BAROQUE FESTIVAL CONTINUES AT UCLA

Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello were two of the dozens of Italian Baroque composers who cranked out reams of vocal and instrumental pieces for church and court 250 years ago. We’ll never know which one their mom liked best, but on the basis of a concert devoted to music of the two Marcellos and Vivaldi in Royce Hall, UCLA, on Wednesday, the winner was obvious--Vivaldi.

In the second evening concert of the Nakamichi Baroque Music Festival, another good-size, enthusiastic crowd again reveled in the spirited playing of Christopher Hogwood’s East Coast conglomeration curiously called Accademia Veneziana. Every work in a nicely balanced program received attentive, crisp readings from the period-instrument players.

All things being equal, then, the poor Marcello brothers never stood a chance against the crystalline writing of Vivaldi, who was once more represented by four concertos from “L’Estro Armonico.”

With Hogwood happily serving as a mere supporting player at continuo organ or harpsichord, the ensemble produced a sound rich and lustrous, yet so transparent that every line could be followed with ease. Most notable was the famous four-violin concerto in B minor, which flowed magically and without pause from movement to movement.

Alessandro Marcello’s greatest, and only, hit--the Oboe Concerto in D minor--is known primarily by its lilting Adagio and by Bach’s setting for solo harpsichord. Stephen Hammer’s solo contribution proved a virtuosic high point of the night, as he revealed a warm tone matched by tasteful embellishment and dazzling speed.

Alas, Benedetto fared not as well. But don’t blame basso David Thomas, who brought clear enunciation, expressive phrasing and a secure command of pitch--particularly in the low tessitura--to a pair of brief, unremarkable cantatas.

The houselights remained up, so those assembled could read the translations which included purple prose aplenty (“The proud and wave-rich river, divided among many banks, reaches the sea, dry or weak.”).

Sometimes, darkness is preferable.