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Church of St. John the Divine
November 8, 2013
The novelty of the Victoria Baroque Players has begun to fade. They cannot hope to excite audiences simply by being a home grown baroque ensemble in Victoria. Fortunately, the ensemble has continued to improve on its already auspicious beginnings, as was evidenced by this evening's performance.
The first half of the concert was devoted entirely to works by Antonio Vivaldi. First up was the Sinfonia in C Major (RV116). (Although not noted in the programme notes, this work doubles as the overture to Vivaldi's opera, Orlando Furioso.) Playing one to a part, with Christi Meyers acting as concertmistress, the work was taken at a brisk pace. The performance was lively but, at the same time, it nicely captured the slightly disturbing undertone in which Orlando's madness is foreshadowed.
The concert continued with the Salve Regina, RV617 for soprano and strings. This work was presumably composed for performance at the Ospedali, the Venetian institution for foundling and orphan girls at which Vivaldi spent most of his career. Music lovers came from all over Europe to hear the girls perform concerti and liturgical music. (Vivaldi did not institute this practice. Even in the days of his predecessor, Francesco Gasparini, concerts at the Ospedali were, according to a contemporary source, attracting a "numerosissimo concorso".)
The soprano part was divided between Emma Hannan, who took the first two arias, and Eve Richardson, who took the last two. Hannan gave a confident and assured performance and Richardson was every bit as convincing.
Next came one of the highlights of the evening, the Flute Concerto in D Major, RV428, "Il Gardellino" from Vivaldi's Op. 10, published in Amsterdam c. 1728 by Michel-Charles Le Cène. Soile Stratkauskas did a wonderful job of imitating the eponymous goldfinch. In her programme notes, she reports that birds will sometimes gather and listen when she is practicing, and one can well believe it. The slow movement was also noteworthy for the sensitive accompaniment provided by David Stratkauskas on harpsichord (he judiciously chose to use the instrument's buff stop), cellist Martin Bonham and Natalie Mackie on bass. It was a pleasure to see the upper strings, not employed in the slow movement, smiling and nodding in time to the music.
The first half of the concert concluded with another motet, this one less familiar than the Salva Regina: Invicti Bettate, RV 628 for alto and strings. Maureen Ferguson, like her soprano colleagues, gave a strong, effortless and relaxed performance. There was to my taste a little too much vibrato in her singing, but I assume that Ferguson is fairly new to historically informed performance. All of the singers imparted a measure of drama into their performances that I have sometimes felt to be lacking in performances by singers in VBP productions. Perhaps the singers felt that they could let their hair down a bit with Vivaldi in a way that they cannot with Bach, whose cantatas have often featured in past programme.
The entire second half of the performance was devoted to Handel's Dixit Dominus, HWV 232. This was unquestionably the best outing I have heard by the St. John's Chamber Singers. (That said, there does not seem to be a great deal of continuity in the choir from performance to performance. On this occasion, Soile Stratkauskas sang in the soprano section.) The diction was excellent, the singing animated, and the performance was full of strong dynamic contrasts. Josh Lovell (tenor) and Nick Allen (bass) joined the female soloists from the first half of the concert. They had a limited opportunity to impress, but they took advantage of scope the work provides. I never cease to be amazed by the quality of the local singers that the VBP manage to track down.
The piece was full of lovely moments. I was struck by the precision and detail of the chorus, "Tu es sacerdos in aeternum". I loved the way that David Stratkauskas, now conducting the whole ensemble, brought out a sense of gloating when the choir sings of the Lord God will "conquassabit capita" (shatter heads). In the soprano duet and chorus ("De torente in via bibet"), Stratkauskas stepped away and allowed Hannan and Richardson to soar freely over the male voices.
The only drawback was that the choir tended to overwhelm the orchestra, playing one to a part, a little in the choruses. But this is a minor cavil.
The next opportunity to hear the Victoria Baroque Players is December 14th, when they will appear in the Early Music Society of the Islands series led by Jeanne Lamon of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Cantatas by J.S. Bach and other 18th century German composers are on the programme. The soloists will include Nancy Argenta and Benjamin Butterfield. Vox Humana will provide the choir. The ensemble deserves to have another large and enthusiastic audience on this occasion.
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