Palo Alto Philharmonic goes for Baroque

Most of the music was by two all-time favorite Baroque composers, Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Bach’s featured work was the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. This was fast and energetic, with standing-out work by the concertino group of soloists. Bach calls for a piccolo trumpet, a small and high-pitched instrument. Performer Guy Clark had one.

Bach’s other contribution to the program was not played by the orchestra but by a brass quintet, who offered three short contrapuntal pieces, one of them from “The Art of Fugue.” It was probably a good idea to sit far back from these carrying instruments in this small and vivid space. Full sound and effective doubling of lines made this a rewarding listening experience.

Vivaldi’s featured piece was the famous “Spring” concerto from “The Four Seasons,” with the orchestra’s concertmaster, Lori Jensen, as soloist. She also played the solo violin part in the Brandenburg. “Spring” was played more slowly and smoothly than the other pieces on the program and suffered from a bit of wobbliness, though it partook well enough of Vivaldi’s chipper style.

This was preceded by a lesser-known Vivaldi work, his Bassoon Concerto in A Minor, RV 497. The soloist was Gail Selburn, whose outstanding playing was far more clear and lyrical than one might expect of a bassoon. Her quick virtuosity in the fast movements had an exciting tense quality.

The concert was filled out with chamber works by two other composers of the same generation and who were both admired by Bach (as was Vivaldi). From Francesco Antonio Bonporti came an “Aria cromatica e variata” for violin — Lori Jensen again — and cello, Annie Fromson-Ho. This was less outré harmonically than the chromatic designation would suggest. There was, at least, a heavy emphasis on contrapuntal exchange between the instruments.

More colorful and more fun was a Quartet for Recorder, Oboe, Violin and Continuo in B-flat Major by Johann Friedrich Fasch. As customary, the continuo, the bass-line harmonic support to the music, was played by cello and harpsichord. This piece featured a remarkably arresting slow march movement. It was otherwise chipper in the manner of Vivaldi.

This was a fun concert well worth the hearing. Palo Alto Philharmonic alternates chamber concerts, usually at First Lutheran, with full symphonic offerings played at Cubberley Theatre in Palo Alto. Its next performance will be a full-orchestra concert on Saturday, Oct. 18, featuring Johannes Brahms’s heroic First Symphony and a suite for solo viola and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams.