Inverness Arts Forum Lunchtime concert, Town House, 10 December 2008

ALEA - Maite Larburu (violin), Francesco Corti (harpsichord), Francesca Thomson (recorder) and Eilidh Martin (Cello)

WHAT is it with the Netherlands and early music? The Dutch must host more specialists in period performance per square mile than anywhere else on earth. A couple of months ago Glenurquhart Village Hall hosted the excellent Au Courant baroque trio-three Americans, but two of them now based in Holland. Now the Inverness Arts Forum have brought us the Alea quartet, with members from Scotland, England, Italy and Spain, but all now working out of Amsterdam.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the famed Dutch tolerance, which allows room for the many different, and often contentious, approaches to playing music of any period before, roughly, 1850. Regular listeners to Radio 3’s ‘Breakfast’ programme will know that its presenter, Rob Cowan favours an old-fashioned approach, often selecting recordings of more than 30 years’ vintage, featuring instruments set up and played in what is known as, confusingly, a ‘modern’ manner.

Alea are at the opposite extreme. In fact, there’s something a little austere about their approach. The dry, largely vibrato-free sounds of the violin and cello can take some getting used to, as can the rather detached phrasing, with a distinct absence of legato in the slower movements. But that’s offset by a wonderful vivacity and energy in the faster passages, with an impressive ability to articulate even the speediest cascade of notes with complete accuracy.

Their austerity extended, unfortunately, to information about the music they were playing. Neither the written nor the spoken introductions gave much away beyond the barest titles-not even a list of movements. This was unfortunate given that most, if not all, of the programme would have been unfamiliar even to fans of the Baroque.

Telemann figured largely, which is always a delight, and recorder player Francesca Thompson particularly impressed in a D minor sonata. But the highlight of the concert for me was a suite by the French violinist Jean-Marie Leclair, who was murdered in highly mysterious circumstances in 1764. This was tremendously invigorating music, especially the long chaconne movement (always my favourite among Baroque dance movements).

Sadly, the need for two of the players to catch a plane meant that the most obscure items on the programme, by the very little known 17th century composer Geoffroy, had to be dropped. Perhaps the next time…

Shamefully this was my first time at one of these regular lunchtime concerts, and it was good to see a sizeable and enthusiastic audience. Whatever its acoustic merits, though, the Town House can be a difficult venue for events of this kind. External noise was often distracting, and the lighting in the hall itself is harsh, unrestful, and unflattering. Nonetheless, if musicianship of this order is going to be on offer again, I shall be back for more.

© Robert Livingston, 2008