concert review: Sunday

At Le petit Trianon, English baroque ensemble called Red Priest, after Vivaldi's byname. They played his Four Seasons, interspersed with other Baroque works with seasonal references (Biber, Purcell, Corelli, etc.). Not your usual Four Seasons: the ensemble (recorder solo, with ripeno of violin, cello, harpsichord) required arrangement anyway: they would do anything to draw attention to the story-telling and characterization aspects of the works: play on the bridge fortissimo for a wintry sound, clap, swing the beat, bang on their instruments, play while lying on the floor pretending to be dead, and so on. It was profoundly silly, but still impressive: you can't make sense while clowning around like this unless you really know what you're doing. I was reminded of dancing The Black Nag with liveavatar when Lord John isn't watching.

In the question session after the concert, recorder soloist Piers Adams was asked to name his teachers. The names meant nothing to the questioner, but they did to me: notably Philip Pickett, the Renaissance man of Renaissance wind instruments, who will do anything from direct fiery authentic performances of Baroque choral classics to perform Italian dance music accompanied by a rock band, as long as it sounds good. Red Priest aren't a rock band, though they dress rather like one, but they're in that spirit.