Review: Sinfonietta ensemble

The Sinfonietta's associate conductor Jason Lai directed this disparate but enjoyable four-item programme, except during Vivaldi's Recorder Concerto, when soloist Stefan Temmingh held sway - literally. With knees bent for most of the performance, eyes glued to the music yet occasionally swivelling to look at his accompanists, the Dutch-South African with red shoes and gold collar (below) resembled a virtuoso Pied Piper.

He reminded us that the baroque era was a throwaway society as far as music was concerned; fresh entertainment was the order of any soirée and Vivaldi's work for the humble recorder certainly engaged us at that level here. Cellist Chang Pei-chieh's perfectly judged contributions on the continuo line were equally compelling, if more modest in delivery.

Fast forward to Enjott Schneider's Omaggio a Vivaldi, a three-movement, 15-minute work for string ensemble, harpsichord and a variety of recorders that premiered in 2011 and is dedicated to Temmingh. Schneider's experience as a writer of film scores is pre-eminent in the attractive first movement with melodically quirky, fast-changing fragments that are colourfully scored for the strings. However, the tenor recorder's voice was lost during the opening section of the second movement, while the finale struggled to break any significant new ground.