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Philharmonia Baroque Gives an Attentive Salute to J.S. Bach

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TIMES MUSIC WRITER

Ending a weeklong residency with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Northern California, Spanish musician Jordi Savall brought the ensemble south to Irvine on Thursday. Together, they commemorated the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach with a program of the composer’s four orchestral suites.

A virtually full house at the Irvine Barclay Theatre greeted the 27-member orchestra. For its part, the ensemble, under Savall’s careful but unfussy leadership--he neither pushes nor dawdles, but treats each movement like a conversation on a particular musical subject--played with appropriate sweep and an affectionate attention to detail, with only intermittent lapses in tension and urgency.

The larger works, Suites Nos. 3 and 4, bookended the program with predictable brightness and the consistent, crisp execution that gives Philharmonia Baroque its reputation for wide-awake performances.

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The orchestra’s winds--in particular, the trumpets of John Thiessen, Patrick Dougherty and Fred Holmgren, with oboists Marc Schachman, Gonzalo Ruiz and Michael Dupree, plus bassoonist Marilyn Boenau--shone in their many exposed outings here, yet always in stylistic balance. Oboists Schachman and Ruiz and bassoon player Boenau also held the aural spotlight in Suite No. 2, wherein the composer gave them exigent but felicitous assignments.

The effortless, delightful soloist in Suite No. 3 was the orchestra’s principal, Stephen Schultz, a flutist of projected tone and articulate virtuosity. He makes lots of music yet never seems to work at it. Savall and the ensemble proved, again, partners in pleasure, so easily did their collaboration operate.

For once--and this is growing ever more rare--the accompanying program notes were relevant, well-written and graceful. Credit goes to their writer, Jennifer Griesbach.

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