Of Flute And Lute Allegro’s Season Opener Features Specialists In Two Very Different Instruments

Allegro opens its season with a visit to Handel’s London, and takes in some of the musical fare one might have encountered there in the early 18th century.

To help us discover the sounds of the time, Allegro directors Beverly Biggs and David Dutton are importing a couple of early instrument specialists. Gwyn Roberts’ specialty is the flute family, both recorder and transverse, and Richard Stone’s instrument is the lute.

Lutenists are the rarer breed, although the delicate sound is so otherworldly that it’s surprising that someone on every block isn’t tuning one up and giving it a whirl. Well, there is the down side - I think you need to have at least eight fingers on each hand to make a go of it.

Stone must have the fingers, as he has played with such groups as the Taverner Players, the Consort of Musicke and the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. He has also recorded with a handful of labels, his most recent release being a solo CD covering the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss on Titanic.

If modern electric bass players are cool, then even cooler are those who play the archlute and theorbo. Before the days of metal-wrapped strings, lower pitches were achieved with length. Stone will be bringing along his six-foot archlute for the program, and woe to those who opt to miss it. There is nothing else with a sound like this.

Roberts is accomplished in the early music field as well, having performed in the United States, Europe and Japan, and appearing with the likes of the Baltimore Consort. She also has played on a number of recordings, including a current solo CD of Francesco Maria Veracini’s 1716 Sonatas.

The guest artists will perform works from their latest recordings at the Allegro concert. Roberts will play the Sonata VII of Veracini, who might have run into Handel in London in 1714, and she will join forces with Stone to perform Weiss’ Concerto for Flute and Lute.

Also slated for the evening are a Trio Sonata of Loeillet, a Harpsichord Sonata by the London Bach, Johann Christian, and a Trio Sonata from Handel. In addition to the guests’ instruments, Biggs’ double manual harpsichord and Dutton’s baroque oboe will be supplemented by the bassoon of Barbara Novak.

A pre-concert talk with Richard Davis begins at 7:15 p.m.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Allegro will present Handel’s London at 8 p.m. Tuesday at The Met. Tickets are $8, $12, $15 or $18, available at G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT. Season tickets are available from Allegro at 455-6865.