Music & Dance Reviews : L.A. Baroque Orchestra Opens Chamber Series

For all of its chamber music riches, there is little of the Baroque variety performed in Los Angeles these days, and even less of it performed on period instruments.

The announcement, then, of a modest summer chamber music season from the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra appeared to be something to celebrate. The first concert, Sunday afternoon at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, didn’t disappoint.

For one thing, the players on this occasion--Gregory Maldonado and Jolianne von Einem, violins; Mark Chatfield, cello and viola da gamba; Edward Murray, harpsichord--were exceptionally well prepared. One could forget about the difficulties involved in period-instrument execution and focus on the music.

For another, that period-instrument sound shed some fresh light on trio sonatas by Corelli (two from Opus 3), Handel (Opus 2, No. 5) and Couperin (“L’Imperial” from “Les Nations”).

The pieces became delicate, diaphanous, almost breakable things. The dances of Couperin’s “L’Imperial,” for instance, became almost unimaginable as dances for human beings. Only those pink little cherubs from Fragonard’s paintings, it seemed, could possibly execute the intricate daintiness of the steps.

Indeed, occasionally in this concert one felt that a bit more forcefulness from the players was in order, as in the ruggedly syncopated fugue that ends Corelli’s Opus 3, No. 12 Sonata. But even at its most ethereal, the playing remained lively, smartly inflected and full of finesse.