Review
TITLE: Florilegium
VENUE: St. Paul’s Hall, HuddersfieldREVIEW: By Chris Robins
ALTHOUGH the final concert of Huddersfield Music Society’s season was volcanically disturbed, the ingenuity of their guests – period instrument ensemble Florilegium – was such that a great night emerged from the ash.
Two of the original four Florilegium members due to appear were stranded aircraftless in Europe and were replaced by a single member, harpsichordist Erik Dippenaar joining Ashley Solomon (baroque flute) and Bojan Cicic (baroque violin).
The necessary programme changes retained the planned idea of 18th century music in the different French and Italian styles of the day. The group’s title, incidentally, derives from the Florilegium Suites written by baroque composer Georg Muffet to demonstrate that difference.
Florilegium played sonatas and suites by Leclair, Rameau, Vivaldi, Handel, Telemann and Rebel in a thrilling and uncompromising manner, relishing the daring rhythmic and harmonic invention of these composers.
They took the maths of this music and made it express devastating emotion, tinkling wit or unashamed delight in its own cleverness and all the while moved the music inexorably forward to reveal the composers’ philosophical concerns about the nature of time.
Along the way there was decoration, improvisation, an achingly passionate Handel slow movement from a Trio Sonata, a Solo Flute Fantasie by Telemann with intervals so innovative they were breathtakingly weird and a finale by Jean-Féry Rebel of volcanic virtuosity.
Everything about this concert fascinated, including Erik Dippenaar’s harpsichord – a modern copy of an 18th century French instrument – which was closely examined by many in the audience during the interval.
Some even photographed it on their mobiles.
