Historical distinctions were blurred at this concert as they are in real musical life when one style is giving way to another.
Florilegium is famous as a baroque group but did not abandon much of its mode of playing or its instruments to conclude with a resounding and at times touching performance of Mozart’s Mass in C minor.
Except, that is, for the scoring of three trombones in the Mass, though you’d hardly have guessed it - there’s none of the eccentricity of the kind generated by the instrument in the composer’s more famous Requiem.
In any case, the C Minor Mass is a fusion of baroque contrapuntal style and the colourful singing fashion of Mozart’s part of the 18th century, though it could never be mistaken for anything other than a serious religious work.
Combined at this concert with the French baroque splendour (and ecclesiastical theatricality) of Charpentier’s Te Deum and the undemonstrative Flute Concerto in G by Gluck (soloist Ashley Solomon) - to mark the tercentenary of that composer’s birth - it was the perfect summation.
Much of the success of the choral works was due to the solo singing of sopranos Elin Manahan Thomas and Helen-Jane Howells and bass and tenor Robert Davies and Nick Pritchard, who were joined by mezzo Amy Williamson for the Charpentier, a sit down-stand up exercise for soloists and chorus.
These were voices attuned in tone and sentiment to the compactness and discipline of the chorus and orchestra, even when the vocal lines were decorated. It was a model lesson in early music practice and performance, conducted adroitly by David Hill.
Florilegium's appearance was the latest in the Hall's International Concert Series. Next up on April 4 will be the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner and with Natalie Clein as soloist in the Elgar concerto.
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