Ensemble Latoen consists of ten brass and a percussionst. Their adaptations aim at bridging several centuries of music, with a British twist.
The concert opens with the ouverture from ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’. Händel has written this sparkling work in 1749 as a prelude to the fireworks on 27 April 1749 in Green Park, London, for which he was assigned by king George II. Many years later, in 1942, British William Walton composed ‘Spitfire Prelude & Fuga’: this orchestral work was the filmmusic for the movie The First of the Few.
Latoen will also perform ‘The Fairy Queen’ by Henry Purcell. A comedy semi-opera that back then had spoken lines alternated with music, the so-called masques. Libretto of ‘The Fairy Queen’ is an anonymous adaptation from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
This new brass take on Purcell works like a charm and Latoen will happily lead you to the magnificent world of the Oberon and Titania.