Passacaglia with Dan Laurin

L-A Dornel (c1685 - 1765)
Sonate en Trio in D major, op 3 no 2 (1713): Sonate a 3 dessus in D minor, op 3 no 7 (1713); Sonate en Quatuor in B minor (1709)

F Couperin (1668 -1733)
Sixieme Ordre, from Second Livre de Pieces de Clavecin (1716/7); La Paix du Parnasse: Sonade en Trio from Apotheose de Lulli (1725)

M Marais
Suite in C major from Pieces en Trio (1692); Suite in A from Pieces de viole 3e livre (1711); (Marais arr. Laurin) Les Folies d'Espagne from Pieces de viole 2e livre (1701)

On this occasion the fruitful association of Passacaglia with Dan Laurin* introduced to Wigmore Hall the lesser known Louis-Antoine Dornel (c1685-1765). Musical Pointers chose to cover this concert, realising that most early music enthusiasts and critics were likely to have gravitated to the rival weekend at South Bank.

Dornel's trio for three recorders alone was the high spot of a first half which was slightly compromised by an overloaded accompaniment (harpsichord, gamba and guitar) especially in Dornel's trio sonata in D; the baroque flute is a fragile instrument which needs discretion to be properly heard - that will have been rectified easily by the balance engineer in the ever exploratory Passacaglia's forthcoming CD of music by Dornel to follow theirs of Boismortier.**

The second half demonstrated this group's flair for programming. For Couperin, Taro Takeuchi exchanged his more assertive guitar for the sonorous theorbo, which made a beautiful stage picture with viola da gamba and the gorgeous Gotto/Donzelague harpsichord, which Robin Bigwood had demonstrated solo in the Sixieme Ordre. Balance was perfect in La Paix du Parnasse and all that followed.

There was a crescendo of excitement and audience response to Reiko Ichise's virtuosity in a Marais suite, followed by Dan Laurin putting his recorder through its paces in his arrangement of the ubiquitous Folies d'Espagne. And finally this concert by Royal Approval (Avec Privilege du Roy) brought the audience to its feet after Dornel's exuberant sonata for three recorders with continuo, a forward looking piece with curiously effective unisons and flights of melodic flair.

* Dan Laurin solo in Van Eyck and also in 21st C concertos

**See Passacaglia in Boismortier