REVIEW: Concerts in the West

ONLY Handel can open a violin sonata with three rising notes of an arpeggio and then, in adding a fourth, take one's breath away. 

This is how the September performance of Concerts in the West began in what was the most uplifting chamber music concert I can recall.

Jane Gordon and Julian Perkins are exemplary musicians in this genre.

Julian has shone as a concerto soloist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Orchestra of the Sixteen, and has made a feature of recordings on a range of historical harpsichords.

Against the admirable 1985 copy of an Italian harpsichord, Jane’s 1635 Italian Baroque violin shone to perfection. 

The sound left delighted audiences spellbound in a programme chosen for contrast, beauty and the use of advanced techniques for the time.

After Handel’s joyful D major Violin Sonata came the great beauty and sensuality of Leclair’s 1723 G minor Sonata from his Opus five set.

The first half closed with Corelli’s ‘madness’ variations, La Folia, a celebrated showpiece built on a short motif that was to haunt Baroque composers and beyond.

In their fluent introductions, Jane and Julian constantly referred to the virtuosity of the works, but such was their dazzling execution that we only marvelled at how their brilliance served the music.

Before three contrasting solo keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and JS Bach’s duo Sonata in E minor, its introspection worn light as it gave way to the glorious Gigue, came the revelation of the evening – music by Heinrich Biber, a 1681 Passacaglia for solo violin, a work based on a repeated pattern of notes, here a mere four descending notes, with the violin heard at its purest yet dazzling best. 

Biber was to the 17th Century what Paganini was to the 19th.

By contrast, the final set from Concerts in the West this year is at the end of October, and features the sensuous sound of Elaine Ruby’s clarinet with Daniel King Smith, piano, including music by Brahms and Verdi.