Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN SESSIONS - ADELAIDE FRINGE 2019 at La Boheme

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Friday 15th February 2019.

Ensemble Galante, exponents of Baroque music on authentic instruments, do Wagner; an idea intriguing enough to get me round to La Boheme That wasn't, of course, what I found in The Flying Dutchman Sessions.

The story of a sea captain, sometimes named as Van der Decken, cursed to sail the seven seas for eternity, unless he can find the love of a good woman, has been floating around for centuries.

In this intriguing concert by Ensemble Galante in collaboration with the Evergreen Ensemble from Victoria, it's the name of a dockside tavern in The Hague around 1730. A jam session starts to bubble up and tunes from Scandinavia and Brittany blend with Vivaldi and Corelli.

The two guest performers were Shane Lestideau, baroque violin and Krishna Nagaraja, baroque viola. She's the Breton and he's the Italian of Indian descent, in himself an engaging cultural blend.

Most of the music they played was Scottish and Scandinavian, polkas predominated, giving Ben Dollman, baroque violin, the chance to play up a storm in his duets with Nagaraja. One of the most interesting pieces blended a tune by Scot William McGibbon and a well-known folia by Arcangelo Corelli as the Follies Set, and the last piece was a really assertive La Notte, Vivaldi concerto.

Historical note: many of Vivaldi's concerti were published in Amsterdam. La Boheme was packed for the first of the three concerts. The stage was so small, that both Natasha Kraemer, Baroque 'cello, and the redoubtable Glenys March, harpsichord, often had to step down to make room for the more energetic pieces.

I would have wanted, indeed, did want, more of Tim Nott's flute playing, for which I'll have to wait till Vivaldi in the Vines, in the Clare Valley in May, but the experience of such energy and many unfamiliar tunes was entirely memorable.

Thinks; winged helmets on the players, Ride of the Valkyrie, great encore. Work on it, Ensemble Galant.