This was the second concert I went to at this year’s Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF). It was at Jordan Hall at 10:30pm on Monday, June 9.
Unlike the first one, this one was exactly what I expected, and I enjoyed it a lot. Instead of wondering when they’d get to what I’d come for, I wondered things like where I could find the music so I could sing it too and whether there would still be wine left in the wine glasses they clinked and pretended to sip from at the end of the concert. (There was.) But it was good acting.
The 10:30 concerts are one of my favorite things about BEMF. The seating is open, so if you get there on time, you can sit wherever you like and talk to any friends you happen to see. The audiences are smaller and friendlier. And now that they’re at 10:30 instead of 11, as they used to be, you don’t have to worry as much about the T closing down before it gets you home.
This one started with a Dowland group, which were the only songs I had heard before. (I know the poem to “Go, lovely rose” from the Lawes group, but I really don’t remember ever hearing it sung.) There was also a wonderful Dowland lute solo from Paul Odette.
Then there was a group of French Airs de cours and the concert ended with two groups by Henry Lawes, whom I will definitely look at whether I can sing some.
I picked a seat in the front row, so raving about how intimate the setting was and how clearly you could hear the words might be misleading to people who like sitting further back. But while I sneaked peeks at the translations for the French songs, I really didn’t need the words for the English ones.
In this case, they had definitely rehearsed an encore (Her Votary, by Lawes). It was a very well-planned conclusion to a very enjoyable program.
LayMusic.org 