Author: Laura Conrad

Here’s
a Boston Globe article about the Monday concerts in the Early Music America Young
Performers’ Series.

The Monday evening concert was the typical BEMF
pickup group, that found some really good music. It was all loosely
related the the Song of Songs, including lots with
the bits that made the monks trying to honor their vow of
chastity think very hard about the relationship between Christ
and the Church. (“I sat down under the shadow of him I desire,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.”)

My two favorites were the lute and baroque guitar duet on an
aria from a Monteverdi opera, and the Purcell motet that closed
the concert.

What my friends and I argued about on the train back to Cambridge was whether
they didn’t sing an encore because:

• They were a pickup group hadn’t bothered to think of one,
  or had the time to rehearse it if they had thought of it.
• They’re already trying to figure out how they can possibly do as much
  music as they have left to do this week.
• The ending Purcell
  was such a perfect ending number.

You can defend all those positions.

If it were my concert, I’d have done one of our drinking songs for an
encore. You really could hear in the motets from the Song of Songs that
these were the same people whe went to the pub later and sang our
Purcell’s and Sermisy’s.

The Globe review is here.
They picked different favorite pieces than I did, although they
also mentioned the lute-harp duet, and they rightly singled out
the singing of soprano Yulia Van Doren as particularly sumptuous.

Rant about Early Music singing for CD’s

I was again really irritated by the “female sopranos on top;
everything else sung by men” vocal forces. For people who can
sing opera, these singers sing ensemble really well, and in the
all-male numbers, there was a good ensemble sound. I can’t
imagine what the historical justification for singing church music
this way would be. I understand saying, “Church music wasn’t sung
by mixed choirs until the 19th century, so ensembles should be all
men or all women.” You can deal with the range of the parts
by either getting boy sopranos (which I’d like to hear more of),
or transposing up or down a fourth (if you can find the basses or
high sopranos).

But putting female opera singers on the top line with no voices
of anything like that timbre on the middle lines is doomed to
producing a really unbalanced sound. Which it did last night. I
think it’s equivalent to saying, “Beethoven was really frustrated
by the pianos of his day, so it’s more authentic to play his music
on a Steinway.” Easier to deal with changing the strings, maybe,
but certainly not more authentic. I love Beethoven on modern
pianos, but if I were taking people’s money for authenticity
(which BEMF does), I would get a fortepiano.

The initial article is here.

Here’s
a Boston Globe article about the Monday concerts in the Early Music America Young
Performers’ Series.

Here’s the
Boston Globe review. Based on comments I heard yesterday from
people who’d seen it Sunday, they did not cut it from the dress rehearsal.

The Boston Globe kicks off
its BEMF coverage with an
interview
with Kristian Bezuidenhout.

Mostly a “how did you get into this wierd stuff” interview, but
a little bit of a preview of the four concerts he’ll be playing
in.

The interview is also interesting for the quote from BEMF
executive director Kathleen Fay:

If schedules permitted, I’d present Kristian at every single biennial Boston Early Music Festival and in every annual concert series from now until the end of time…

I’ve always suspected that what the BEMF management really
wanted was to find sure-fire performers they could just hire all
the time, instead of the goal those of us stuck in Boston would
like them to have, of showing what’s really happening in the early
music world in all its variety.

I think this goes a long way towards explaining the lack of
brass and reeds, and the opera staging that looks the same every time.

I also spent some time trying to decide whether I’d hire the photographer who took the picture that goes with the article. It’s a good-looking picture, but two years ago, he certainly didn’t look anything like that.

Some friends saw the opera dress rehearsal last night, and
wrote me about it.

One said:

BEMF Opera is quite a production. Good dancing, mostly toward the end,
excellent orchestra, costuming and herald’s trumpets. Male voices mostly high tenor or countertenor. A complex plot of ambition, ego and betrayal.

Another said:

Opera is highly recommended but it lasted 3 hrs., 45 minutes last night with
no breaks for notes other than the long & short (stretch) intermissions.
Today they are no doubt madly trying to pare it down a bit. Dancing is
very good, mostly at end of acts, & provides (with one comic nurse
character) some needed light moments so one doesn’t like to make cuts there
– although they probably will.

