Friday 20 February 2015 – Soloists from the OAE at the Guildhall

Works for flute, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord made up the lunchtime recital in the Guildhall, opening with Handel’s B minor Trio Sonata HWV386b. This is a remarkably sombre work and the low lying flute part was at times lost towards the back of the hall. Even the final Allegro seems to have a cloud hanging over it, no matter how well played as it certainly was here.

Telemann’s Nouveau Quatuor No6 in E minor had both grace and charm, with lovely echo effects in the gentle Gracieusement and a reflective concluding Modere.

Bach’s Musical Offering deserves a concert to itself but it was good to hear the Trio Sonata if only for the way the individual musical lines enfold each other with such skill and sensitivity. In the Allegro we hear Frederick’s theme slipped into each instrument in turn, only to we spirited away in a mist of variations. It was the highlight of the afternoon though not the end of the concert.

Bringing us some warmth at last, Rameau’s Troisieme Concert in A major brought a smile not only with the enthusiasm of its rhythms but also the extrovert energy of the two concluding Tambourins.

The four soloists drawn from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment were Lisa Beznosiuk, flute; Alison Bury, violin; Jonathan Manson, viola da gamba, and James Johnstone, harpsichord.

This evening brings The Academy of Ancient Music to the Assembly Rooms for an all Bach programme.

Thursday 19 February 2015 – Vivaldi at St Mary’s

It may have been a wet February evening in Bath but La Serenissima wafted us to the Chiesa della Pieta in Venice to indulge ourselves in works for strings especially composed for the orphanage. It is too easy to dismiss Vivaldi’s works for strings as all being rather too similar, but the attentive ear can pick up nuances to delight and details which can all too easily slip past the inattentive.

The opening Concerto in D RV123 may recall the Four Seasons in its intensity but the Adagio floats like a passage from Gluck – way ahead of its time – and the joyous fugue of the final Allegro brings the work to a dancing conclusion.

There were two concerti for solo violin, in which leader Adrian Chandler was the adroit soloist. The F major concerto RV286, the so called concerto for the Feast of St Lawrence, has a gentle cantabile opening before an unexpectedly forthright attacking Largo and a rustic Allegro non molto which brought smiles to the faces of the players. The second concerto in G major RV307 somewhat disconcertingly opens in very much the same vein as the previous one but then moves into a more dynamic mode, the Adagio having an insistent pulse to it before the extrovert nobility of the final Allegro.

Between these we heard two motets, sung by soprano Mhairi Lawson. Anyone familiar with Vivaldi’s operas would immediately recognise the dense coloratura and passages of intense complexity which were obviously written with a fine operatic voice in mind. Both RV627 and RV632 focus on storms at sea, though the latter is lighter weight and has a strongly Handelian line in the third part. Both have concluding Alleluias which, while in keeping with the religious intentions of the text, seemed out of context with the dramatic flavour of the arias and recitatives. The exacting nature of these works brought no qualms for Mhairi Lawson who gave them the flair and authority they demand.

La Serenissima have the advantage of many fine soloists including essential support from Lynda Sayce on theorbo and James Johnstone at the chamber organ.

This lunchtime at 1.00pm at the Guildhall, soloists from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment play Handel, Telemann, Bach and Rameau.