Also this issue:

Bad Is Good
There’s a reason for the sudden success of The Bad Plus.
-Nate Chinen

Minister of Information
This is Al Jourgensen’s United States of Whatever.
-A.D. Amorosi

suitespot
Peter Burwasser on Classical
-Peter Burwasser

Litmus Test
Clayton the Chemist-Sean O’Neal

The Mercury Program
-Paul Burress

My Morning Jacket
-Brian Howard

Cousteau
-Nicole Pensiero

Strawbs
-Nicole Pensiero

May 1- 7, 2003

musicpicks

Philomel

Philomel usually ends their season with a bang. This year they do it with musical fireworks of a sort, appropriately for a yearlong celebration of the music of Handel. OK, so the "Royal Fireworks" are not on the program, but there will be the favorite "Water Music," a clutch of opera overtures, a concerto grosso and some ballet music. Philomel will deploy their orchestra-sized ensemble for this concert, offering a rare local treat of a full-blown period instrument sound in a concert that emphasizes the joyousness of the baroque. There are also two unusual concertos of Vivaldi scheduled in which several longtime Philomel guests will take part, including virtuoso oboist Gonzalo Ruiz, "without question, one of the best baroque oboists of our generation, with his amazingly light and lyrical sound." So says Philomel recorder soloist and co-director Elissa Berardi, who will join him on Vivaldi’s Chamber Concerto in C. Other soloists include Vancouver-based bassoonist Jesse Read and Philomel’s ever-dazzling cellist Vivian Dozor.

Fri., May 2, 8 p.m., Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, Chestnut Hill; Sat., May 3, 8 p.m., Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown; Sun., May 4, 7 p.m., St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Lancaster Ave. and Louella St., Wayne; $24-$30, 215-893-1999.

—Peter Burwasser