APO: Baroque and Beyond: Concerto Grosso

Paying homage to John Dowland, the Elizabethan lutenist/composer, Britten wrote a ravishing set of variations for his own instrument, the viola. It’s contemplative, slightly melancholy music, and as Robert Ashworth will show, it suits the viola beautifully. Like Handel, their fellow (adoptive) Englishman, Britten and Holst were both lifelong admirers of Purcell, and they wrote these arrangements partly so that more people would discover his bright, lively music.