Nearly twenty years ago I worked in a skyscraper near London’s Victoria Station. I’ve recounted previously how I used to walk over to Harrods via Motcomb Street. Well, apparently, I used to do something else too; I used to ceaselessly hum the melody to Vivaldi’s Winter (Largo) from the Four Seasons.

Now, as luck would have it, I had an Italian colleague sat opposite me. He liked Vivaldi. He told me that the Four Seasons was part of a larger movement, The Contrast Between Harmony and Invention (Opus 8). And thus began my interest in baroque.

Tracking down Vivaldi’s other opus became a hobby. If you haven’t heard La Stravaganza, l’estro armonico or Gloria it’s worth the two seconds of your life it takes to track these down and listen. From Vivaldi I found Teleman, Albinoni, Corelli, Bach (of course), Handel and numerous others.

Baroque music became the only music I listen to at work. It also became the only music I listened to on trains going to and from work. Ah, yes, commuting; how soon we forget! Two hours a day listening to my favourite Vivaldi’s concertii as the rolling hills of Sussex transformed into South London.

Now one of the best things about YouTube (and one of the worst) is that it takes your viewing habits and very quickly recommends other videos of the same ilk. Now this can be worrisome; you can watch a Trump press conference and in a matter of clicks you’re nodding along to Alex Jones ranting about satanic conspiracies. Or you watch Tulsi Gabbard tear Kamala Harris a new one in a Democratic debate and then you’re suddenly marooned watching extreme left propaganda (otherwise known as CNN).

But, to be fair, with music, Youtube comes into its own and I appreciate it recommending music for me. I have found many great songs and artists I otherwise wouldn’t have. Sometimes algorithms work.

Thus, one dreamy afternoon at work, my earphones plugged in to some Vivaldi, I came across - or YouTube recommended for me - Alessandro Marcello’s sublime Oboe Concerto in d Minor.

How can one describe these three movements? The angular musicality of the first, the haunting slow adagio, the playfulness of the third? Something about the key of D minor and the combination of oboes and baroque instruments always succeeds in delivering an impactful punch (see the equally sublime RV 535 from Vivaldi or Albinoni’s stunning Oboe Concerto - also in Dm).

The concerto was clearly popular in the early eighteenth century as Bach reworked it for harpsichord as BMV 974. It’s a good version - dropping to C minor for the occasion - and a good track to add to my piano playlist. However, it lacks some of the formality and evocativeness of the original. Bach’s version sounds like good instrumental music from a French film (nothing wrong with that, of course).

Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D Minor is one to seek out; but the ultimate proof of a piece of music is to listen for yourself. I hope it is a positive experience for you all.