Toad Lane Concerts: The Telemann Baroque Ensemble

Telemann Baroque Ensemble

This refined troupe of players made their final quarterly visit to Toad Lane Concerts of this year on Wednesday 6 December.

Their varied line ups are drawn from the cream of freelancers in the North West. This concert brought together Alfred Pollard on oboe, Kevin O’Sullivan on bassoon, Elaine da Costa and Sarah Snape on violins, Roger Bisby on cello, and Peter Collier at the harpsichord. They clearly revelled in the generous acoustic of St Mary in the Baum and made a glorious sound.

The relatively unusual groupings added to the interesting range of baroque sounds. Firstly, using the harpsichord and cello as a basis, we had Telemann’s Concerto in E minor for Strings. Then the Fasch Concerto for oboe, two violins, bassoon and harpsichord, featured the two brilliant woodwind soloists to significant effect.

The little heard Trio by Schaffrath followed, allowing the often-neglected viola and cello opportunities to shine.

Finally, the full ensemble joined together for Reichenauer’s Double Concerto in F major for oboe and bassoon, string quartet and harpsichord. Getting close to a full-blown classical orchestra nonetheless their individual qualities shone whilst combining in fine ensemble playing.

The sustained applause showed how much the audience enjoyed seeing players of this calibre bringing rare music to life.

The Queen’s Award-winning Toad Lane Concerts are every Wednesday at 12.30pm at St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1DZ. Entrance fee is £6. No refreshments available. Contact 01706 648872 for further information.

To see details of forthcoming Toad Lane Concerts, click here.

Dr Joe Dawson