MUSIC REVIEW : Embroidered Baroque From Les Sonatistes

We’ve come a long way from the days of sewing machine Baroque performances to what might be called needlepoint Baroque. That was very apparent Wednesday evening, when Les Sonatistes opened the second Nakamichi Baroque Music Festival at UCLA with a beautifully embroidered concert.

This year’s festival is devoted to the music of 17th-Century Rome, a varied, substantial repertory well-represented by violinists Stanley Ritchie and Daniel Stepner; Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba, and harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright--illustrious players in the early music game all. As Les Sonatistes, they combine the studied craftmanship of scholars and professionals with the amateur’s sheer joy in the doing.

The program proved intelligently structured, daunting numbers notwithstanding--five sonatas, four canzonas, three sinfonias, a toccata and a ciaconna. Music by Corelli, Frescobaldi and Stradella made predictable appearances, but Lelio Colista, Giovanni Batista Fontana and Georg Muffat were also represented.

The sonatas by Corelli and Colista at the center of the agenda elicited the most suave ensemble playing. Sinfonias by Stradella challenged the quartet’s cohesion with playful rhythmic hiccuping, but they held together--barely--in gleeful abandon.

Though the bulk of the program featured the full ensemble, each of the sonatistes had solo opportunities. A characteristically eccentric Sonata by Fontana showcased the bright tone and serene style of Ritchie, while Stepner’s more muffled production and florid playing championed another Stradella Sinfonia.

Jeppesen and Wright supplied alert and pointed continuo work throughout. Jeppesen displayed her round sound and fluent phrasing in a Frescobaldi Canzona, and Wright’s nimble touch worked interpretive wonders in two more Frescobaldi pieces.

The style of all was consistent, assured and elegantly understated while firmly grounded in period practices. Indeed, the sense of eloquent historicity created its own incongruity with musicians in business suits and summer frocks in a modern concert hall, a feeling overcome by the naturalness of the performances.

A somewhat one-dimensional view of music is manifest in the fastidious effort to re-create early music in such an alien social context. However accurately the original sound is calculated, nothing can restore our ears to period perspective.

For the enthusiasts, though--and Schoenberg Hall was nearly filled with an eager, attentive audience--it was a quietly magnificent evening. No encores were forthcoming, but festival management added a nice touch to the bows: as Jeppesen and Wright were given the customary bouquets, Ritchie and Stepner were handed bottles of wine. Salute .