Review: BBC PROMS: VIVALDI AND BACH, Royal Albert Hall

Once Proms season comes around, there aren’t many better places to be on a Sunday morning than at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a return to more traditional Proms fare this time, with a trip to the 17th and 18th centuries for a selection of mostly Vivaldi and Bach pieces - although the programme also featured work from some of their contemporaries, such as Giovanni Legrenzi and Nicola Matteis Jr.

Le Consort is a French Baroque chamber ensemble whose director is violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, and they put a programme together that - according to de Swarte - aimed to tell “the story of the emergence of the violin concerto in Venice, and how Johann Sebastian Bach created his own style of concerto from it”. By alternating between composers throughout the concert, it creates the effect of Bach, Vivaldi et. al. in conversation with one another, as the violin concerto form starts to really take shape.

They began in true theatrical fashion; the ensemble was set up centrestage. but you could gradually hear a solo violin beginning Matteis’ Fantasia No. 2 - and a spotlight suddenly picked out de Swarte on the top step of the Proms stage. Cue a mesmerising solo performance, before heading over to join the rest of the ensemble for Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in D minor. The six movements progressed with reverent silence from the audience, clearly enraptured by the skilful and dynamic musicians before them.

Sunday mornings are generally considered to be the choice of the hardcore Proms fan, so it’s unsurprising that you could hear a pin drop during every single piece; this really made the difference when Le Consort needed to play around with diminuendo and crescendo, as the tension generated by the change in volume and power wasn’t punctured by a phone being dropped or people needing to have a chat.

Both acts contained one very well known piece - the “Air” from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major (often referred to as “Air on the G string”) came in the first half, and was actually bumped up the order slightly. This worked quite nicely, partly to have something more widely recognisable earlier in the programme, but also to demonstrate the interplay between Bach and the Italian composers whose works were selected.

The four core members of Le Consort (de Swarte, Sophie de Bardonnèche, Hanna Salzenstein and Justin Taylor) closed out the first half with Vivaldi’s Trio Sonata in D minor (“La folia”) - the ‘trio’ here referring to the number of melodic lines rather than how many musicians are required. This was a beautiful way to head into the break, the quartet demonstrating their passion for their specialist musical form.

Bach may have been slightly outnumbered by Vivaldi and his Italian colleagues in this Prom, but there are several other pieces by the German composer planned for other concerts across the season if you wish to satisfy that urge.

You can’t have a Vivaldi-themed Prom without The Four Seasons getting a look in. It was a nice thought to pick out “Summer” as the concerto of choice, but in typical UK fashion the weather was having none of it on Sunday morning; de Swarte describes this particular season as “the masterpiece”, so it’s no surprise that when we were offered the chance of hearing something again as a final encore, this was the popular choice. “This is democracy!”, he exclaimed to the delighted audience.

It’s not difficult to work out why it is beloved of performers and listeners alike, with its changes of pace, volume, and intensity, as well as its combination of solo and ensemble sections. A truly evocative piece of music that is even better heard performed live.

On top of their obvious talent, it was the enthusiasm of the youthful de Swarte and his ensemble that quickly won the audience over - so much so that the rapturous response from the patrons was rewarded with two encores (ahead of the aforementioned reprise of the final movement of “Summer”). Le Consort have set the bar incredibly high for this year’s Proms, and I hope that this is the first of many appearances for the baroque ensemble.

The BBC Proms run at the Royal Albert Hall until 13 September