Dunford and Langlois de Swarte bring playful flair to baroque music
Lutenist Thomas Dunford and violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte gave their first London performance of *The Mad Lover*, a programme of 17th-century music and improvisation. Part of the London Festival of Baroque Music, the concert combined playful spontaneity with precise playing, and showed the duo’s evident rapport.
The 75-minute programme included works by John Eccles, Daniel Purcell and the two Nicola Matteises, alongside Dunford’s improvisations and comic musical references to Indiana Jones and Radiohead. When a lute string came loose, Dunford carried on so smoothly it was barely noticeable. The musicians ended by inviting the audience to sing along to a Bach-inspired arrangement of the Beatles’ *Blackbird*; the festival’s Smith Square Hall will now close for two years of refurbishment.
In short
- Dunford and Langlois de Swarte brought *The Mad Lover* to London.
- Their baroque programme mixed virtuosity, improvisation and humour.
- Audience singing to *Blackbird* provided the concert’s closing moment.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “The Mad Lover review – eccentric charm and baroque brilliance as duo move from Eccles to Indiana Jones”.