In response to my asking about reeds and brass in the
orchestra, the first correspondent said:

Two haut-bois, who also play recorders, and a bassoon/dulcian player.

Brass are four long trumpets, with one loop, estimate about as
much tubing as a sackbut halfway out. Hunting calls in harmony,
and some passages as part of the orchestra.

And in reponse to a question about how good the ensemble
singing was:

Most of the singing is solo narrative. There are some wonderful duet
passages where the voices entwine in delicious canon.

I have my tickets to the official events. I’ll be seeing a lot
more fringe concerts this year than I have some times, because
I’ll be writing about several events for the American Recorder. In
addition, I expect to hang around the exhibition and buy music and
maybe even instruments.

Advice for beginners

If you’ve never been to BEMF before, the array of opportunities
is probably both dazzling and confusing.

Start out by just getting a pass to the exhibition, which also
gets you into masterclasses and lectures.. While you’re there, you can get concert tickets
for whatever you want to see, and you’ll hear lots of people
playing instruments and giving small concerts. Then look at the
fringe
concerts, and go to whatever strikes you as interesting.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of running around to concerts
not in the same vicinity, get a day or week pass on the MBTA. The
7-day pass for $15 is a really good deal.

I took it a little easier this time on tickets to the official
concerts than I have some times. I’m sure I’ll end up hearing as
many concerts as I want to. And I passed up some good ones at
11PM, remembering how hard it was to keep my eyes open at a couple
of them last year. I’m sure it will be a good lute concert, but I
doubt that I’d be a good lute concert audience member.

Consider going to the masterclasses for any instrument you’re
interested in. I always go to the recorder one, and I try to get
to Ellen Hargis’ voice one. But in general, they get people who
are known to be good teachers of their instrument, and you can get
a good idea of what it’s like to learn the instrument, even, or
maybe especially when the students aren’t very advanced.

Fringe events

What follows are suggestions for things I know I’d be
interested in. I won’t get to them all, and you won’t get to
everything you’d be interested in either.

Early Music America is sponsoring a Young
Performers Festival, which will have events every day. It’s
apparently specifically designed to provide more Renaissance music
than the heavily Baroque official concerts. It also will provide
some brass and reeds, which the official concerts pretty much
ignore again this year. And the Saturday concert will do the
polychoral music of the transition between the Renaissance and the
Baroque, which everyone thinks they love, but hardly anyone has
the resources to perform.

Sunday

• Convivium Musicum will be singing the BU Marsh Chapel service.
  This is always just an hour between 11AM & noon, always broadcast live on
  WBUR, 90.9FM. They will sing the service music which includes pieces by
  Charles Villiers Stanford & John Rutter, a famous shape note tune arr. by
  Alice Parker, a Monteverdi Kyrie, Richard Farrant’s “Call to Remembrance”,
  & two Victoria & Guerrero motets from their current “Armada” concert.
• 2pm,
  Vox Lucens Renaissance Choir (Jay Lane, director). Nicholas Gombert’s Missa Quam Pulchra Es.
  Spectacular and rarely performed, this work is an opulent tapestry in sound. Based on a motet by Bauldeweyn, the mass weaves six voices together to create complex and beautifully unexpected sonorities. It has been newly edited for this performance from a 16th-century print. Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon Street, Boston. $15/$12 st, sr, BEMF. 978-897-5372 or jaydlane@comcast.net.

Monday

• 4pm El Fuego (Teri Kowiak, voice; Dan Meyers, voice,
  recorder & percussion; Zoe Weiss, viola da gamba & Baroque
  violoncello; Salome Sandoval, voice, vihuela & Baroque
  guitar). A Cantar y Bailar! An exploration of the villancicos
  and zacaras in the 16th & 17th centuries from Spain to the New
  World (Mexico and Guatemala). Works by Juan del Encina, Juan de
  Araujo, Fray Francisco de Santiago, and Rafael Antonio
  Castellanos. Beacon Hill Friends House. $10 suggested
  donation. 617-227-9118 or directors@bhfh.org. The is one of the
  ones I’ll be writing about, and a friend assures me that the
  singer is wonderful.
• 6pm Aldo Abreu and Paul Cienniwa (Aldo Abreu, recorder; Sam
  Ou, violoncello; Paul Cienniwa, harpsichord). Transformation of
  Baroque Music. Baroque Sonatas for recorder and continuo, and a
  repeat performance of Larry Thomas Bell’s Baroque
  Concerto. First Church in Boston. $15. 617-699-0195 or
  aldoabreu@netway.com. Another one I’ll be writing about.
  Aldo’s concerts are consistently well-structured and performed.

Tuesday

• 12:15pm Travessada (Peter H. Bloom, Eric Haas, David Place,
  and Na’ama Lion, Renaissance flutes). From the 20 & 7 Songs. A
  concert featuring chansons from the Vingt et Sept Chanson
  Musicales, published in 1533 by Pierre Attaingnant, in
  Paris. This publication was the first to indicate part songs to
  be played specifically by a concert of transverse flutes. So, of
  course, it is at the very heart of our repertoire. We’ll play
  songs by Sermisy, Gombert, Passerau, and others. Kings’
  Chapel. $3 suggested donation. 617-459-1648 or
  info@travessada.info. Another one I’ll be writing about. You
  don’t get to hear Renaissance flutes that often.
• 2pm Rebecca Pechefsky, harpsichord. The Mietke Concerts,
  Part I. Music by Byrd, Bach, Fischer, and Krebs, performed on a
  German single-manual harpsichord by Owen Daly, after Michael
  Mietke, Berlin, 1710. Sponsored by Quill Classics in conjunction
  with Owen Daly Early Keyboard Instruments. Goethe-Institut
  Boston. $15/$10 st, sr, EMA, SEHKS, MHKS, WEKA. 646-263-9122 or
  rpechefsky@gmail.com. Like most of the keybord events on this
  list, this is recommended by my sister, who belongs to most of
  that alphabet soup.

• 3pm Armonia Nova (Constance Whiteside, director & Medieval harp; Allison Mondel, soprano; Marjorie Bunday, alto). L’art de l’amour: the transforming power of love in the medieval world. Love’s power to transform us—with joy, impetuosity, jealousy, sorrow, spirituality—is beautifully evoked with fantastical imagery, in musical gems from 12th-through 15th-century Europe. Hale Chapel, First Church in Boston. $12/$10 st, sr, EMA. 571-482-9052 or cwharps@ix.netcom.com.
• 3pm
  NEC Early Music Society (Sarah Moyer, soprano; Timothy Wilfong,
  baritone; Chingwei Lin & Emily O’Brien, recorders; Christopher
  Belluscio, cornetto & natural trumpet; Nickolai Sheikov & Miyuki
  Tsurutani, harpsichord; Benjamin Shute & Sarah Darling, Baroque
  violin; Joy Grimes, Baroque viola; Rebecca Shaw, Baroque
  violoncello; Melissa Schoenack, Baroque bassoon; Peter Ferretti,
  contrabass). Arie Variate. Program will include works by
  Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzon Primi Toni; André Campra: Les Femmes;
  and J. S. Bach: Cantata 51 (“Jauchzet Gott”) and Concerto in F
  for harpsichord, two recorders, and strings, BWV 1057. Pierce
  Hall, New England Conservatory. $10/$5 st, sr,
  EMA. Contrapunctus84@aol.com Another one I’ll be writing
  about. A dynamic group of young performers.
• 5:15pm Early Music Faculty of University of North Texas
  (Keith Collins, dulcian & Baroque bassoon; Christoph Hammer,
  harpsichord; Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano; Paul Leenhouts,
  recorder; Kathryn Montoya, Baroque oboe; Cynthia Roberts,
  Baroque violin; Allen Whear. Baroque violoncello). Capricci di
  virtuosi: Vocal and Instrumental Italian Baroque Music. Works by
  Fontana, Rossi, de Selma, Marini, Cesti, Jacchini, Sammartini,
  Porpora, and Vivaldi. Church of the Covenant. $15/$10 st, sr,
  EMA. amstelox@gmail.com. I’m sure this is an offshoot of the
  EMA Young Performers Festival, but it isn’t listed there, and if
  you have the chance, these are performers you should hear.

