Toccata (Im Tempo sehr frei) - Sarabande (Largo) - Scherzo (Allegro) - Air [Canon] (Molto moderato) - Finale (Allegro moderato)

Krenek writes that "the revival of the concerto grosso style was [often] based on...wishful thinking: that by restoring the outward appearance of [18th] century music, one could also restore the harmonious social organization that supposedly existed at that time and had produced a happy relationship between the composer and his public." Krenek's Concertino, therefore, takes the content of Baroque music more seriously than did, say, Stravinsky, who was more concerned with its outer trappings. A neo-classical toccata by Ravel or Prokofiev, for example, is an essay in perpetual motion a la Scarlatti; but Krenek's Toccata, the Concertino's opening movement, allows the power and fantasy of the great Bach and Buxtehude organ toccatas to be its inspiration. Not only is its tempo "very free" but texturally, tonally, rhythmically and in other ways, improvisatory freedom is the order of the day, as it was for Bach in his exploratory organ works. "Unpredictability", Krenek wrote in 1947, "is one of the most jealously guarded prerogatives of genius." The Sarabande is infused with tremendous pathos, perhaps stirred by the mighty sarabande that closes Bach's Saint Matthew Passion. Here the flute and strings play the "simple", the violin, harpsichord and continuo (celli and bass) play the "double" (ornamented variation). In the Scherzo, the flute seems to be getting even with the others for not allowing her to play any of the ornaments in the sarabande; she plays them anyway, constantly disrupting the scherzo to do so. In the beautiful Air, the flute and violin dialogue in a passionate canon, soaring over a one-chord ostinato "borrowed" from the second of Arnold Schönberg's Sechs kleine Klavierstücke (Op.19, 1911). The virtuoso Finale is primarily playful, sometimes tying loose ends together, and occasionally loosening those ends deliberately (such as at the very end). As noted in our 1986 program note,"we are proud to be able to restore, after 62 years, a classic to the repertoire. We could not have done this without the generous assistance of The Harpsichord Society, Sylvia Marlowe, founder."