Madrigals and Scarlatti, Lufthansa Baroque Festival

"Is it music or just a bit weird?" Robert Hollingworth, director of Baroque vocal specialists I Fagiolini, was posing the question of Gesualdo, the infamous oddball composer of the late 16th century - a sort of musical Caravaggio - whose capricious way with just about every aspect of composition (and social norms: he was a murderer) made him a poster boy for the 20th century. It's a question, however, that could quite easily apply to any great pioneer. The best music is always on the cusp of making no sense at all. And therefore it could also apply to much of the Lufthansa Baroque Festival this year, which focuses on the great Italian game-changers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Yesterday the is-it-music-or-just-a-bit-weird focus was on the Italian madrigalists and Domenico Scarlatti.

 

"Is it music or just a bit weird?" Robert Hollingworth, director of Baroque vocal specialists I Fagiolini, was posing the question of Gesualdo, the infamous oddball composer of the late 16th century - a sort of musical Caravaggio - whose capricious way with just about every aspect of composition (and social norms: he was a murderer) made him a poster boy for the 20th century. It's a question, however, that could quite easily apply to any great pioneer. The best music is always on the cusp of making no sense at all. And therefore it could also apply to much of the Lufthansa Baroque Festival this year, which focuses on the great Italian game-changers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Yesterday the is-it-music-or-just-a-bit-weird focus was on the Italian madrigalists and Domenico Scarlatti.