Outdoors Doesn’t Suit L.A. Baroque

Transferring the delicate and diaphanous sonorities of a period- instrument ensemble to the great outdoors proved to be a bit of a problem for the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra Saturday at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

This was certainly not the place to insist on the one-to-a-part credo that so many Baroque-music specialists adhere to, but in doing so, leader Gregory Maldonado and his chamber ensemble--never more than nine strong this concert--became ineffective in these environs: The music practically evaporated in the warm night air.

Though amplified, the ensemble’s sound had no backbone, no bulk, and therefore little power to carry or project musical thought. What’s more, though Maldonado had assembled an interesting program and accomplished soloists, the performances were fairly ragtag--loosely put together and limply contoured. Phrases kept doing little disappearing acts midway through or trailing off at the end.

Most satisfying was the singing of soprano Virginia Sublett, in two cantatas by Bach, “Weichet nur, betrubte Schatten,” BWV 202, and “Non sa che sia dolore,” BWV 209. An outstanding Dido for L.A. Baroque last October, Sublett here showed a pleasant expressiveness befitting the music, a plump, pointed tone and easy agility throughout her range.

Elsewhere, Telemann’s charming, countrified Concerto for Flute, Oboe d’amore and Viola d’amore--its rare solo instruments supplying an unusual, tangy flavor--was well worth reviving, and W. F. Bach’s Overture in G minor (a mere quintet in this performance) was not.

A plane-plagued Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord by Bach opened the concert.