MUSIC REVIEW : The Keyboard Sorcery of Harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock

Call Trevor Pinnock a man of his word. “I prefer to leave it in the realm of magic,” the harpsichordist told his Wednesday night audience in Bing Theater at the County Museum of Art. Following a brash disclaimer of his ability to approach the instrument analytically, he indeed dispensed a heady brand of keyboard alchemy.

Playing a French harpsichord of indeterminate vintage, Pinnock virtually capered through a program of 18th-Century milestones with poise, polish and passion. He reveled in the excessive ornamentation of Handel’s G-major Chaconne, modestly purveyed the aristocratic melancholy in Rameau’s E-minor Suite and dispatched Bach’s familiar “Italian” Concerto with real elan.

Three sonatas by Scarlatti fils , all in D, seemed to expose every sonority possible on the harpsichord, perhaps the spur to this composer’s miraculous, ahead-of-his-time harmonic departures. Daquin’s birdsong imitation, “Le Coucou,” proved no trifle, but a coruscation of tinselly vibrancy, while Balbastre’s “La Suzanne” explored the especially mellow bass resonance of the instrument in use on this occasion.

Pinnock’s infectious joy and headlong creative impulse put his occasional clunkers in the Rubinstein class--downright glaring, but almost acceptable as an intended part of the musical fabric.

A gently loving rendition of Couperin’s “Barricades misterieuses,” the encore, closed this loudly appreciated performance.