In so many ways, this concert by Salut! Baroque was delightful. It's a throwaway description but worthy and apt in this case. The music was glorious early baroque music from Telemann and mostly contemporaries and the music often featured lines "stolen" from those contemporaries. As Picasso said, "Good artists copy; great artists steal". I thought Miles said that, but so be it. Certainly Telemann did steal some lines, but it's also the development and more that's relevant and anyway, they get lost amongst his other 3,000 compositions. Colin Milner appeared as Telemann himself, introducing tunes and some stories of Telemann and singing one piece and generally also being delightful. Not least in the bird and cat scene. And John Ma was there as orchestra leader and it was clear to see the respect for his interpretations and leadership amongst the performers. John is MD for the next Musica da Camera concert and I'm learning tons of the baroque spirit and instrumental interpretation as we speak. We are lucky to have John and such Euro-experienced musicians in our midst when they quite often return. And the pieces were short and often essentially danceable, so again delightful, and that's a common aspect of music of this period, the waltzes and bourées and gavottes although often just expressed as Andante or Vivace of Allegro non molto or the like. It was only one hour, but we heard some great bottom end from bass and cello and that remarkable theorbo, a delightful, quiet harpsichord solo, those lovely strings, 2 violins and a viola, and the winds, two recorders and a flute, often playing off against each other, and Telemann singing of the cat. And a most unexpected gypsy number to end. It was just one hour but a work of collection and performance that delighted. Do I need to say I loved it and got a good few chuckles along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment