Music / Pluckers and Scratchers, Apeiron Baroque. At Wesley Uniting Church,  March 23. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

One of the things I do enjoy about an Apeiron Baroque concert is that I know I will have never heard of at least two-thirds of the composers.

In this concert it was more like 80 per cent, including Adam Jarzebski, a major figure in the early Polish baroque and a couple of English musicians active at the court of Charles I. This is not a complaint, but merely an admiration of the work John Ma and Marie Searles must do in tracking down these forgotten gems of the Baroque.

For this concert Searles and Ma were joined by young Canberra-based cellist James Monro and two musicians from Melbourne. Hannah Lane plays an Italian triple harp and Laura Vaughan a viola da gamba. These two unusual instruments added quite different tonal elements to the ensemble.

For the opening work, a sonata by 17^th century German composer Dietrich Becker, the harp and cello playing plucked bass lines along with rumbling harpsichord from Searles with the melody swapping between Ma’s violin and the gamba.

The triple harp and the gamba each had short solo pieces, with the harp demonstrating its quite different sound compared to a modern concert harp.

Several other works showcased the visitors, with the harp featured in selections from two harp consorts by English composer William Lawes and the gamba in a sonata by German Johan Ruhe. For this work Ma switched to a viola and the nasal quality of the two lower-register instruments blended in an interesting and beguiling way.

The concert was cleverly programmed with a mix of wonderfully obscure music by mostly forgotten 17^th and 18^th century musicians. There was music for the entire ensemble, sometimes just three or four along with a solo spot for the interstate visitors. Monro’s cello shone in a trio sonata by Richard Jones, the lead swapping between the cello and violin with just the harpsichord adding continuo.

A jaunty movement from a Buxtehude sonata to finish sent the near capacity audience on its way with a collective smile on their faces.