Between Baroque and a hard place

Vivaldi, Corelli, Locatelli, Geminiani; Baroque stars. Close your eyes, and you’re transported to late-17th/early-18th Century Venice; open them, and you’re in St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, with its uncomfortable traditional pews digging into your spine. The last concert in this season’s RSNO Chamber Series, coinciding with the West End Festival, was an extravaganza of lesser-known Baroque pieces, interspersed with short, tasty morsels from an even more obscure composer, Uccellini, whose works have been unearthed by no less than Andrew Manze. Led by violinist David Chivers, the ensemble consisted of four violins, two violas, a cello, a double bass, a harpsichord and a baroque guitar, alternated with a bass lute called a Theorbo. What a wonderful sound and what better way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon?