Fiona Murphy (flute), Laoise O'Brien (recorder), Christ Church Baroque/Nicholas Kraemer

Les Nations - Telemann

Recorder Concerto In F - Sammartini

Concerto Grosso In D, Op 6, No 5 - Handel

Sinfonia Al Santo Sepolcro; Concerto In B Minor For Four Violins - Vivaldi

Concerto For Flute And Recorder - Telemann

Telemann's Ouverture Des Nations Anciens Et Modernes has 10 movements, some of which purport to describe representatives, young and old, of the German, Swedish and Danish races. This travelogue is excellent fun, made more so by the brief and genial introductions of the director, Nicholas Kraemer, who also played the harpsichord.

Perhaps partly because of his instrumental role, there was no feeling that the music was being generated by the conductor. He was the first among equals, and the other players in the orchestra were able to play with an unusual sense of freedom, with individual spontaneities that happily coincided.

It is important to note that Christ Church Baroque plays on period instruments and at the low 18th-century pitch. This requires the listener to adjust to a less brilliant sound and a narrower dynamic range, but once the adjustment is made the rewards are great. The music acquires a welcome lightness, and details are not obscured by a mass of sound.

Laoise O'Brien's gentle descant recorder was able to blend and yet be distinctly heard in Sammartini's concerto: the chamber intimacy of the ensemble was a model setting for the highly decorative, characteristically baroque solo part.

Vivaldi's Al Santo Sepolcro was written to be performed in a church, so Christ Church, even if more Gothic than baroque, reinforced the solemn atmosphere, and the short sinfonia flowed almost seamlessly into the Concerto For Four Violins, which was in the same key. The soloists emerged from the texture and sank back, like a school of fish rising.

Handel's Concerto Grosso In D is a work of definitive sturdiness, and the solo group of two violins and a cello is cleverly contrasted with the rest of the ensemble. Something similar could be said about Telemann's Concerto For Flute And Recorder, which ended last Thursday's concert.

Like Handel's soloists, the flute (Fiona Murphy) and alto recorder (O'Brien) competed and co-operated with the rest of the band in a sparkling tunefulness. The conductor had obviously done a lot more than play the harpsichord.