Music Review : Tafelmusik Escapes Bonds of Baroque

The Toronto-based Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra offered a comprehensive display on Thursday at Ambassador Auditorium of the liberating influences at work on period performance since the antiquarian movement’s rigidly codified beginnings as a widespread phenomenon two decades ago.

Once-taboo dynamic shadings, rubato and employment of string vibrato were among the pleasures of the Canadian ensemble’s polished, richly sonorous delivery--under principal violinist-director Jeanne Lamon--of the exquisite suite of dances culled from Handel operas that opened the program.

For J.S. Bach’s familiar A-minor Violin Concerto, with Lamon the propulsive (and, in the finale, intonationally rocky) soloist, the group appropriately adopted a leaner, more tautly articulated sound.

An Albinoni Concerto in F, two fast movements of sonic wallpaper surrounding an operatically expressive Adagio, spotlighted the skilled piping of the orchestra’s oboists, but one wonders whether the composer intended the primo , John Abberger, to produce what seemed like twice the volume of the secondo , Washington McClain, as was the case here.

The jubilant opening concerto from Vivaldi’s “L’Estro armonico” was for this listener the high point of the concert, with four (unidentified) violinists from the ranks playing with brio, technical security and deft touches of ornamentation.

The graceful inanities of a suite from Telemann’s third book of “Musique de Table” (which translates into German as Tafelmusik ) concluded the program with, again, the oboes to the fore, this time in perfect balance.