Horsham Music Circle - Musique de Chambre - concert review

As the Latin inscription on this wonderful harpsichord pointed out – ‘Music is the best medicine for a troubled mind, and is the cure for all ills’.

Quite a claim here, but fully justified by the three excellent young performers, who introduced us to a wide range of mainly French Baroque music, including lesser-known names such as Marin and Roland Marais – father and son both eminent viol players and composers; Hotteterre – renowned as flautist and pedagogue; and Antoine Forqueray – brilliant viola da gamba player whose compositional style was so distinctive that his more famous contemporaries Rameau and Couperin both wrote pieces entitled ‘La Forqueray’ as a tribute.

We were treated to this distinctive style in ‘La Portugaise’, played with great energy and flair by gamba player Ozgur Kaya, whose nimble bow-work was evident from the first lively Telemann sonata in which he duetted with equally nimble recorder virtuoso Luca Imperiale. Luca moved seamlessly between treble and tenor instruments, with the warm tone of the latter particularly suiting the two Hotteterre pieces which followed, and the brighter timbre of the former giving real clarity to the highly ornate phrasing in the penultimate Corelli Sonata.

Harpsichordist Apolline Khou played superbly throughout, never overwhelming the other players in their more soloistic moments, but showing her own virtuosity particularly in the Rameau and in the Couperin, where the highly ornamental lines also showed off the lovely sound quality of the harpsichord – a beautifully crafted copy of a French Baroque instrument.

The most enjoyable evening ended with a delightful romp through a sonata by Boismortier, which gave all three performers an equal chance to shine, but also displayed the excellent ensemble skills which had been obvious throughout the programme – and the attention to style which was so effective in, for example, the Marais Suite, where the contrasting characteristics of each dance were elegantly demonstrated.

A highly enjoyable evening – and the audience left with a noticeable spring in their step. And the rain had stopped! Truly, music is the cure for all ills!

Jane Thomas 21.10.23