Concerto Grosso in F Op 6 No 2 - Corelli
Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli - Tippett
La Folia (after Corelli) - Geminiani
Abdelazer Suite - Purcell
Tallis Fantasia - Vaughan Williams
Concerto No 5 (after Scarlatti) - Avison
The cover of the printed programme for the Irish Chamber Orchestra's recent tour stated simply "Baroque Concerts". That was a very inadequate description for one of the most fascinating concerts the ICO has yet offered, knitted together in a multiplicity of ways - composers, English and Italian, working over each other's music, old and new, in pieces which called for the varied subdivision of one of the largest string sections the orchestra has yet presented to the public.
DCU's Larkin Theatre, it must be said, was not an ideal venue for this particular programme, which was also heard in Limerick and Gorey. A kinder acoustic, in which sound would linger, was what was called for rather than the sudden cut-offs of the Larkin's dryness. All the more credit is due, then, to the orchestra and conductor Nicholas McGegan for their beautifully sprung, deft negotiation of the Abdelazer Suite by Purcell. It's not often Dubliners get a chance to relish in such fine playing the genius of England's greatest composer.
The two 20th-century works both cried out for a halo of cathedral resonance. In the event it was Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia which weathered the challenges most successfully. The rapturously extravagant elaboration of Tippett's Fantasia Concertante had moments of rawness and roughness which weren't entirely to the music's advantage. If you discount Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the ICO's programmes over the last few years have been what you might call "baroque-shy". It was good to see the players taking such pleasure in the novelty of this particular excursion. And why wouldn't they, under the tutelage of so well-mannered a guide as McGegan. The sheer vim they brought to the closing Avison left a good marker for any future forays they may make into 18th-century repertoire.
