Mediterranean Baroque: Forma Antiqva | BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Period instrument ensemble Forma Antiqva plays the music they love best – the flamboyant, intensely passionate composers of baroque Spain.

When18th century composers settled in Spain, something extraordinary often happened – as Moorish influences and local melodies gradually found their way into their music. Today’s concert features music by Italian composers who worked in Spain as well as unfamiliar Spanish composers: passionate, richly coloured music in which fandangos mingle with operatic overtures and emotions find new extremes of sunlight and shade.

Founded over two decades ago in Asturias, Forma Antiquva is one of Spain’s most innovative and energetic period instrument ensembles. They’ve made a Europe-wide name for their spirited and sympathetic rediscovery of neglected Spanish composers like Vincente Baset and José de Nebra – but their imagination and their communicative flair knows no boundaries.