Hopetoun Alpha
Review: Tara Werner
As a venue Hopetoun Alpha has its pluses but quite a few minuses as well. The hard pews upstairs for one, and the intruding motorway noise that sporadically manages to burst through the windows.
Harpsichordist James Tibbles and his group of baroque enthusiasts have been advocating the early music cause for a number of years now, always with consistent, even dogged dedication.
It's easy to see why, given the sheer beauty of the music they present. On this occasion a quartet by Telemann and sonata by Quantz were played with with a lovely lightness of touch. And concertos by Vivaldi and Telemann were given a stylistically accurate performance.
The concert was presented by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Auckland. The famous cellist Jacqueline Du Pre was stricken by MS, and so it seemed apt that one of the main contributions was by guest cellist Susan Sheppard.
Fresh from playing a superb cycle of Bach's six suites for solo cello at the School of Music, Sheppard's rendition of Suite No 2 was impassioned but it also sounded uncomfortable. She may have been a little jaded.
The same could not be said of fellow cellists Margaret Cooke and Helen Polgase with Polly Sussex on cello continuo. They played an attractive account of Vivaldi's Concerto in G Minor for two Cellos and Strings.
Backed by Extempore Plus the music bounced along with all the necessary dynamic contrasts clearly articulated. With the spirit shown even the intonation problems evident in the first violins could be forgiven.
Sally Tibbles made short work of another famous Vivaldi concerto for flute, La Notte, and then the piece de resistence; an exuberant performance of Telemann's Concerto for recorder, flute and strings. Here Tibble's euphonious flute had an excellent foil in Jessica Shaw's equally mellow recorder.
<i>Performance:</i> Extempore
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