Last night I went to a concert at Llewellyn Hall, Canberra with the ensamble Salut! Baroque, and it was wonderful!

I had late last year gone to a concert with some locals trying to pull off some Bach, but couldn't play to save themselves. I somewhat enjoyed it, if nothing for the shere enthusiasm they had, but the music ... oh, dear.

But last night was different; the musicians were top-notch, from the soloists to the basso continuo. I was most impressed with Hans-Dieter Michatz for his amazing and emotional recorder playing, and Daniel Yeadon for his enthustiastic virtouso playing both cello and viola da gamba (one of my favourite instruments). Also noteworth was the steady hands of harpsichordist Chris Berensen and bass violinist Tim Blomfield.

In the violin section there was plenty of good, especially Nicole Forsyth had good strokes. It was just all in all a very, very good performance, with only a few skews from perfection (and given the nature of such old instruments, a feat in itself). I actually had tears in my eyes through a lot of it, not only for the beauty and love of this music, but for feeling that this wonderfulness is right here in Canberra, so many many miles away from home.

The program was pretty straight-forward, with Pachabels "Canon and Gigue in D minor" (ever a beautiful piece), Fux' "Sinfonia in F major", Bachs "Concerto for Viola in E flat major" (always a favourite), then a short interval, and onwards to Telemanns "Concerto for Recorder and Viola da gamba in A minor" (my personal favourite of the evening, brilliantly done by all, and especially soloists Michatz and Yeadon), then Bachs "Concerto for violin in A minor", and finally Telemanns "Concerto for two recorders in B flat major", another great piece.

If anyone is interested in these kind of things, Salut! Baroque will be back in Canberra at Llewellyn Hall friday 30 April with Handel, Friday 2 July with Lully, Friday 24 September with Corelli, and a "Classic Concerti" Thursday 18 November. Be sure to see me there.

To all the guys in Salut! Baroque; thank you.