SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Baroque Tapas: Brandenburg Soloists with Paul Dyer, Artistic Director; Old Masters Gallery, Art Gallery of N.S.W. Sydney, 27.6.2009 (ZT)


Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger: Improvisation based on the Arpeggiata from Libro IV d’intavolatura di chitarrone; Avrilla mia; Bergamasca; Canarios; Toccata improvisation.

Andrea Falconieri: Ciaconna from Il primo libro di canzone; Folia (a 3) echa para mi Senora

Maurizio Cazzati: Passacaglia from Op. 22

Claudio Monteverdi: Chiome d’oro from the Seventh Book of Madrigals; Si dolce e il tormento.

Benedetto Ferrari: Amanti io vi so dire.

Bartolomeo Laurenti: Introduzione Dodicesima from Suonate per camera, Op 1

Tarquinio Merula: Ciaconne from Canzoni Libro Terzo, Op 12.

Juan Hidalgo: Esperar, sentir,morir


The adage, ‘The only true indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour’ had little relevance to this recital. The Old Masters Gallery, Art Gallery of N.S.W. is rather a more intimate venue compared to the Sydney City Recital Hall, Angel Place where the last several Sydney concert series by the Brandenburg Orchestra have been held. Some sense of proportion can be gained from the approximate seating capacity of these venues: around four hundred for the former which is about one third of that for Angel Place. The Gallery's vaulted-ceiling, adorned with beautiful paintings by such Australian masters as Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin, engendered relative feelings of novelty, relevance and cultural pathos as one waited for the recital to begin - far from the madding crowd.

The programme was equally divergent and aptly named ‘Baroque tapas.’ Featuring thirteen musicians the emphasis was on solo performance. They presented music from eight different Baroque composers, and included two items notated ‘Improvisation’ which one assumes were pieces written in the style of the day by individuals from the orchestra.

This was a highly entertaining evening of music making. Full credit is due to the creative efforts of the Artistic Director who has long known that competent performance and entertaining are not necessarily synonymous. The Orchestra musicians shone in their solo roles and soprano Mina Kanaridis made only one inevitable mistake: she stopped singing.

A highlight of the evening was percussion played by Jess Ciampa and Brian Nixon. Included in the extensive armamentarium of percussive "instruments" were a number of innovative devices: ‘sticks’ of the kind used by Australian Aborigines to make percussive sounds, fixed castanets that were tapped rather than shaken, and a variety of other unorthodox devices that gave interesting texture and variety to the music.

One gained the impression that the musicians were enjoying themselves and that enhanced audience reaction. In the absence of a planned encore (?) the last programmed item, Esperar, sentir, morir by Hidalgo, was repeated- with a twist. Paul Dyer left the harpsichord, dabbled ad lib. in the percussion section, and in an unrestrained manner appeared to be very much enjoying himself. An excellent concert from any, and every perspective.

Zane Turner