Friday November 24, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 47 |
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Friday, Oct 10, 2008
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The Early Music Guild starts 30th Anniversary Season with Les Boreades de Montreal |
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| The Early Music Guild starts 30th Anniversary Season with Les Boreades de Montreal | ||
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Four baroque violins, a baroque cello, a two-manual harpsichord, and a whole array of recorders filled Town Hall with lovely sounds during the first International Series concert of EMG's 30th Anniversary Season. The group of three women and two men came from Canada to give us music from the 16th and 17th centuries by eleven different composers, not a note of it familiar to this reviewer. Throughout the program, director Francis Colpron changed recorders, ranging from small to so large that the bass recorder had to be firmly held between the knees to support its weight while the standing player fingered the holes. As the works changed, so did the players, with different instruments featured. Thus, we had solos for recorder by Orlando de Lassus (a change in the printed program), for harpsichord by Michelangelo Rossi, and for violin (with harpsichord accompaniment) by Biagio Marini. Baroque violinists were Helene Plouffe and Chloe Meyers. Baroque cellist was Melisande Corriveau, and the harpsichord was under the fingers of Alex Weimann. All were impressive in their mastery of style and technique. Two matters kept the program from the delight I had hoped for. One was the preponderance of lovely but slow and sorrowful pieces in the first half. Each was enjoyable, but mixing them in with more lively numbers would have brought welcome contrast, a kind of musical palette-cleansing between courses. The second matter was perhaps a subjective feeling (although shared by three others I queried): I couldn't help but experience the manner of Francis Colpron as rather self-centered, as though the spotlight was mainly on him rather then the group as a whole. More than a love of the music, he communicated rather how much we should love his presence. The Early Music Guild has brought so many delightful concerts to Seattle that a merely competent program with some lovely moments was a bit of a letdown. The remaining season events promise better, especially with The Tallis Scholars (December 2 and 3), The Netherlands Bach Society (April 22), and Jordi Savall (May 6). Tickets at 206 325-7066 or www.earlymusicguild.org. Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rmp62@columbia.edu. |
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