I do wonder how many towns the size of Canberra are supplied with musicians like this town. Concerts just seem to roll in, frequently, during the week or conflict over the weekend. And so I managed to fit a Canberra Bach Ensemble sets of four oratorios into the Saturday evening between a final rehearsal and a Maruki concert. More on that next. But it's busy. And CBE concerts are not lightweight. Four cantatas featuring ~50 performers comprising choir and soloists and period instrumentalists, some visiting from Melbourne or Sydney for the event, but mostly local. That's 2 hours of performance with an interval in the middle. Not shirking. And each cantata preceded by a presumably related motet by another composer, all cantatas for the Jubilate Sunday, once the Third Sunday after Easter. True to form, the baroque instruments were wooden and detuned and of considerable interest and some rarity or at least uncommonness. We got a long necked Theorbo from violinist Shaun Ng, a sixth flute (essentially a descant recorder in D) that had been borrowed by Robyn Mellor from Melbourne, oboes d'amore and baroque bassoons and the like. And plenty of gut for the tone. The choir sounded glorious, the vocal soloists informed and clear, the whole a glorious and generous indulgence in the period and quite a learning proposition. Thanks once again to Andrew and CBE.
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