REVIEW: The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St George's 9/10 (Helen Reid)
THIS was Baroque heaven: the best Baroque orchestra in the country playing an all Vivaldi and Telemann concert.
Though performances of Vivaldi's Four Seasons have become a bit of a cliche, the OAE found a new approach by spreading the four concertos throughout the programme.
This way the audience could examine each one separately and with the vital and witty playing came fresh appreciation of these clever pastoral idylls, with the slipping and sliding figures of Winter, where the violins imitate teeth-chattering, the legato sleepiness of Summer, the imitations of birdsong in Spring, and the drunken plenty of Autumn.
The leader and director of the orchestra, Kati Debretzeni, managed to act as well as play her virtuoso role.
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But the rest of the programme was far less familiar.
From Telemann's vast output came an Overture in the French style, full of dramatic contrast since the subject was the characters of the Commedia del Arte, and then two arias from completely forgotten Vivaldi operas.
Bass Matthew Rose was the soloist, and the second, a slow lament with ever descending scales from the strings, was well worth reviving.
As always the attack and warmth of the OAE players won noisy praise from a capacity audience.
Rose was also the soloist in the Telemann Canary Canata, a mock solemn account of the death of a pet canary thanks to an attack by a cat.
The music is just as dramatic and passionate as it would be for a serious opera, with lots of languishing and ornamental raging, and Rose's lovely tone and agile technique made this a real treat – at one point he brought out a hankie, dried his eyes, and a little feather fell to the floor. it was a truly Aaah moment.
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