The concert was all seventeenth century Dutch songs to do with
sailing. The 7-member group had three singers (Soprano, Tenor, and
Baritone), a recorder player, a violin, a bass viol and a lute, who
was also the director. Everybody sang along on the choruses.
That much singing of pretty but often uncomplicated music in a
foreign language could have gotten tedious, but I felt the
arrangements and “staging” were varied enough that I wasn’t bored.
Two songs were sung in English translation. In my opinion these
were among the most effective of the evening. Some leaving audience
members were heard complaining about the slightly accented English,
but I thought the diction was superb, and the songs were much more
effective for not requiring the audience to read along.
The lyrics to one piece were written to be sung to a psalm tune
that has a 6-part polyphonic setting by Sweelinck, so they did it that
way. The result was interesting, but probably not what the sailors
did on deck after a hard day in the rigging.
The instrumental backup was superb, and most of the singing was
very committed to the subject matter. I wish my group could find as
effective a way of presenting our drinking songs.
LayMusic.org 