Brandenburg Concertos, Christ Church Baroque

[gothwalk]

I'm actually going to attempt a review, more or less, of tonight's concert. This is unusual, so pay attention.



It was in the National Concert Hall, which is a good start. It was Baroque, which was a good way to continue (all 6 of the Brandenburg Concertos). And it was played by Christ Church Baroque, on period instruments, in period style (that is, standing where the instrument would allow it).

And they were very very good. They played the Concertos out of sequence, which confused me a bit at first, but it seemed to work well.

First up, Concerto No. 1, and the first musician on was holding a brass instrument I didn't recognise. Since I like brass, and can identify a good few of the obscure instruments, that made me pay attention. They turned out to be cornos di caccia, at least according to the program; essentially a natural French Horn. The Concerto, though, has two adagio movements, and I tend to feel sleepy - as far as I'm concerned, Baroque lives in the allegro bits. But the horns kept me entertained.

Concerto No. 6 next, and the appearance of the confusing beast called a viola de gamba - imagine a violincello with a wider neck and strings, and frets. Very nice sound, though - a little crisper than the other strings. But more adagio, until the last movement, where I started to wake up properly.

Then my favourite, Concerto No. 2, played with a natural trumpet. That's possibly under cruel and unusual for the trumpet player, but apart from one set of three notes played about an octave too low, he did very well, and only turned purple twice. The oboe player standing behind him was moving to the music, which seemed somehow to fit, although I'd imagine I'd go crazy if I had to play next to her. No. 2 is nice and fast.

Interval. I stayed put and let people walk past and over me on the way out, and the couple beside us just up and left - can't imagine why, to be honest.

Then into the second half, with Concerto No. 5 up first. It was great, up until the harpsichord bit. Bach had apparently just got a harpsichord, and wanted to show it off. And by all the gods, he did. There's a five minute chunk of nothing else, and while I like the instrument, there's no volume variation, and only so much you can do with it (Harpsichord, hapsichord, I have a harpsichord, look at my harpsichord...). One of the violin players started to smile at this point as though she knew something we didn't, and continued to smile throughout the rest of the concert. Most violin players have an expressive frown, so the smile was something of a variation, and it later spread to a viola player as well. Very suspiscious.

Concerto No. 3, going into the larger ones. I liked No. 3 best this time - it sounded much more together and complete than the others, despite the sad lack of brass.

And finishing up with No. 4, which has the impressive violin bits. The first violin was a girl who looked about twenty-two, at most, and had she worn a tux could have passed for a guy. But she could really play. The impressive violin bits became really impressive, particularly in the presto movement at the end, where at one point the bow and her fingers vanished into two blurs.

And to round it off, I bought a baroque collection from the NCH shop, before we headed for home.



It was an excellent evening, and I was really pleased with it. I'm going to follow Christ Church Baroque around in true otaku mode for a bit, I think.

Comments

[elorie.livejournal.com]

Heh. Otaku. I learned that word from my esteemed fornorald, who in some ways exemplifies it. He defined it as meaning "rabid fan boy".

He's not really very rabid, though. He's too mellow. He makes fan-boy-ishness look cool.