Wednesday

• 2pm Les Bostonades (Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe; Justin Godoy,
  recorder; Sarah Darling, violin & viola; Tatiana Daubek, Emily
  Dahl & Megumi Stohs, violin; Emily Rideout, viola; Rebecca Shaw,
  violoncello; Mai-Lan Broekman, violone; Akiko Sato,
  harpsichord). Concerto Extravaganza. The performance will
  feature four virtuosic concertos: Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G
  major; J. S. Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D minor; Vivaldi’s
  Oboe and Violin Concerto in B-flat major; and Vivaldi’s Recorder
  Concerto in G major. First Church in Boston. $20/$10 st, sr,
  BEMF, EMA. 617-304-8843 or bostonades@hotmail.com. If you like
  virtuso baroque, these people will do it well.
• 3:30pm Judith Conrad, clavichord. Attaingnant 1531: The
  Periwinkle of the Keyboard Players. Music from the seven volumes
  of keyboard transcriptions published in early 1531 by Jacques
  Attaingnant in Paris – the first relatively cheap printed keyboard
  music ever. Triple- and quadruple-fretted clavichords by Andreas
  Hermert (after Woytzig, 1688) and Owen Daly (after Wroclaw,
  ca. 1470). Paulist Center Library. $20 suggested donation to
  benefit the Iraq Family Relief Fund. 508-674-6128 or
  judithconrad@mindspring.com. There aren’t many people who have
  done more clavichord concerts than Judith (my sister).

Thursday

• 9am–12 noon Schubert and the Piano (Sylvia Berry & Stephen Porter, piano; Clara Rottsolk, soprano).Composer-era instruments tell us a compelling tale, once we listen attentively. Some of Franz Schubert’s best-known and best-loved Lieder and solo piano music will be performed, including the composer’s great, final piano sonata in B flat, D.960. The piano is a 6½-octave 1830s Viennese “Grafendorfer” made by R.J. Regier of Freeport, Maine: it unites tonal and mechanical characteristics drawn from instruments by such builders as Conrad Graf and Ignaz Bösendorfer, among the last to feature an all-wood design.
  
  9am Concert: Sylvia Berry, pianoforte & Clara Rottsolk, soprano. Beloved solo works and Lieder, including Lachen und Weinen, D.777; Ganymed, D.544; Die Post, D.911:13; Du bist die Ruh, D.776; and Impromptus 2 in E flat and 3 in G flat, D.899.
  
  10am Symposium: Schubert and the Piano, a Real-World Performer’s Perspective. Panelists: Stephen Porter, Sylvia Berry & Clara Rottsolk; Moderator: Christopher Greenleaf. R.J. Regier will field questions touching on his areas of expertise.
  
  11am Concert: Stephen Porter, pianoforte. Program to include Ungarische Melodie, D.817; Sonata No. 21 in B flat, D.960; and the Porter transcription of Lied Nacht und Träume, D.827.

