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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
January 26, 2007
The Pacific Baroque Festival is now in its third year and is - I hope - on its way to becoming a Victoria institution. It provides a much-needed infusion of high quality early music into our dull mid-winters.
As Marc Destrubé pointed out in his pre-concert remarks, a festival - even a small one such as this - provides an opportunity that a single concert does not: a repertoire can be explored in a little depth. This year the focus of the Festival is music of the English baroque. Without a doubt, two figures dominated English music: in the late seventeenth century Henry Purcell illuminated the musical firmament for a tragically short time. Then, for almost fifty years, Handel ruled the roost. The first half of tonight's concert was devoted to the first of these great composers, the second to the latter.
Handel was well aware of his English predecessor William Savage once remarked to Handel, at a performance of his Jephthe, that some of the music reminded him of Purcell. Handel replied, "Oh, go to the Devil. If Purcell had lived, he would have composed better music than this."
The headliner for this year's Festival is the distinguished Canadian soprano Nancy Argenta. Canada has, in recent years, given a large of number of uncommonly good female singers to the world of early music: Suzie Le Blanc, Karina Gauvin, Linda Perillo, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and many others. While others have followed, Argenta was in the vanguard and no one has, perhaps, so far exceeded her achievements. That said, I was a little disappointed by her singing tonight. Certainly I have heard her sing much better, both live and on record.
Argenta sang her entire programme without a note of music in front of her and she still has an appealing stage presence. That said, her diction - never an issue in the past - was weak. I found this particularly unfortunate in the three arias from Purcell's Fairy Queen performed in the first half, but the Italian arias from Handel in the second half were really no better. Ornaments were rather sloppily executed and the singing was rather underpowered. Too much vibrato was employed in the slow pieces. The rather woolly sound did not blend too well with the clean, crisp sound of the orchestra.
There was still a good deal to enjoy in Argenta's performance. Perhaps the highlight of her outing was Poppea's aria "Bel piacere", from Agrippina. Here Argenta handled he coloratura confidently and displayed her consummate musicianship. While some of the arias (such as Agrippina's aria "Pensieri") were rather tepidly received, by the end of the evening the audience had warmed to the singing, and was rewarded with an encore, "Lascia ch'io pianga" from another early Handel opera, Rinaldo.
At the end of the day, Argenta's performance was still well worth hearing. A lesser singer would be happy to have turned in the performance she did. I understand that Argenta has had some health problems. She is still not long in the tooth and we can hope that she just had an off night and will continue to delight audiences for many years to come.
The Pacific Baroque Orchestra, in contrast, was in fine form. The evening began with incidental music from the semi-opera King Arthur. From the first notes, I was struck for the first time by how much Purcell had been influenced by the French musical goût of the previous reign. (King Arthur dates from 1691, three years after the Francophile James II had been sent packing.) Destrubé brought out the affinities to Lully and other French composers with a gracious and poised performance.
The Fantasia a 4, an early work and composed in an old English style, was given a similarly lyrical performance, as was the "Curtain Tune" from Timon of Athens.
A highlight from the second half of the programme was the performance of the Sonata del Overtura from Il trionfo del tempo e del Disinganno. This piece features two solo violin parts and Destrubé and Paul Luchkow rendered them with vigor. Destrubé has a fine sense of what each style requires and the performance of the Handel pieces (mostly early works from his Italian sojourn) were rendered in an appropriately dramatic style, one which contrasted strikingly with the approach adopted to the Purcell that began the programme.
PBO features an experienced continuo group and they deserve to be mentioned by name. Laura Kramer (cello) displayed a wide range of tones, from an appealingly buzzy tone to one sweet and sophisticated. Doreen Oke is B.C.'s most experienced harpsichordist and was a rock in the rhythm section. Nan Mackie was equally strong on violone (bass).
Sand Dalton gave a fine performance on oboe. The baroque oboe is a brute of an instrument and it needs to be broken like a wild bronco. It can make a fool of the unwary player. In Dalton's hands, however, it was well-behaved and, by turns, plangent and exuberant.
Kudos to Brian Groos, organiser of the Festival. I am already looking forward to next year's. But first, tune in on Sunday to see what I have to say about tomorrow's concert. It should be a good one.
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