MiV Home
Alix Goolden Performance Hall
July 30, 2009
For Victoria early music fans, the long months between the end of one EMSI season in April and the beginning of the new one in late September or October are a gaping chasm. We retire to our gardens, walk our dogs and idly wonder which world famous soprano will fall ill and cancel in the coming season. So a concert featuring three distinguished early music singers - all them apparently in the very pink of health - accompanied by a trio of Canada's leading period instrument specialists comes as delightful respite in these dog days of summer.
Appropriately, the guest from England, Catherine Wyn Rogers, was given pride of place and led off the evening with a performance of Purcell's "Lord, what is man?" This was clearly music with which Wyn Rogers was eminently at ease and she tossed it off with aplomb. She has a large, spacious voice but excellent diction: every word was clearly audible, even if comfortably upholstered. The first part of the song was accompanied only on harpsichord; only in the second part did the cello fill out the texture.
Next up was Butterfield with a mellifluous and cozy reading of Purcell's "Evening Hymn" and, joined by Lamon's typically alert violin playing, "How blessed are shepherds." Unfortunately he was standing in a somewhat dead spot on the stage, and his voice did not carry as well as one would have hoped.
The opening Purcell set concluded with Argenta singing "Sweeter than roses" (without a note in front of her) and "The Plaint" (with only an occasional glance at the score). Although Argenta has been called the "the supreme Handel singer of our age", she is no slouch when it comes to Purcell. Many of my readers will think with pleasure, as I do, of her 1994 Virgin Classics recording of Purcell songs (O Solitude), which included "Sweeter than roses". Even fifteen years later, Argenta still sings sweetly and gives a lovely shape to each line.
An instrumental interlude followed as Mahler essayed a Sonata in g minor by Domenico Gabrielli. Mahler is the doyen of Canadian baroque cellists and she turned in the sort of polished performance that one would expect. To my mind, the piece was given a rather eighteenth-century flavour - which is only a problem because it was composed in the seventeenth century. Geminiani or even later composers could be played with similar ornamentation and phrasing. Still, the piece had its lovely moments, some of them contributed by Fortin: I am thinking of the fat chords that he used to enhance the thrill of the final movement (Prestissimo).
Perhaps I am being a little unfair in these comments on the Gabrielli. After the concert, Fortin told me that the musicians had only been given the music two days ago before the concert. There was almost no time for rehearsal. When this happens, of course, musicians need to bring a template to the music. The wonder was that the piece was as individually characterized as it was.
Next Wyn Rogers was back with Handel's cantata, "Lungi, lungi da me." She was quite emphatic in the character of the lover presented with evidence of the infidelity of Tirsi: he has definitely not been a traitor. It is the fate of the mezzo occasionally to sound a little like one's forbidding grade three teacher, but Wyn Rogers is not a one trick pony. The third aria of the cantata was quite liltingly lyrical. Mahler's cello playing did a great deal to enhance the bounce of this movement.
Then Butterfield was back with an intensely relaxed rendition of "Ecco il sol" from La Resurrezione. The performance was nicely judged to give St John's anticipation of the rising of Christ a sense of quiet confidence, while the ground bass provided a feeling of perpetual motion.
Another instrumental interlude ensued: Handel's g minor violin sonata. The highlight of this piece was the soulful third movement (Sarabande). The final movement (Allegro), which is really a jig of sorts, could have been a little more sprightly. For this sonata, Fortin switched to organ and I am not certain he shouldn't have stuck with the harpsichord.
The evening concluded with Argenta singing two of Handel's Nine German Arias: "Süsse Stille, sanfte Quelle" and "Meine Seele hört in sehen." Arguably, Argenta had saved her best for the last, turning in a bright and infectiously - if I may use the word in these swine flu plagued days - joyful performance that was enhanced by Lamon's violin stylings. Fortin and Mahler ensured that the pulse remained vital.
The audience rose for a standing ovation at the conclusion of the concert, clearly thrilled by what they had heard, and with good reason. Only rarely in Victoria do we hear three singers of such stature on the same stage. The early music fans streamed out of the hall with smiles on their faces. Only when they reached home will the realization have hit them that they still have almost two months to go before the EMSI season opens.
MiV Home