Ever heard or heard of Charpentier's Pastorale sur la Naissance de Notre Seigneur Jsus-Christ? Or his Dialogus inter Angelos et Pastores? Or Morton Gould's Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra? The chances are slim, but the coming week offers a high ratio of music rarely performed, writes Hilton Tims.

The Charpentier works feature in the Esher-based Ripieno Choir's concert with the generic title of Christmas with the Sun King at All Saints' Church, Weston Green, next Saturday.

They are being aired thanks to the resourcefulness and enthusiasm of its conductor, David Hansell, who has been delving into the archives.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and musical collaborator with Molire, is one of those spectral composers from the 17th century whose music crops up in esoteric recordings but has been largely overlooked for the past 250 years, and useable published editions are rare.

With financial support from the R.C. Sherriff Rosebriars Trust, David Hansell has created his own special edition of the Pastorale which depicts the Nativity. He has done similar excavation work on the Dialogus which, incredibly, still has to be set down for posterity in published form.

There are perhaps more valid reasons for the obscurity of Morton Gould's Concerto for Tap Dancer and Orchestra. Suitable soloists in tap shoes are not thick on the ground. Gould (born, in Richmond Hill, New York) is better known for his lighter music and Broadway scores, but he had a serious side of which the 1953 tap dance concerto is one product.

A dazzling showpiece of rhythmic timing and syncopation, it will be performed by Lane Alexander with the visiting Chicago Sinfonietta at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, next Wednesday.

Schumann's Konzertstck for four horns and orchestra is not exactly unknown but hearings are infrequent because of the logistical problems of assembling four solo horn players and the gruelling technical demands it makes on them. Kingston Chamber Orchestra is taking the plunge at All Saints' Church, Kingston tomorrow (Nov 17) with its principal horn, Surbiton-based Lucas Kirk, facing up to the challenge in the first horn part. This has so many extreme high notes that it is considered the most difficult horn part to play in the entire orchestral repertoire players regard it as possible but not always practical.

Lucas Kirk, now a computer consultant, used to play professionally and during the 1980s was principal horn with, respectively, the orchestras of the Parma Opera House in Italy and the Sydney Opera House.

November 12, 2001 13:00