With Harry Christophers recently installed as artistic director, the Handel and Haydn Society will be broadening its circle of guest conductors. Christophers himself leads only three programs this season but he had clear opinions about who should be guiding the orchestra in his absence. For the season opener, he tapped Jean-Christophe Spinosi, a young rising star of the early music movement. For Thursday’s concert in Jordan Hall, Handel and Haydn turned to a veteran early music performer, the Dutch cellist and conductor Jaap ter Linden.
Dutch cellist leads holiday-themed H&H Society program
Ter Linden has decades of Baroque music experience, having served as principal cello in the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and other keystone ensembles. Rather than feature himself as a soloist or conductor at this performance, however, he built a program of mostly concerti grossi and led on his cello from within the heart of the continuo group. That group of instruments - here consisting of harpsichord and lower strings - sounded robust for much of the program, but unfortunately, ter Linden by and large left the rest of the ensemble to fend for itself, which it did with decidedly mixed results. Coherent approaches to phrasing were hard to discern and at various points the ensemble work and intonation slid alarmingly below H&H’s typical standards.
In terms or repertoire, this holiday-themed program mixed both rarities and staples. In the former category was Manfredini’s “Christmas Concerto,’’ written in Bologna in 1718 and very seldom performed. But this humble, gentle-spirited piece needed a much tighter and more articulate performance to really convince us that its neglect is an injustice.
Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 2 showcased oboist Stephen Hammer and bassoonist Andrew Schwartz but was marred by balance problems among other issues. Bach’s Suite in B minor (BWV 1067) featured some nimble passagework from flutist Christopher Krueger, but the overall ensemble at various transitions seemed to almost come unglued. Georg Muffat’s “Armonico Tributo’’ would have been stronger without the intermittent blurriness of sound and an overall tentativeness of execution.
Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,’’ which closed the program, breathed more easily and benefited from an improved clarity of articulation. It drew a warm response from the audience. But overall, measured against it own potential for rhythmically vital, sharply etched, texturally transparent period instrument playing, this was an off night for the Handel and Haydn Society.
Jeremy Eichler can be reached at jeichler@globe.com
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