25.05.2008 - Italian Diaspora, National Gallery of Ireland

…………………………………………………………………………
The Irish Times
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Michael Dervan
…………………………………………………………………………

IBO HUGGETT

Sunday's Italian Diaspora programme from the Irish Baroque Orchestra at the National Gallery extended itself beyond music by Italian composers. Yes, the familiar great names of Corelli and Vivaldi were there, as well as the worthy but less well-known Francesco Geminiani (who worked in Ireland, and is actually buried in Dublin), and the altogether more obscure Lorenzo Zavateri.

But Handel was also featured (he worked for a while in Italy, and he didn't escape the all-pervasive influence of Corelli), as was that rare Dutch genius, Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766), whose six Concerti Armonici were first attributed to the violinist Carlo Ricciotti, and later to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, before their rightful authorship was definitively established less than three decades ago.

It was a richly rewarding programme. Rich is certainly an apt description for the concertos of Wassenaer - intricate, highly inventive pieces which can fully hold their own in the most distinguished of 18th-century company.

The Irish Baroque Orchestra was in fine form under its artistic director, violinist Monica Huggett. Corelli's Concerto in B flat, Op. 6 No. 11, was delightful not just for the characteristic intertwining of the violins, but also for the incisive sculpting of the bass lines, carried off with a exceptional musical alertness.

The two concertos by Wassenaer came across as a kind of fulfilment of the enterprise which Corelli had launched, and Corelli was celebrated also through Geminiani, who was represented by his reworking of Corelli's most famous violin sonata, La Folia , as a concerto grosso.

Huggett was a real dynamo as the soloist in the Corelli and also in Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in D, RV208 ( Il Grosso Mogul ), where her delivery of the extraordinarily extravagant writing brought cheers of approval from the audience.

..............................