A Crusell and Coppola championship

Since its formation in 2015, Orpheus Baroque has grown into an important part of the capital city’s music offering, serving as a meeting place for orchestra members and some of Sweden’s foremost freelance Baroque musicians. 

A symphony by Haydn concludes this programme, but the emphasis is on music by Finnish-Swedish Bernhard Crusell, who was born in Nystad, Finland in 1775 and died in Stockholm in 1838. Crusell was a clarinettist and is primarily associated with works for clarinet – such as the clarinet concertos and quartets. 

Here, we hear the third clarinet concerto and first clarinet quartet with none other than Italian Lorenzo Coppola – one of Europe’s authorities in early music. He has performed with the most prominent ensembles in older repertoires, including Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Coppola has also guest-performed with Orpheus Baroque before, at a concert in 2021 that can be heard on Konserthuset Play. 

Critically acclaimed ensemble Orpheus Baroque regularly works with prominent guests from the international Baroque music scene. Artistic director is the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s solo cellist, Johannes Rostamo, as well as concertmaster and Baroque violinist Elin Gabrielsson, a member, among other ensembles, of Italian Europa Galante.