Chamber in Historic Sites Begins 25th Season Joyfully

Appropriateness--of location and quality--was the main thrust of MaryAnn Bonino’s musical idealism when she launched her much-lauded concert series Chamber Music in Historic Sites in the early 1970s. The sensitive matching of place, ensemble and repertory, her thinking went, could benefit all three, plus give audiences truly resonant musical experiences.

In 1997-98, Historic Sites celebrates its 25th season, clear indication of ideals upheld and standards maintained. In fact, the opening concert Friday night in the elegantly appointed, high-ceilinged Pompeian Room of the Doheny Mansion at Mount St. Mary’s downtown campus was the 562nd event in these 2 1/2 decades.

The series, still sponsored by the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College, this time brought back the Baroque ensemble Trio Sonnerie, its three British players--violinist Monica Huggett, viola da gambist Sarah Cunningham and harpsichordist Gary Cooper--as impassioned about its repertory as one could wish.

In music by Thomas Baltzar, Johann Schop, Matteis, Byrd, Farinel, Marais and Rameau, they enlivened the profile of each piece, illuminated its climaxes, inhabited its secrets--all the while subduing myriad difficulties and commanding genuine emotional depths.

Masters of their instruments, Huggett, Cunningham and Cooper go beyond heightened musical delivery; they share feelings and uncover subtexts. They began this 25th anniversary with appropriate joyfulness.