THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
Andrew Manze director/violin Rachel Podger violin
St John's Smith Square 17 February 2003
Corelli Concerto Grosso in D op.6 no.7; Concerto Grosso in Bb op.6 no.5
Muffat Sonata no.2 in G minor from Armonico tributo
Geminiani Concerto Grosso no.2 in Bb (after Corelli op.5 no.2)
Torelli Concerto in D minor for two violins op.8 no.2
Vivaldi Trio Sonata in D minor op.1 no.12 La Folia RV63
J.S. Bach Concerto in D minor for two violins BWV1043

AKADEMIE FÜR ALTE MUSIK BERLIN
Wigmore Hall 13 March 2003
Handel Ouverture from Rodrigo HWV 5
Corelli Concerto grosso in F op 6 no 2
Handel Organ Concerto in G minor HWV 291 & A HWV296a
Geminiani Concerto Grosso in D minor after Corelli's 'La Follia' op 5 no 12
Handel Sonata a 5 in B flat HWV 288

The Academy of Ancient Music's residency at St John's has achieved a loyal audience, sold out and completely packed for Andrew Manze's final appearance as Associate Director, before he takes over The English Concert from Trevor Pinnock. His inimical pre-concert talk celebrated Corelli's birthday three and a half centuries ago and drew links with Muffat (a two way influence each upon the other) and Geminiani, who improved a Corelli original by adding five levels of canonic imitation; Manze traced the very gradual introduction of violas into the orchestras of the time. Torelli's double concerto looked forward to Vivaldi and Vivaldi's own version of the ubiquitous La Folia was exuberant and fiery, with William Carter exchanging his theorbo for a baroque guitar and providing the equivalent to a jazz rhythm section.

After the talk, I stayed at the front where the immediacy of the direct sound fizzed, yet with a small group of musicians playing gut strings it was never too loud for comfort. The performances had enormous vitality with conspicuous eye contact between all the musicians. Although it didn't really quite fit the programme (and put the Italians somewhat to shame by its greater complexity and indeed superiority to everything else heard) Manze told us that he could never resist the pleasure of playing the Bach double concerto with Rachel Podger - the two of them are amongst the finest baroque violinists worldwide - and they brought a marvellous concert to an inspiriting conclusion. No doubt Andrew Manze will be invited back to St John's to play with AAM; meanwhile, expect him to enliven the Wigmore Hall with The English Concert in due course.

The 16-strong Akademie für Alte Musik from East Berlin made a striking contrast. Authentic, correct and highly efficient, no question, as led by violinist Georg Kallweit, but I detected no spontaneity or risk taking on the night. Their account of the ubiquitous La Follia was far less creative or involving than Manze's of Vivaldi's version, and there was no sense of the music being recreated for us, then. I preferred the wind to the strings, though there was a noticeable 'warming' of the strings tone quality after the interval. Maybe this is another case of an orchestra stopping off in London during a punishing tour programme?

Best for me was Handel's organ concerto in A, played with charm by Raphael Alpermann, but the cramped stage arrangements were extremely odd, with the chamber organ full frontal in the middle so that you could only see the soloist's head behind it, and the back of his head during the rest of the evening when he was playing a totally invisible harpsichord.

Peter Grahame Woolf