The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is remarkable on many levels, but this concert demonstrated how well it can be arranged from a choral work (in this case Cantata BWV 182) to a trio of recorder, oboe and cello.

The sparseness of the instrumentation meant that the remarkable harmonies used by Bach – often completely unexpected and uncompromising – were astonishingly clear. The arranging was done with such care that not a note of the harmonies was lost and is testament to the amount of thought that went into the preparation of the music for this concert. The title of the concert – Walking on Roses – was taken from one of the sections in the Cantata, which depicted the emotional journey of the soul on route to Heaven.

Why stop at Bach? Two sections of Telemann’s Cantata TWV1:165 (God’s Love Revealed) were also played. Although contemporaries, the music of Bach and Telemann was different in style. The arrangements highlighted the intellectual complexity of Bach’s approach to his Cantata writing, while the Telemann, though less complex, was delightful and worked well in the arrangement for the trio of performers. The oboe was given the line that would have been sung by a soprano, and the vocal nature of the work was clear.

Kim Worley playing baroque cello provided a wonderfully stable grounding for the two upper voices, with some opportunities for almost bravura playing which he handled with complete regard for the musical style.

Brendan O’Donnell playing two sizes of recorders gave the crisp yet sensitive performance that we have come to expect of his polished and sensitive playing.

Jane Downer’s tone from the baroque oboe and oboe d’amore was beautifully matched to the acoustic of the North Adelaide Baroque hall, where the sound of double reed instruments can overpower the other instruments unless handled carefully.

The ensemble playing was intuitive and the trio gave a wonderful performance of the two works, so that one could have thought that they were both written for that instrumental grouping. It was a delightful concert which was reflected in the enthusiastic applause from the audience as it came to a close.