Review Details
MUSIC AT 9 - The University of Aberdeen Ensemble
Alan Cooper
27 August 2009
KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL
The last in the 2009 series of Music at 9 recitals easily upheld the triumphantly high standard of performance that has been the hallmark of these concerts from the outset. In particular Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major featuring the seven musicians of the University of Aberdeen Ensemble went way beyond my already high expectations and into the realm of those few performances that will always remain shining brightly in the memory.
Before that however, two of the University’s finest young musicians, prize-winning flautist Kay Ritchie and violinist Nathalie Vanballenberghe joined forces with Roger B. Williams to remember the 250th anniversary of the death of G. F. Handel with two of his early Sonatas: Sonata in F Major Op.1 No.11 for flute and Sonata in D Major Op.1 No.13 for violin. The Aubertin organ was co-opted to accompany both the flute and the violin in these sonatas and its sweet-tempered facility as an accompanying chamber organ was immediately apparent with both instruments but more especially with the flute (since both flute and organ are wind instruments). The elegance of Kay Ritchie’s phrasing and the irresistible power of Nathalie Vanballenberghe’s clear violin tone made both sonatas a delight. Both players and indeed the organ too captured the dance-like impetus of this splendidly vivacious music.
It was Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg though that really stamped the seal of excellence on this year’s Music at 9 series. It made me think of a stroll through one of those marvellous rococo gardens in France, Germany or Italy. To begin with we had the various solo and accompanying instruments calling to one another like birdsong and then the harpsichord dissolved into wondrous liquid lines as it underpinned the other instruments till finally, in its marvellous first movement cadenza it was as if all the fountains in the garden had sprung to life spraying out sparkling showers of music that gave the lie to anyone who suggests that the harpsichord always sounds “mechanical”. Perhaps with some players it can but on Thursday, Roger Williams proved that he is undoubtedly up there among the instrument’s finest exponents.
The central movement was accomplished with tremendous elegance by the three solo players before the full ensemble brought to life the joyful cadence of the dance taking the audience all the way with them in their infectious enjoyment of the finale. How about this Ensemble adding the other necessary players and giving us the complete Brandenburg Concertos? Thursday’s performance of the Fifth proved that the Chapel has exactly the right acoustic ambience for just such a performance.