Trio Sonata in G - Bach

Three-part Ricercar; Canon; Six-Part Ricercar

Trio Sonata in C minor; from A Musical Offering - Bach

It is difficult to imagine a royal court or presidential palace where the monarch or president would play the flute and would hand out a theme for a visiting composer to extemporise on, but so it was under Frederick II in Berlin. The theme lent itself so readily to fugal treatment that Bach not only extemporised a three-part fugue or ricercar on the spot, but added several canons, a trio sonata and a six-part ricercar all based on the royal theme and dedicated the collection, his Musical Offering, to the king.

The talented group of players at the Hugh Lane Gallery chose not to present all the canons - it might have been too intellectual a feast - and preceded their selection with a Trio Sonata in G. The sound of the baroque cello, played here by Sarah Cunningham, wed most exquisitely with that of the harpsichord, played by Malcolm Proud.

Mingled with these and rising above them were the tender notes of Eleanor Dawson's baroque flute and the more emphatic tones of Maya Homburger's baroque violin. The latter's style of playing, in which a swell is used to get the full emotional effect from individual notes, was not matched by the other players so there were times when the violin seemed to be demanding more attention than it deserved, even though it was being played in a restrained manner to allow the less powerful flute to come through.

Bach's contrapuntal ingenuity is most clearly evident in the two ricercars. These, the three-part and the six-part, were played on the harpsichord with exemplary clarity by Malcolm Proud. It is much harder to detect the royal theme in the Trio Sonata in C minor as Bach has hidden it: we were jokingly offered a prize for supplying the correct number of entries. By ignoring the challenge, we were able to enjoy the music, played in the most acceptable manner - that is, on instruments of the period.