Concert Review: Nosky’s Baroque Band in Central Park

I like when classical music ensembles call themselves bands. The word implies a proletarian good time instead of the formal, highbrow listening experience suggested by a continental term like “ensemble” or neutrally descriptive nomenclature like “The __ Quartet.” Nosky’s Baroque Band, the brainchild of violinist Aisslinn Nosky, provided a rollicking good time – and appeared to have one themselves – at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park on Tuesday with a program of Baroque concertos.

The air is typically festive at outdoor shows, especially free ones like these Naumburg Orchestral Concerts. Nosky’s group played to the good spirits percolating through the packed “house,” a one-day break in a string of wet, sweaty weather having allowed the concert to proceed as planned. The program surveyed the concerto form from the late 17th through early 18th centuries and included two works that featured trumpeter Steven Marquardt (who also performs with the period-instrument American Classical Orchestra) on his valveless (or should I say valve-free?) Baroque trumpet.

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