Gay music, obscure tones of baroque instruments charm
A GOODSIZED audience were delighted by the playful music and obscure tones of the baroque instruments performed by Ensemble Zefiro at the Glenroy Auditorium last night.
A programme comprising entirely of Mozart’s Divertimento composed in his years as a freelance composer in Salzburg, gave ample opportunity to become steeped in the sounds and style of this light entertainment — baroque street music.
It also gave plenty of opportunity to assess the difficulties the baroque oboe, bassoon and horn presented to their performers.
It showed how modern instruments have broadened the com posers’ palette and the range of technical demands they can present to the performer.
Baroque horns, lacking contemporary valve systems, slip in and out of key and inhibit the fluidity of fast passages. Baroque bassoons achieve fluid sound but place demands on performers’ ability to tongue the notes.
The sound combined with that of the baroque oboe is more nasal and tangy.
The temperamental vagaries of the instruments add comic lightness.
However, another form of baroque music written by another composer for these instruments might have been informative of their capabilities.
Mozart’s Divertimento in F major (K 213 and K 253), E flat major (K 252) and B flat major (K 240 and 270) — a limited key range in recognition of the horn’s limitations — were in danger of being indistinguishable from each other.
However, each work was delightfully played with extraordinary perfection and obvious enjoyment, taking full advantage of their informality.
The performance brought elements of the origins of the pieces.
A rendition of ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ for a member of the audience and the performers’ retreat one by one from the stage after the encore successfully engaged the audience and deservedly won considerable exuberant applause.