Breathing new life into an old flute

“Classical” aside, the term “Baroque” -- with its connotations of gloomy-sounding Germanic organs -- could be the least descriptive modifier in Western music. To give it breadth, flutist Giovanni Antonini and his ensemble, Il Giardino Armonico, gave a multicultural 17th and 18th century musical tour Wednesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall titled “From the North Sea to the Gulf of Naples.”

The ensemble -- one of many flexibly sized string-and-continuo groups that specialize in the historically informed performance of pre-Classical music -- is distinguished by its leader. With sharp articulation, soaring lines and aggressive rhythmic drive, he dispels the flute’s airy and pedestrian parlor reputation.

Antonini doesn’t play the modern metal flute. His wooden instrument is more like a recorder, its soft, rich tones the antithesis of sounds modern and strident.

Still, the fact that the show began with some string-only works was scarcely disappointing. There were an early 17th century canzon and battaglia (or ground-bass elaboration) by the English-inspired German composer Samuel Scheidt; a sad sonata by the Vienna-based Italian Marc’Atononio Ziani; and a colorful one by the Venice-based German Johann Rosenmuller, who laid groundwork for Vivaldi.

Antonini’s solos, concertos by the Neapolitan Francesco Mancini and the Venetian Vivaldi, were as exciting as eager listeners might have expected.

He alternated between soulful sweeps of melody and speedy arpeggios, seeming to draw even more excitement out of his musicians than they evinced when playing without him, though that wasn’t exactly the case in the next work.

To give his embouchure a break, Antonini let his three top violinists enjoy a Vivaldi concerto, and the results were thrilling. Here, scrappy, casually punk-like interpretations of Vivaldi’s finely etched phrases produced an improvisational spirit while displaying the extreme differences in sound each fiddler contributed to ensemble works.

The last piece, a recently discovered flute-and-strings concerto by the Neapolitan Nicola Fiorenza, offered a more singer-ly approach to instrumental concerto playing, a quality that fit Antonini’s talent.

Of course, the evening could have been more varied in terms of epochs and hence more immediately entertaining. But concerts like this are the musical equivalents of focused museum exhibitions: They leave a new, lasting appreciation of an art you only thought you knew.