THE University of York’s annual Baroque Day, deriving added prestige from being staged at the National Centre, conjured a Grand Tour – a fashionable pursuit in the 18th century – with visits to Paris, London, Venice and Leipzig.
Central to the four concerts was the ensemble-in-residence Compagnia d'Istrumenti, a quartet also at the core of the University Baroque Ensemble, which appeared twice. A vocal quintet, Les Canards Chantants, completed the cast before a sell-out audience.
The Parisian excursion opened with a light-hearted Coffee Cantata by Nicolas Bernier and several harpsichord works by Couperin, before repairing to the Hôtel de Guise for motets and litanies written by Charpentier for its pious chatelaine, Marie de Lorraine (alias 'Mlle de Guise').
London, a magnet for musicians on the make, then as now, featured composers whose lives spanned over two centuries. A William Lawes suite and a William Hayes trio sonata, charming enough, paled beside a lively Matteis chaconne and a Handel trio sonata, redolent of Italy. It was surprising to find a Haydn 'trio sonata' in this company, given its doubtful authenticity and classical feel. Les Canards, venturing into Venetian madrigal territory, at first lacked enough of a cutting edge in its soprano line, in pieces by Willaert and Monteverdi. Matters improved considerably in semi-staged versions of madrigal comedies by Adriano Banchieri and Andrea Gabrieli, which provoked justified chortles.
The evening's finale, centred on Leipzig, produced some outstanding performances. Oboist Mark Hutchinson and violinist Nick Chen shone in a Telemann concerto, while harpsichordists Andrew Passmore and Daniel Swain found time for shading in a relentless Bach harpsichord duo. Sarah Holland was the secure soprano soloist in a Bach cantata, but the treat of the day was Telemann's graphic Water Music (aka Hamburg's ebb and flow), full of delightful touches.
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