Improvisation on a Baroque Theme

Baroque music (Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti) with jazz improvisations

The concert is based on the highly acclaimed programme Baroque Tapestries by two famous musicians. The listeners are up to an extraordinary musical event – a meeting of Baroque music and contemporary improvisation, Viktoras Paukštelis, a renowned pianist and artist, and Vladimir Tarasov, a jazz master and recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize. It is no secret that Baroque music is in some ways close to contemporary improvisation: it is also often based on bass line, the melody is developed with embellishments and melismas, and the quality and originality of this music depends on the performer’s mastery. In the Baroque era, the composer gave much more freedom to the performer than, for example, in classicism or romanticism, when he was more strongly “tied” to notes, tempo or dynamics. So Baroque and the 21st century improvised jazz are similar in nature and inspire original artistic ideas.