Music and Dance Reviews : L.A. Baroque Orchestra at Precious Blood

As music fashions go, the bloom is definitely off the Baroque. Itinerant specialists pass through occasionally, but what little we produce locally tends to generic, post-modern routine.

The Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, a small band of young period-practice enthusiasts, is laboring diligently to fill the void, accompanying a variety of choral groups. Its own concert series ended over the weekend, with three performances in area churches.

Friday evening found the ensemble at Precious Blood Catholic Church. The group has hosted a number of distinguished soloists, but this season finale drew the soloists from within.

The estimable strengths of the group are intelligence, commitment and a cherishable elan. Generously applied to an unhackneyed, if hardly unheard, repertory in a resonant room, those virtues produced moments of real power and rare beauty amid much easy, entertaining listening.

The program featured violinists Gregory Maldonado and Jolie von Einem and cellist Mark Chatfield in three Vivaldi concertos and the Concerto Grosso, Opus 6, No. 1, by Handel. All contributed with light, bright, well-directed sound and agile--if not invariably accurate --technique.

Sensuously ringing sound and poised textures, not individual display, provided the most memorable moments. The Largos of the Handel concerto and Vivaldi’s Opus 4, No. 1, glowed serenely, burnished by the opulent acoustic.

Though emphatically accented, the ensemble playing was not consistently tight. Lead by Maldonado from the first desk--all the upper strings stood throughout--the effort proved more notable for vigor and resilience than ultimate polish.

Harpsichordist Edward Murray, using a remarkably robust spinet in the Vivaldi concertos, anchored a generally solid continuo team, with Chatfield, bassist Robert Stahl and lutenist Michael Eagan.

Telemann’s Suite in A minor, perhaps the most familiar music on the agenda, closed the program with authoritative flair. Maldonado took a brisk, dramatic, rather than ritualistic, approach to the French overture, and made the following dances clearly defined and quick-stepping.

There were no encores for the appreciative crowd, but there will be further chances to hear the ensemble do its stylish thing in August, on a concert series at the Getty Museum.