• 9am-12:30pm The Viola da Gamba Society of America. The Gamba
  Gamut. A series of seven mini-programs of music spanning the
  repertoire of the viola da gamba, performed by emerging and
  established artists of the Viola da Gamba Society of America,
  including Phillip Serna, Andre O’Neil, Anne Legene, Entwyned,
  Long and Away, Arcadia Viols, and La Donna Musicale. Cathedral
  Church of St. Paul. FREE, donations welcome. 662-816-9959 or
  susanmarchant19@yahoo.com. These mini-programs are a good way
  to see what people are doing with a given instrument, and of
  course it’s like the New England Weather — if you don’t like it
  now, wait 10 minutes and it will be different.
• 12 noon New York Continuo Collective (Grant Herreid,
  director; Pat O’Brien & Charles Weaver, musical coaches). Crimes
  and Passion: Love and the Criminal Underworld in Spanish
  17th-century Song. A semi-staged performance of Spanish
  17th-century song, drawing on two entremeses (dramatic
  interludes): La Visita de la Cárcel (the Visit to the Jail), by
  Luis Quiñones de Benavente; and the anonymous la Cárcel de
  Sevilla. The program interweaves popular tunes with courtly
  songs by José Marin, and features reconstructions of jácaras and
  folias, some improvised by the performers. The performance,
  featuring the singers and players of the Continuo Collective on
  Baroque guitars, vihuelas, lutes, and bajon, will include a
  guest appearance by Ensemble Viscera, a leading group in the
  performance of Spanish 17th-century popular song, and jácara in
  particular. Gordon Chapel, Old South Church. Admission by
  donation. 718-636-5706 or 646-239-3522 (during Festival) or
  ContinuoNY@aol.com. I’ve never managed to hear this group, but
  people who do always come away impressed.
• 12:15pm Renaissonics (John Tyson, recorders & pipe and
  tabor; Laura Gulley, violin; Daniel Rowe, violoncello; Miyuki
  Tsurutani, recorders & harpsichord). Renaissance Chamber
  Music. A program of brilliant Italian and English polyphonic
  chamber music featuring works of Orlando Gibbons, John Baldwyn,
  Vincenzo Ruffo, Salomone Rossi, Tarquinio Merula, and Thomas
  Morley’s phenomenal example of polyrhythmic complexity, Christes
  Crosse. In true Renaissance spirit, the program celebrates the
  performer’s freedom to improvise extensively in a variety of
  styles and forms — chamber music, dance music, and free improvisation. Brown Hall, New England Conservatory. $15. 617-585-1130 or continuingeducation@necmusic.edu.
  This is one I’ll be writing about, and I transcribed some of the music
  for it. Another concert that fills a gap in the official
  festival world-view — polyphony this complicated can’t be done
  with a pickup group that learned to play with a conductor in the
  conservatory.
• 2pm Fire and Folly (Rachel Begley, recorder & bassoon;
  Abigail Karr, violin; Ezra Selzer, violoncello; Jeffrey
  Grossman, harpsichord). Mixed Marriages. A dynamic program
  bringing together unlikely instrumental forces and national
  styles: brilliantly orchestrated trio sonatas for both recorder
  and violin, and violin and bassoon, by Telemann and Vivaldi;
  tender Scottish folksongs set by the Italian Barsanti; and the
  fusion of French and Italian styles in works by Couperin and
  Handel. Beacon Hill Friends House. $15/$10 st, sr, BEMF, EMA,
  ARS. 631-921-4229 or rachelbegleyrecorder@yahoo.com. I have
  heard Rachel play bassoon, so if you need more reeds than you’re
  getting, this is a good one.
• 2:30pm Capella Alamire and the Alamire Consort (Peter
  Urquhart, director). The Legacy of Jean Mouton: Chansons à 3, à
  4 and à 5,
  and the Missa Du bon du cueur. Capella Alamire and the
  Alamire Consort perform music by Jean Mouton and Noel
  Bauldeweyn, two 16th-century Franco-Flemish masters of
  polyphony. The mass is performed from manuscript facsimile
  (MunichBS 6) by Capella Alamire (Eric, Johanna, Anna, and Clara
  Swarzentruber, Sophia Urquhart, and Melinda McMahon), with the
  assistance of the Consort (Robert Stibler, cornetto; Melinda
  McMahon, harp & voice; Paul Merrill, sackbut & voice; Emily
  Swarzentruber Urquhart, viol). Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel
  Church. $15 suggested donation/$10 st. 603-205-3814 or
  peter.urquhart@unh.edu. This is one I’ll be writing about. I
  didn’t want to clutter the list, but they’re doing the same
  program on Wednesday at 2PM in the MIT Chapel. Provides some
  early brass.

