Classical review: SCO, Edinburgh Queen’s Hall

Lest we forget there was much more to the German Baroque than JS Bach and his prodigious family, last night’s lengthy programme by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra threw in two equally major names of the day, Telemann and the now lesser-known Johann David Heinichen.

And for good measure there was a dash of Italian in the form of Vivaldi.

And what better man to inject stylised energy into such repertoire than Richard Egarr, whose indefatigable presence – sitting at the harpsichord with the stool turned side on – ranged from his easeful continuo direction of Orchestral Suites by Telemann and Bach to his effortless ebullience as soloist in Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D.

If the balance in the harpsichord concerto often left Egarr’s keyboard pyrotechnics reduced to distant clicks, and if the inclusion of a Bach cantata overture was a little rough around the edges, the best outweighed the inconsistencies.

Who would have expected from Telemann’s Water Music suite, with its mythical characterisations, such Rameau-esque eccentricities as the ballsy Harlequinade, or a Gigue naturalistic enough to sound like a prototype of Beethoven”s “Pastoral” Symphony?

Heinichen’s “Sonata for two horns and strings”, with Alec Frank-Gemmill and Harry Johnstone as soloists, reveal a composer as worthy as his academic tomes.

Rating: ***