Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024

Ton Koopman, Paris, Cité de la Musique, 2008, Photo by Paul Ruet, CC 3.0

What a lovely, relaxing concert this was. Not so relaxing getting to The Wig on a Friday evening in the run up to Christmas. Nor all that relaxing navigating the inners of a packed Wigmore Hall. But once we were in our seats…bliss.

Janie must have asked me three times if it was ACTUALLY Ton Koopman‘s birthday that day. I said “probably not” and was right, but he had just turned 80 a few week’s before the concert, so this must be his 80th birthday tour.

A man who has dedicated his career to the Baroque canon, we sensed that Koopman surrounds himself with the finest exponents of baroque music, making a happy atmosphere and sound with those people.

Here is a link to the programme on The Wigmore Hall site. If by chance anything befalls that link, here is a scrape.

Before the interval, we heard:

• Trio Sonata in D minor for recorder, violin and continuo TWV42:d7
• Trio Sonata in G minor for oboe, violin and continuo TWV42:g5
• Sonata in F minor for bassoon and continuo TWV41:f1
• Trio Sonata in F for violin, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F10
• Quartet in D minor for recorder, traverso, bassoon and continuo from Tafelmusik II TWV43:d1

After the interval we heard:

• Trio Sonata in C for recorder, traverso and continuo TWV42:C1
• Quartet in G for traverso, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G2
• Trio Sonata in F for recorder, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F3
• Quartet in G for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G6

You might get a feel for the sound from the following YouTube, which includes Robert Smith (whom we saw) on the bass viol and focuses on recorder sonatas, of which we heard a few:

Or this one, which is a live performance of a Telemann trio sonata with recorder and viol:

Or this one, a movement from the Oboe Sonata g5 recorded by Ton Koopman and his then mates 30 years ago:

Indeed, that 1994 album looks great – I have playlisted it on my YouTube Music here – this link should work even if it looks crossed out.