Friday

• 9:30am-11:30am AMERICAN RECORDER SOCIETY: Recorder Relay.Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 38 Tremont Street. Donations accepted.
• 10am (also 1PM) The Newberry Consort (Ellen Hargis, soprano; David
  Douglass, violin; Russell Wagner, Ken Perlow, Phillip Serna &
  Craig Trompeter, viola da gamba). Elizabeth I (1912): An Early
  Movie with Early Music. One of Sarah Bernhardt’s most successful
  theatrical productions, Les amours de la reine Élizabeth (The
  loves of Queen Elizabeth), was made into a full-length feature
  film. Fledgling movie mogul Anton Zukor understood the film’s
  potential and brought it to the U.S., and as a result, garnered
  enough profits to start what is now Paramount Pictures. Newberry
  Consort director David Douglass has turned this early
  20th-century phenomenon into a one-of-a-kind work of performance
  art by creating a soundtrack of Elizabethan music performed live
  to this silent film. A five-part consort of violin and viols,
  along with soprano Ellen Hargis, perform dramatic music written
  about the historical events surrounding Elizabeth and her
  court — including the English victory over the Spanish Armada;
  Elizabeth’s tragic relationship with Robert Devereaux, the Earl
  of Essex; and Elizabeth’s eventual demise – as accompaniment to
  the film. Modern Theatre at Suffolk University. $20/$5 BEMF,
  Suffolk University students. 617-557-6537 or
  moderntheatre@suffolk.edu.
• 2pm ¡Sacabuche! (Linda Pearse, artistic director & sackbut; Ann Waltner, co-director & speaker; Wendy Gillespie, viola da gamba; Huang Ruo, composer; Qin Fang, speaker; Yang Yi, guzheng; Carrie Tsujui Chin, sheng; Sarah Barbash-Riley, Ray Horton & François Godère, sackbut; Martie Perry & Janelle Davis, Baroque violin; Elise Figa, soprano; Andrew Rader, countertenor; Benjamin Geier, tenor; Eunji Lee, organ; Cathy Barbash, producer). Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music. A multimedia performance reanimating the pivotal cultural exchange between Italian Jesuits and Chinese literati in 17th-century China. This program premiered at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China, and combines music and dramatic readings, visually framed by a projected digitized version of the world map created by Matteo Ricci and presented to the Wanli Emperor. The repertoire includes Italian music of Ricci’s Italy performed on period instruments, Chinese music of Ricci’s China performed on Chinese instruments, as well as collaborative new works composed for ¡Sacabuche! and two Chinese instrumentalists by Chinese composer Huang Ruo. Performed as part of the Early Music America Young Performers Festival. Cathedral Church of St. Paul. $25/$15 st, sr, BEMF, EMA. 812-219-1034 or dpearse@indiana.edu.
• 3:45pm Renaissonics and Hesperus (Tina Chancey & Dana
  Maiben, Renaissance violin; James Johnston, violin & viola;
  Grant Herreid & Douglas Freundlich, lute; John Tyson, recorders
  & pipe and tabor; Daniel Rowe, violoncello; Miyuki Tsurutani,
  recorders & harpsichord). Improv Cabaret. Renaissance music’s
  hottest improvisers in an all-star jam session. Relax in Rustic
  Kitchen’s elegant Atrium, and get your polyphonic groove
  on. Rustic Kitchen. FREE to Rustic Kitchen patrons. 617-423-5700
  or http://www.rustickitchen.biz. Lots of early music was really
  written for your dining and dancing pleasure — have some where
  you can actually eat and drink. (I don’t know about the
  dancing, but you can probably figure it out if you want to.)

Saturday

• 5pm Canto Armonico (Simon Carrington, director), with Bálint Karosi, organ. A Praetorius Organvespers for Pentecost. Program to include organvespers featuring chant, concerted motets by Michael Praetorius and his contemporaries, and an organ Magnificat by Heinrich Scheidemann. First Lutheran Church, Boston. Freewill offering. 617-489-8827 or canto.armonico.usa@gmail.com.