Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Portsmouth

 Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Portsmouth Guildhall, Nov 14

The first-ever box set of LP's I bought was the Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien Brandenburg Concertos and I'm not sure I'd swap those recordings for anything I've bought since. I got it right first time. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, henceforth OAE here if need be, brought four of the six of them to Portsmouth, their website preview explaining the mystery about what they 'mean', if anything at all. 

While I'm very taken with the idea of music that has no story, no heroes, heartbreak or other sub-text, like a decorative frieze, I'm equally unconvinced that such a thing is possible. We provide our own if none is provided.

No. 2, the one with the valveless trumpet, began the set. I'm sure it's an infernally difficult instrument to play and David Blackadder made a glorious sound except for maybe one or two missed notes, which I feel reluctantly bound to mention in such a high-class band. There is no hiding place in a small orchestra with one player per part but especially not in that part. The Andante evoked cool shadows with prominent cello alongside woodwind and lead violin.

No. 6, the one with no violins, had only seven musicians on stage and thus brought to mind a great disc called Quartets for Low Strings by Georg Wagenseil (worth looking out for). Two violas and cello do a marvellous job of explaining away our sadness or grief in the Adagio before the violas dance over a cantus firmus in the Allegro.

In the second half, No. 3, the one all about number 3, is Bach at almost his most mathematically inventive, the motif passed around all the players and eventually right across the stage. The violin and harpsichord Adagio led into a merry gigue Allegro with Bach at his most Viv and we were reminded the debt he owes to his study of those Venetian scores.

No. 4, the one with the recorders, is a Springtime frolic with Rachel Beckett on one of them and Huw Daniel performing virtuoso violin wizardy, punctuated by the winsome sighing in the Andante, as the spectacular finish.

I can mention Matthew Truscott's viola, Cecelia Bruggemeyer's bass, the violin of Margaret Faultless and I'd mention more names if I was sure who was who but there was no programme which brings me to a rare bit of editorializing. 

Portsmouth is only Portsmouth to big city acts, maybe like OAE, and one can have a vague inkling that it can't help being just another date on a tour itinerary. They brought enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment with them but Portsmouth Guildhall lacks charisma, Portsmouth itself struggles to provide audience numbers and I'm as guilty as anybody in not being at the Guildhall very often when local talent and lunchtime visitors to the area put on such great shows without even a ticket price. It's a situation without a solution and it's by no means a complaint, Portsmouth is lucky to be served as well as it is and we surely all go to celebrate rather than find fault. I've read that Bach himself was often dissatisfied with some of the provincial conditions he found himself working in and it didn't do him any harm.