Concert Review: AAM with Egarr

I recently attended a concert with the Academy of Ancient Music under the direction of Richard Egarr, harpsichord. They appeared along their U.S. tour in Portsmouth, VA, playing a concert of "favorites": Handel, Telemann, and Bach. Water Music, Brandenburg 4, and a flute concerto by Telemann. In fact, all the music is on record here at home... it was nice to judge the group based on "favorites." Egarr has quite a personality, and a dry wit with the audience. The playing space, Trinity Church, was too small for them, and warm. And despite the weather and humidity, they maintained excellent intonation for the duration of the concert. This is not "your father's AAM" anymore... this is a new group... well, their style is. More on the edge, like Il giardino armonico, than say, the AAM. They play with energy and fun, and I enjoyed the overall effort by the musicians. Some of the members have been around a long time: Beckett on recorder, Jones on viola, and Beznosuik on violin. Young faces and older together made great music. They stayed at my hotel. In fact, I recognized Pavlo Beznosuik on the dockside area in Portsmouth before the concert... I should have said something. Hoping to get a signature on a CD by Egarr after the show, I hung around the hotel lobby. One by one, the Academy of Ancient Music walked by me, carrying their instruments... Bill Carter with his theorbo, Rachel Beckett with her flutes, Joe Crouch with his cello... Egarr never came back while I waited. Then, one by one, they walked about out, supposedly for dinner, in less formal clothing. I didn't think much of Portsmouth... I can only wonder what their reaction was. Among their best pieces of the evening was a closing encore of Handel from op. 3, and the Telemann Wassermusik suite. It was all good, but these stuck out. With new blood and energy at the helm, they're once again to be listened to... I think I will check out their Handel CD. None were for sale after the concert. Update: I should add that Trevor Jones, the violist, looks very much like the comedian, Larry David. And the lutenist, William Carter, very much looks like our friend, Greg. And--I added two photos of the venue for the concert from my cell phone.