Eden Court, Inverness, 2 June 2005

Giuliano Carmignola © Nana Watanabe

If you have to reconcile your audience to a dearth of orchestral concerts for eighteen months, then it’s as well to go out with a bang. That’s what Eden Court in Inverness did on June 2, with the much-requested return visit of period-instrument band, the Academy of Ancient Music.

The Academy’s programme was not an obvious crowd-puller—a clutch of Italian Baroque concertos, and not a ‘Four Seasons’ in sight. In the event, such is the orchestra’s reputation that no added inducement was needed to pack the theatre, but a suitable marketing label might have been ‘Paganini’s ancestors’, for in the hands of guest director/soloist Giuliano Carmignola, these antique works became astonishing virtuoso display pieces.

Lean, black-clad and intense, Carmignola would make a good modern day counterpart for Paganini, were it not for the benign good humour which kept breaking through in his interplay with the members of the Academy. But he effectively demonstrated that if Paganini was the most famous ‘demon fiddler’, he certainly didn’t invent the brand. Stephen Rose’s excellent programme note on ‘The Virtuoso Violin’ made it clear that these 18th century player/composers were just as much obsessed with the cult of celebrity as any Kennedy or Vanessa-Mae. Pietro Locatelli, Rose told us, even went so far as, unusually, to print his frenetic cadenzas in full, on the basis that, ‘if this man’s music looked so impressive on paper, how much better it must be when played live by the composer!’

Seen in this light, the programme was cunningly constructed, giving an overview of the evolution of the violin concerto over some fifty years. Each half began with one of the classic Op 6 Concerti Grossi of Corelli, probably the only music of the evening that was familiar even to Baroque enthusiasts in the audience. These landmark works set a trio of soloists against the main body of players, leaving, as yet, little scope for individual virtuosity. That came next with Vivaldi, and two blistering solo violin concertos that, not being part of any collection, or having any nicknames, rarely make it on to concert programmes. Here Carmignola stepped into the spotlight, with playing of effervescent brilliance and energy. But breathtaking as his fireworks were in the fast movements, it was, throughout the evening, his playing of the slow movements that was especially entrancing. He brought to this music an operatic intensity coupled with a rhapsodic freedom that verged on the improvisatory. Particular highlights were his duets with the delicate tracery of William Carter’s theorbo playing. Carmignola, like Victoria Mullova, moves freely between ‘conventional’ and ‘period’ violin styles, and it was noticeable that he allowed himself the luxury of modern chin- and shoulder-rests on his Baroque violin, accessories which the players of the Academy austerely eschewed!

The second half featured concertos by Vivaldi’s younger contemporaries, Tartini (of ‘Devil’s Trill’ fame) and Locatelli. By the time Carmignola reached Locatelli’s manic cadenzas at the end of the evening, he might have been forgiven for flagging somewhat, but instead he dashed into these myriads of notes with even greater enthusiasm. A rapturous response from the audience ensured an encore, thus slipping in a bit of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ after all. Was it a sly comment on current weather conditions that they chose the ‘storm ‘movement from ‘Summer’? In any event this was the equivalent of that last, extra-stunning rocket which signs off the whole fireworks display.

The spotlight may have been on Carmignola, but he was at pains to ensure the spirited and sensitive playing of his colleagues in the Academy of Ancient Music got the acknowledgement they deserved.

Once again, Eden Court’s Director Colin Marr has brought a world-class event to Inverness—the only Scottish date on the Academy’s current tour. More modest musical fare (in scale at least) may have to satisfy us till 2007, but this final orchestral concert whetted our appetite for what we can expect when the theatre reopens.

© Robert Livingston, 2005