Smith Square Hall, London
Part of the London Festival of Baroque Music, lutenist Thomas Dunford and violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte’s concert struck a balance between freewheeling music-making and precise virtuosity
The Mad Lover was a 1616 play with incidental music by the English composer John Eccles. But, as the lutenist Thomas Dunford explained, we didn’t really need to know that: he and the violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte just liked the title. You can imagine it fitting many more programmes this duo might play together in the future – as they surely should, judging by the amount of fun they were having here.
The two recorded this 75-minute programme of music by Eccles and his 17th-century contemporaries back in 2020, but this performance of it was their first in London. It was part of the week-long London Festival of Baroque Music – the last before a two-year break while the festival’s venue, Smith Square Hall, is refurbished – and struck a balance between freewheeling music-making and precise virtuosity.
Continue reading...