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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
February 6, 2009
The theme of this year's Pacific Baroque Festival is "Handel in London." This evening's performance which featured works by Purcell, Handel and Haydn, could have been titled, "Some composers who worked in London for a while and who were born or died in a year that ends '09 or '59": not, I grant you, a particularly catchy title for a concert in a series that has become one of the most-anticipated events in the Victoria musical calendar.
Purcell was represented on the programme by works from the very beginning and the tragically early end of his career. His late work was represented by the Suite from Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge (1695). The Pacific Baroque Orchestra (strings: 3-3-1-1-1, plus harpsichord) gave a stylish performance of this music. The work begins with an overture in the French style, complete with dotted rhythms. (The great German orchestral suites of the next century, by Bach, Fasch, Telemann, Heinichen and others obviously have the same French origin.) This rhythm was subtly emphasized.
Some of the subsequent movements - a mixture of "Aires" and various dances - are more clearly English in origin. Each of the movements is a musical miniature, analogous to the miniature portraits of era, and each was given a nuanced performance.
The early works were three of the Fantasies Purcell composed in 1680. These are widely regarded as the last great expressions of the English tradition of consort music, which originated with Byrd and his contemporaries. I have always found these pieces, despite the evident skill with which they are crafted, rather academic exercises. This impression was reinforced by the performance of Fantasia 7 in the first half of the programme. I thought that the performance was a little meandering.
The performances, in the second half of the programme of Fantasias 9 and 10 were much more purposeful and emotionally engaging. This may have been in part because, in these pieces, unlike No. 7, Destrubé took the first violin part. (All of the Purcell Fantasias were performed, as they ought to be, one to a part.)
Haydn was represented by his Violin Concerto in C Major, Hob. VIIa:1 of 1769. This is one of the signature pieces of Destrubé and the PBO; they have recorded it for ATMA. (I am listening to the recording of the concerto as I write these words, enjoying a simulacrum of last nightâ's performance.) This is an excellent piece to showcase Destrubé's poised and sensitive approach to the violin.
The opening Allegro Moderato was taken rather slowly and given a stately reading. Even the delightful cadenza, Destrubé's own, was carefully under control. The Adagio, featuring pizzicato accompaniment, gave the soloist the opportunity to display his lovely warm tone and imaginative use of vibrato. On the initial long notes of a phrase, the obvious candidates for some vibrato, often none was used. Instead, shorter notes, later in the phrase were ornamented. The result was touching and effective playing. The concluding Presto was still quite disciplined but with a soupçon of nervous energy. Throughout the ensemble playing of the orchestra was tight as they provided excellent support.
The first Handel piece was the Oboe Concerto in g, HWV 287, This is an early work, whose authenticity has only recently been fairly conclusively established. It dates from 1703 and just prior to Handel's Italian sojourn. The soloist was Sand Dalton, playing on an oboe of his own manufacture. In Dalton, Destrubé finds a musical solo mate (pun intended). A virtuoso on the notoriously cranky baroque version of the oboe, Dalton turned in a controlled and mellifluous performance. The concerto was rendered as intimate piece of chamber music, with the strings playing one to a part and Michael Jarvis leaving the harpsichord to play on chamber organ. This was a sensitive rather than showy performance.
The other work by Handel, and the concluding work of the programme, was the Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 5, a mature work from Handel's London years. This was, perhaps, the highlight of the evening. It was given a taut performance, by turns vigorous, deft (the Presto), lyrical (particularly the Largo) and playful (the concluding Minuet). Altogether, it was highly satisfying performance.
One quibble: for some reason the lid was removed from the harpsichord. Had the lid remained in place and the instrument been placed side-on to the audience, it would have been more distinctly audible from where I sat. In my experience, musicians love pulling the lids off harpsichords. I think that they believe it is rather risqué behaviour. But there is a reason the lids are there, other than to keep the dust off the soundboard when the instrument is not being played.
This evening was a fine start to this year's festival and it left me eagerly looking forward to this evening's concert. If you love baroque music, you should be there.
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