They make Baroque even better

Baroque music gives pleasure, enlightenment and spiritual uplift in varying amounts, depending on the abilities of the performers. Friday night, in the Irvine Barclay Theatre, the Italian ensemble Il Giardino Armonico returned and provided all of the above, plus an abundance of just plain fun. The sophisticated and closely observing Barclay audience accepted it boisterously.

The eight players of Il Giardino Armonico are virtuosos and more. Though controlled to the hemidemisemiquaver, they are as lively as a roomful of puppies. Their music communicates authentic thrills and contagious energy to the listener.

The period-instrument ensemble performed a program of three delightful concertos played with awe-inspiring technique by its leader, flutist Giovanni Antonini, two string sonatas by Giovanni Batista Fontana and Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, plus Purcell’s Chacony in G minor and Carlo Farina’s strikingly inventive “Capriccio Stravagante.”

The concertos, by Mancini, Vivaldi and Sammartini, contrasted neatly with each other while displaying the soloist’s fertile musicality and apparently unlimited mechanical resources. And throughout, there was no flagging of energy or enthusiasm from these indefatigable players.