“While music is my field and plow, and serves to give me many of my keenest pleasures, I have lately attached myself to a new suitor, namely the love of flowers.” (1742) – Georg Phillip Telemann
The stage was set with two huge buckets of flowers, and there was a youthful spring in the step of the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra as they celebrated 10 years of delivering world class music of the baroque, galant, and early classical on period instruments.
The program was tied together by the theme of flowers, literal flowers, with all the composers also being keen horticulturalists, a popular pastime for gentlefolk of the 17-18th centuries. The material was – to use a gardening term – fecund; fertile with expression and virtuosity, and downright fabulousness.
Just like the crate of exotic flowers and bulbs sent by Handel to Telemann, we were treated to rare and beautiful music curated into a program by violinist and musicologist Tim Willis and including works by Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Johann Geog Pisendel and Johann Gottlief Graun.
These included Handel’s Ouverture to Teseo and Telemann’s Sonata à 4 (TWV 43:a5) as well as his hilarious Les Nations with its miniature representations of the fierce Les Turcs, the solemn Les Suisess, and Les Mocovites – loved the ostinato of the Kremlin bells – although watch out for my favourite movements, the Minuet I and II with its shimmering tremolo in the strings.
The orchestra strings were led by Tim Willis and included Kailen Cresp and soloist Adam Masters on oboe and musician and gardening instagram influencer Simon Rickard on bassoon, who, along with Rosy Hunt on cello, Linda Kent on harpsichord and Chris Gelok on bass provided great articulation in the continuo which really brought the bass line to life. There was precision and elegance in the performance.
The Oboe Concerto in C Major by Hertel was performed by Masters on baroque oboe with great panache and you could hear the nuances of the very expressive and new style that superseded the Baroque. Great program notes from Tim Willis, who explained that Hertel was a ‘Carnationalist”, yes a devotee of the flower, and the inclusivity of the Berlin music scene of the time. Tim’s warm and mellifluous tone breathed life into the work.
Just as breathtakingly virtuosic as the Hertel was the Violin Concerto in D Major of Pisendel played by Tim Willis. This gorgeous gem of a work contained passages that I am sure would have impressed Vivaldi himself! Tim played with assurance and vigour.
Orchestral string players Cameron Jamieson, Lachlan MacLaren on violins and Caroline Henbest on viola were integral to the warm sound of the orchestra, with each player taking on individual part roles as well as a unified orchestral ones.
There was a sense of celebration after the concert as the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra celebrated 10 years of music making. Founding member Rosy Hunt explained that over the years wonderful programs such as this one and the ones coming in 2026 season are the result of an orchestra – and MBO’s many supporters and donors – that works together to make great music on period instruments.
Anthony was introduced on classikON before setting off on his Juilliard Journey. He is the first Australian to study Early Music at The Juilliard School in New York City and is sharing his experiences with you.
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Melbourne Baroque Orchestra acknowledges the sovereignty of the people of Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung language groups of the Eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we perform and share our love of music. We acknowledge their Ancestors and Elders past and present.