Baroque virtuosi “Il Giardino Armonico” prove how exciting original instruments can be by clearing out the intellectual and sensuous ballast that a work accumulates over the centuries to allow it to sparkle in its genuine colours. The musicians featured in Paul Fenkart’s captivating film are Giovanni Antonini (flute), Enrico Onofri (violin), Vittorio Ghielmi (viola da gamba), Luca Pianca (lute) and Ottavio Dantone (harpsichord). Salzburg’s magnificent Mannerist pleasure palace at Hellbrunn provides evocative settings for their performances of rarelyperformed works from the French-style baroque repertoire, written around the turn of the seventeenth century. This architectural masterpiece still boasts with enchanting gardens, mystic grottos, water-powered figures, trick fountains and a mechanical theatre that delighted its original visitors. In its park there is also a natural stone quarry that was transformed into the “Steintheater”, a unique open-air stage. Viewers are plunged into the world of the baroque as “Il Giardino Armonico” perform in locations around the palace in period costumes. Members of “Musica et Saltatoria” are seen performing dances from the time.
