Music Review : Baroque Orchestra Makes a Joyful Noise

Exactly a decade ago, the late musicologist-conductor William Malloch made a recording of the four J.S. Bach Orchestral Suites that he purposely labeled “Suites for Dancing.” The point was that Baroque composers like Bach, Handel and Telemann didn’t just pull titles like Courante or Bourree randomly out of a hat; they were dances and were meant to be played rhythmically and joyfully.

Perhaps in that spirit, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra called its Sunday night program at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre “Baroque Ballroom.” For the most part, they did strive to make their performances of three popular dance suites and a brief concerto rhythmically lively and buoyant. Violinist-music director Gregory Maldonado even gently invited those who were inclined to come up and try out a few Baroque dance steps, which, of course, no one did.

The Ford, in any case, is hardly an ideal ballroom. Though the multi-miked sound was explicitly detailed and clear on this night, the damp, slightly chilly atmosphere played havoc with the orchestra’s ornery period instruments in the Bach Orchestral Suite No. 1, with several notions of pitch emerging from the strings and double reeds.

Things would improve in the ensemble’s bracing performance of Vivaldi’s inspired little Concerto Ripieno in G, subtitled “Alla Rustica.” Though only four movements from Telemann’s Suite for Recorder and Strings in A minor were programmed, recorder soloist Marianne Pfau treated them to an impressive display of rapid articulation laced with a jaunty spirit.

In matters of cohesive ensemble, the orchestra did not totally hit its stride until after intermission, where the Handel Water Music Suite in F took off at brisk, invigorating tempos that gradually developed a swinging rhythmic momentum down the stretch. While one would sometimes prefer inauthentic yet more reliable valved horns to their counterparts, Rebecca Donovan and James Patterson gradually gained firm control over their valveless horns. At times, the loud pyrotechnical whiz-banging from the nearby Hollywood Bowl threatened to turn the Water Music into the Royal Fireworks Music.