A LARGE audience at St Thomas’s Church enjoyed a feast of baroque music on Sunday afternoon.

Billed as The Grand Baroque Harpsichord, this was by no means simply a programme of harpsichord music but included several works in which other members of Salisbury Baroque took leading roles while the harpsichord was busy in the background.

The opening piece was by JS Bach’s second cousin Johann Bernhard, an overture consisting of many short dancelike movements directed unobtrusively by Sharon Gould from the harpsichord.

The orchestra’s policy of standing to play, so they can more easily see and listen to each other, was seen to especially good effect here.

There were two pieces for reduced forces – a sonata by Buxtehude and a quartet by Telemann. The Telemann seemed at times to be part of a bassoon concerto, making great demands on MatthewDodd, while the soft and well blended flute and recorder of Cheri Richens and Miranda Dodd sang gently above.

Sharon Gould’s musicality and virtuosity were displayed in the Bach Harpsichord Concerto and the Fifth Brandenburg.

In both the difficulty of achieving a satisfactory balance between the instruments in a baroque orchestra was sometimes evident, but we went home marvelling at Sharon’s dexterity, with cheerful tunes ringing in our ears.

Colin Reed