Hearing the Baroque Flute in a Noisy World Requires Focus
REVIEW
Musica Angelica has been charming Southern California audiences with music of the Baroque and Renaissance era for 17 the past years. The group, founded in 1993 by lutist Michael Eagan, found an audience, albeit a small one in those early days, in concerts presented in the Pasadena area. Among venues back then were the Holliston Methodist Church, the sanctuary of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, the Norton Simon Museum Theater and some others. Lately, Musica Angelica has been offering its music at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, which it did last Saturday. The church provides nice acoustics 
but is limited in seating space. Musica Angelica’s General Manager, Laura Spino, announced that there are plans to expand their presence in the San Gabriel Valley which will be welcomed by early music fans many of whom attended “Art of the Baroque Flute” with the group’s principal flutist, Stephen Schultz. The concert drew a nearly full house.
Musica Angelica provides two distinct programs: one as a Baroque orchestra and the other with smaller break-out groups. Last Saturday’s event presented members of the ensemble in a special program of period flute music, calling it “Art of the Baroque Flute”. Joining Schultz were early music specialists Janet Strauss, violin; Suzanna Gignac, viola; Joanna Blendulf, viol da gamba; and Katherine Shao, harpsichord.
As charming as a small ensemble performing music of the 16th-century is, it does require the audience to leave its noisy world at the entrance and to enter the soft, benign, unamplified experience. Like entering a darkened room from sunlight, it took me a while to adapt. But once one is settled into the spirit of the music, the works on the program—by George Frederic Handel, Jacque-Martin Hotteterre, Johann Joachim Quantz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Francois Couperin, and Geo Phillip Telemann—as performed by Schultz and the ensemble on either authentic or historically accurate reproductions of instruments. It is remarkable in this day to be able to hear the pure musicianship with no modern enhancements. Programmed were composers who were top-tier in their day. The numbers performed, Schultz said, were the most popular of the times and have remained favorites in flute literature over the centuries.
According to remarks Schultz made at the start of the concert, the program represented a virtual history of the flute. On the program was Handel’s Trio Sonata in G-major, Hotteterre’s Suite #3 in G-major, Book I, Quantz; Quartet #5 in C-major, Couperin’s Concert Royaux #1 in G-major, and Telemann’s Paris Quartet #3 in G, Book II.
In Stephen Schultz’s competent hands, the music flowed offering an evening of lively music. Schultz brings a lively gait to the music and provides a full and warm tone. Backing by Strauss, Gignac, Blendulf and Shao was equally secure and warm.
Musica Angelica’s next scheduled concert is Saturday, Feb. 13 and Sunday, Feb. 14 when the full Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra presents “The Glory of the Hapsburgs” with Martin Haselbock conducting. Guest artists are Jesus Leon, tenor and Kathryn Adduci, trumpet. That performance will take place at the Zipper concert Hall of the Colburn School of Performing Arts, in downtown Los Angeles, opposite Walt Disney Concert Hall.
By Bill Peters
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