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| Harpsichord waiting for Egarr to appear |
Baroque music. Somehow the name sounds so staid, as if the music might be constrained by tight corsets. Women did wear corsets in the 16th and 17th century but there was an exuberance in fashion at that time and if the baroque concert I heard yesterday is any indication, that is what we should judge the music by.
Baroque music expert Richard Egarr conducted from the keyboard, or keyboards actually because he played three 'old' instruments.
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| Richard Egarr (from ACO website) |
Egarr is a pleasure of a man,
explaining to his delighted audience what they should be listening for in the context of the time and teasing the orchestra by his unexpected improvisations which is, he said, exactly what baroque musicians would have done. (In Melbourne a mobile phone went off and Egarr reportedly improvised to include the mobile tune in his playing.) The Australian Chamber Orchestra, who accompanied him obviously enjoyed
Egarrs theatrical flourishes and whimsical improvisations.
Another great pleasure of the concert was hearing ACO Principal Violin
Satu Vänskä play the solo lead in Bach's
Concerto for Violin in A minor. She has the most malleable right arm of any violinist I have
seen. It flows in a mesmerisingly fluid dance as she plays. She reminded me
of a weeping willow in the
second movement, swaying and bending as she played. She was supported by the delicate and precise playing of her ACO colleagues and it made me feel like weeping.
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