★★★★☆ Baroque trio and friends take us where court meets pub.

City Hall, Brisbane
April 13, 2016

Ever heard of Davis Mell? Thought not. But thanks to Latitude 37, Brisbane Baroque audiences had a chance to get to know some of the hidden gems by Mell and his contemporaries as they shone a light into one of the darker corners of English musical history – the ‘lost’ period between the Jacobean dolours of Dowland and the Restoration glories of Purcell. With a little help from the Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1600-1800 (Volume 10), I now know that Mell, a Salisbury born composer and violinist, was a respected court musician to Cromwell and “not given to excessive drinking” – clearly a quality in short supply at the time. As demonstrated, his variations on John Come Kiss Me Now are a perfect example of when popular (ie folk) music meets high art – in other words, when the pub rubs shoulders with the court.

The core players of Australia’s premiere baroque trio comprise gifted violinist Julia Fredersdorff, Laura Vaughan on gamba and...