On October 3rd, I joined a few friends in attending an early music concert at the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria.  The musicians performing were Soile Stratkauskas on flute, Chloe Meyers on violin, Natalie Mackie on viola de gamba and Alexander Weimann on harpsichord.  Before the performance began, I was cognizant of the acoustic of the dainty performance hall, the cars driving past on the street outside, and the intimacy of the space.  There were only fourteen people in attendance, and so the ambience of the hall felt warm and friendly.  Before beginning the evening with Handel’s Trio Sonata in A major, the quartet addressed the audience and expressed their gratitude for the support, and reciprocated my belief about the personal nature of the performance.  The trio sonata was taken at a slightly slower tempo than I was familiar with, but the slower tempo enabled the opening flute line to sing expressively.  I was amazed by how rich the sound of the wooden flute was, and how clear and nimble Soile Stratkauskas was with her articulations and leaps.  It was immediately apparent that this quartet had extensive experience performing together, as their tempo, rhythm and rubato was as clean as I had ever heard.  It was captivating how the balance of the voices allowed for the melody and countermelody to rest just above the texture, passed from one musician to another.  The visual communication between the violin and the ensemble was clear and well practiced, and a good model for me to bring to my own chamber rehearsals.  Following the Handel trio sonata was Sinfonia in D minor by Alessandro Stradella, a piece I was entirely unfamiliar with.  This piece was dark and wistful, and brought me back to the argument that minor keys are not necessarily sad – as Sinfonia possessed more of a longing and hopeful tone than a sad one.  While I really enjoyed listening to this piece, I could not fully appreciate it as I was trying to hold on to every individual note, and could not give the musical nuances the attention they deserved.  Regardless, Stradella’s Sinfonia in D minor was a must-add to my classical (small c) playlist, and I plan on further familiarizing myself both with this work, and with Stradella as an artist. Stratkasuskas rejoined the ensemble for J.S. Bach’s Trio Sonata in G major.  This piece was sweet and pleasant, rife with notes inégales.  I am not a fan of such light, fluffy and vapid music, however the technical facility of the quartet and their musicianship was fantastic and I could not help but appreciate it.  The final work of the set was Telemann’s Paris Quartet in E minor. What stood out to me was Staskauskas’ cueing. Around halfway through one of the middle movements, she cues an entrance, but after her motion takes her breath and the ensemble begins right in time.  This emphasized just how in touch the quartet was, and lent itself heavily to the cohesive sound that they produced.  Technically, the concert in its entirety was well balanced across both the instruments and the program. The concert hall facilitated the style in which the quartet played, and offered the appropriate resonance.  Tuning was immaculate, as was rhythm and tempo.  Expression was clear both through the musical lines as well as through physical motion throughout the phrases.  There was little in the way of dynamic contrast as a function of the harpsichord being part of the instrumentation, however the ensemble managed to vary its tone colour clearly and appropriately. The performers were all dressed in black, however there was no unifying style of clothing.  The flute was positioned at the foreground of the stage on the left with the violin following her in an arc. The harpsichord was at the back in the middle of the stage with the viola de gamba across from the violin.  As a whole, the concert was a beautiful and awe inspiring experience.  The intimacy was a first for me, and I felt it was better representative of how the music was written to be performed, as at the time it would have been performed in a salon or other small venue with few in attendance.  It was a refreshing reintroduction to concert viewing, and set the standard for cohesive sound and musical expression.