Vocal heroes | 9 May 2019

We’ve all read the article. It does the rounds with the dispiriting regularity of an unwanted dish on a sushi train. Classical concerts are dying and if they are to survive they need to evolve, to innovate, to banish (variously) seating, silence, dress codes (for musicians), dress codes (for audience), programme notes, formal venues… But among so much institutional hand-wringing and professional self-loathing I’d like to take a moment to celebrate one classical tribe getting innovation exactly right: period music groups.

Theirs is a repertoire with a natural advantage; it belongs to an age in which music was still soundtrack rather than event — an inevitable accompaniment to drinking or dying, dancing, seducing, warring or worshipping, integrated into the essential business of life. All of which means not just more relaxed forms and formats, but smaller, adaptable forces — the kind of groups you could hide in a priest hole, hire to serenade your mistress, or relocate to a gallery, a living room, a warehouse.