Baroque music delights

The next installment of the Lunch Recitals series at the Rudolfinum will feature a performance by prominent young oboist Vilém Veverka and harpsichordist Barbara Maria Willi. The duo will be performing a number of Baroque chamber pieces from 17th-century conductors: Couperin, Vivaldi, Fux and Bach.

Veverka, a soloist of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and a founding member of Prague's renowned PhilHarmonia Octet, has established his reputation in the Czech Republic and throughout Europe since his victory at the Tokyo/Sony Music Foundation competition in 2003. In recent years, he has performed regularly with some of the most respected Czech musicians, including harpist Kateřina Englichová.

Barbara Maria Willi also regularly makes appearances in both Prague and Brno and has been performing solo and with orchestras throughout the country and Central Europe since her debut in 1995, when she was awarded the Prix d'Encouragement in Bruges, Belgium.

Veverka and Willi have performed together on several occasions, and have developed a rapport over the years. The music they have chosen, especially the two pieces by Couperin, Royal Concert Number 11 and The Mysterious Barricades, are Baroque chamber pieces centered around the harpsichord, in keeping with much of Couperin's output. Ververka's oboe should bring a haunting, emotional element to the music, especially The Mysterious Barricades, which contains harmonic ambiguities that have been described as modern or even revolutionary for 17th-century music.

The other pieces in the performance, Fux's Ciaconno in D Major, Vivaldi's Sonata in C Minor, and Bach's Sonata in G Minor, are also chamber music intended for oboe and harpsichord and will complete the afternoon's Baroque theme. Fux's piece especially should be a treat, as that Austrian composer was a master of counterpoint.

The Rudolfinum's Lunch Recitals series was conceived last year as a unique way to offer performances of classical music to audiences who might not otherwise be able to make it to the concert hall. Whether you take a long lunch or have the day off, Veverka and Willi's midday performance will be a Baroque delight.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com