The Kammerphilharmonie Europa have made a number of previous visits to Nairn, treating audiences to repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantic eras, and their latest performance presented music from just over two centuries.  Notwithstanding their orchestral-sounding name, the line-up varies, and the group in front of us was essentially a string septet, while Covid had also deprived them of one of their two guest wind soloists.

The concert opened with the fourth of the lovely opus 6 Concerti Grossi by Corelli.  The ensemble's energetic account highlighted their infectious enthusiasm, but also the limitations of the group.  With two players on each line - just one on the viola part - blend proved elusive, and I felt a general lack of unanimity, which persisted on and off throughout the concert.

For the Trumpet Concerto by the Bohemian composer Johann Neruda, the strings were joined by guest soloist Cyril Gussaroff, whose clear tone and precise technique brought this music vividly to life.  The loss of their guest oboist led to the last-minute substitution of the Bach Double Violin Concerto, featuring the group's leader Michael Kibardin and the principal second violin Andreas Sur.  Although they proved more than capable soloists, the resulting further dilution of the ranks led to some unfortunate raggedness in the ensemble, and the performance never really settled.

For maximum effect, Elgar's celebrated Serenade for Strings needs a large body of strings, and KE's performance sounded like a chamber arrangement, not unpleasing, but lacking the full potential impact of this powerful piece.  An arrangement for strings of Rachmaninov's Vocalise which came next proved a little eccentric, with no real sense of a solo voice floating above a full ensemble.  A rather breathless performance also seemed to miss the timeless serenity of the original masterpiece.  The concert concluded with a more convincing account of Mozart's Divertimento KV138, and it struck me that of all the music in the concert, this was the only piece that sounded truly convincing played by these forces.  As the concluding Presto genuinely sizzled, enjoying a unanimity of performance that had previously eluded the ensemble, I was left with the horrible suspicion that the previous lack of focus had been at least partly due to a lack of rehearsal.

For their two encores, The Kammerphilharmonie Europa moved on to what I would call 'Passadena Roof Orchestra' repertoire, and, rejoined by their guest trumpeter, they gave us a couple of decidedly cool numbers, one by Piazzolla, which seemed finally to play to their strengths.  Their obvious enjoyment of this repertoire was infectious, and the Nairn audience responded appropriately.