Battle of the bands ... er, orchestras

Eighteenth-century bows were less developed at the tip, with the result that sound tended to fade and rise, giving it a speechlike character. Gut strings also produce more immediate and cleanly projected sounds, giving greater control of gestures and phrasing.

This aesthetic is matched in other orchestral sections. Unlike modern flutes, with their rows of keys to produce difficult notes, Baroque flutes require complex finger patterns, and this creates a different timbre for every note. Even Baroque timpani share the aesthetic, producing a more rapid-fire sound, one that lends itself to shaping and phrasing, according to OAE timpanist János Keszei.

The highly characterful period instruments have a natural way of coming together. For example, the composer Glück often requires winds and strings to play passages of the same notes. Period instruments can do this without the conflict often associated with more strident modern instruments.

While instrumental virtuosity was valued in the romantic era of the 19th century, emotional coloration was more important in earlier Baroque opera.

To Gerald Finley, the Agamemnon in the Glyndebourne production of Glück's "Iphigénie en Aulide," "the quality of the cat gut gives that purity of tone which reaches our ear almost unconsciously and gives emotional tension without drawing attention to itself."

Boston Handel & Haydn Society Baroque oboist Marc Schachman says that "if you learn to play an old instrument, it teaches you how to play itself.... It tries to speak another language."

Louis Langrée, who conducts both period- and modern-instruments orchestras and leads the London Philharmonic in this season's Glyndebourne performances of Don Giovanni, is among those who believe that the language learned with period instruments can be passed to modern ones.

The period-instruments movement came in at the same time as nouvelle cuisine, but you can also "remove the fat" from modern ensembles while preserving the good taste, says Mr. Langrée. Vibrato can be pruned back, phrases shaped for maximum clarity.

Langrée has no qualms about mixing and matching, and has the Philharmonic play Baroque trumpets and timpani for "Don Giovanni" at Glyndebourne because he could not get the right effect from modern instruments. "When they play, I want them to play full power because it's music of the inferno."

His approach showed its strengths this summer in a vivid, free-flowing "Don Giovanni." Strings were crisp and clear, capturing the violence, the heartbeats, and the humor of the opera with period-instruments-style precision.

The Glyndebourne experiment has shown there is not just one musical path. "Authenticity does not exist," Langrée says. "What is more important is the spirit."

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