BAROQUE MUSIC BROUGHT TO LIFE

Sunday, November 12, 2000

Ralph O'Dette
For The Dispatch

The energetic attack in recent decades on the complex puzzle of how best to play the music of past centuries has led, among other benefits, to the creation of virtuoso ensembles such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

Based in Toronto, the 20-member Tafelmusik specializes in the performance of music from roughly 1600 to 1750.

They were presented last night by the Columbus Chamber Music Society in Mees Hall, Capital University, in a program of J.S. Bach, Handel and Telemann. Jeanne Lamon, who has directed the orchestra since 1981, led.

Tafelmusik maintains an extensive international touring schedule, in addition to its 45-concert season in Toronto. Columbus is fortunate to have them visit, and CCMS is to be thanked for arranging it.

The concert was a delight. Hearing "period instruments'' played by highly skilled musicians who are expert in the styles and techniques of the time in history when the music was new is a treasurable experience. With all due respect to modern instrument orchestras, they cannot execute baroque music as it was brought to life last night.

The opening Handel Concerto Grosso in F major, Op.3, No.4 has a checkered history, but that doesn't matter today. It is ingratiating, tuneful, by turns bouncy and reposeful, play-it-again music.

Possibly the most prolific composer in the history of music -- thousands of cantatas, 40 operas, and more than 600 suites for starters -- Telemann also had a sense of humor. The Tragicomic Suite satirizes three maladies by describing them musically and then musically prescribing treatment. The hypochondriac was my favorite, described by alternating measures of a slow saraband and an up-tempo jig. Tafelmusik's flawless execution of the sudden tempo and meter changes was stunning

A "new'' Bach double concerto for two violins is a fine addition to the literature. Transcribed by Tafelmusik harpsichordist Charlotte Nediger from the familiar two-harpsichord version, the music seemed right in its new form. Lamon and Linda Melstad were a flawless duo, especially in the meltingly beautiful slow movement.

The concert ended on a very high note with Bach's Suite No. 3 in D major. Everyone knows the second movement arranged as Air on the G String.