EARLY MUSIC GROUP PLAYS IN PASADENA

The seven musicians of the London Early Music Group, who specialize in music of the early Baroque period, combine thorough scholarship with high-level musicianship.

At its visit in Ambassador Auditorium, Pasadena, on Tuesday night, the ensemble demonstrated unusual teamwork and appeared genuinely to enjoy its work. Various short 17th-Century English and Italian works received rhythmically taut, dynamically balanced and exuberantly fresh-sounding readings.

Paul Elliot brought style and elegance to songs by Purcell and others. The tenor sang with a smooth, mellifluous tone and a fine sense of direction. Though his voice is light, he proved capable, in the lament from Luigi Rossi’s “Orfeo,” for instance, of singing with dramatic fervor.

Mezzo-soprano Glenda Simpson sang with verve and passion, and she exhibited extraordinary technical control, but the listener found her enunciation difficult to understand and somewhat affected.

The instrumentalists performed on their period replicas with absolute assurance and superb control. Duncan Druce and Nicholas Parker each elicited a warm, mellow sound from Baroque violins; Baroque cellist Oliver Brookes (supporting his instrument in the characteristic Baroque manner, between the knees) and tenor-viol player Ian Gammie, who doubled on theorbo (a type of lute), brought precision and artistry to the continuo lines.

James Tyler, who directs the ensemble, displayed both taste and virtuosity in performing a suite by Nicola Matteis for Baroque guitar (a smaller and less robust-sounding instrument than the modern one) and a toccata and canzona for lute by Frescobaldi.