Harmonic Inspiration: Vivaldi's "L'Estro Armonico"

Lucie Skeaping looks at Vivaldi's groundbreaking Op.3 set of concertos for one, two or four violins entitled "L'Estro Armonico", which were published 300 years ago.

Vivaldi had them published in Amsterdam, which meant they were readily available throughout northern Europe. The 8 partbooks even landed on the desk of JS Bach, who found them so inspirational he set about making transcriptions of some of them for keyboard instruments.

We'll hear some of Vivaldi's concertos in recordings by The English Concert and I Musici, as well as one of Bach's transcriptions - the Concerto for 4 Harpsichords in a performance by Bach Collegium Stuttgart conducted by Helmuth Rilling.