foreign orchestras.