MUSIC REVIEW : Chandos Baroque Players in U.S. Debut in Pasadena

The Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College presented the U.S. debut on Tuesday of the Chandos Baroque Players in the ornate Viennese Room of the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. And, hardly for the first time in its 20-year history, Da Camera came up winners, as did the large, appreciative audience.

The seven-member British ensemble, playing on period instruments, didn’t give us style by the numbers but an evening of music-making richly varied in performing styles.

The program bookends were works in the French manner by German composers: first, the handsome “Paris” Quartet in E minor of Telemann, and finally, the hyper-familiar B-minor “Ouverture” of J.S. Bach, sounding fresher than usual not only for being played one instrument to a part, but for the intense, French-with-a-vengeance double-dotting of its first movement and the aerial grace of the ensuing dances.

Corelli’s noble Trio Sonata in A was a showcase for the agile fiddling of Maya Homburger and Sarah Bealby Wright, and the full string ensemble--further including violist Rosemary Nalden, cellist Daniel Yeadon and bassist Barry Guy--gave us Purcell’s mighty Chacony in bold colors and with tremendous rhythmic urgency, rather than as the respectful dirge less perceptive executants tend to make of it.

The sight of Bach’s Fifth “Brandenburg” yet again on a program hardly makes the heart leap. But, to coin the cliche, the Chandos players’ crisp, lively, unjaded delivery made it sound unexpectedly fresh.

Deep, respectful bows here to the liquid grace and unfazable dexterity of flutist Rachel Beckett and to harpsichordist Malcolm Proud’s dramatic and flawlessly controlled execution of the vast first-movement cadenza.