Reviews
New York Times, published
October 4, 2004
Horn and Voice in Proportion
Spiritus Collective
St. Michael's Church
In an age of McMansions, blockbuster movies and long, long books, one of the
most striking things about art of the past is its sense of proportion and
balance. Today, the word "trombone" conjures up images of 76 blaring
instruments, but on Friday night, under the Tiffany windows of St. Michael's
Church, the Spiritus Collective balanced three trombones against four human
voices on the fulcrum of a continuo for theorbo and keyboard, and achieved
harmonious, delightful equilibrium.
The piece was "Verleih uns Friede," a vocal cantata by Andreas Hammerschmidt, a
17th-century follower of Heinrich Schütz and the main focus of a program that
offered a perfect blend of brass, strings and voices. A trombone by any other
name is a sackbut, a smaller and lighter ancestor of the modern instrument, and
Spiritus had four of them, along with two Baroque trumpets, long and slender as
the instruments of angels. Against these - sometimes antiphonally, as in an
instrumental sonata by another 17th-century composer, Romanus Weichlein - were
five strings (violins, violas and a viola da gamba), as well as five voices,
sometimes raised in solo, sometimes in compelling combination.
The singers were all quite good - Philip Anderson with a pleasant tenor, Jolle
Greenleaf with a golden soprano (although she did strain in "Nun lob mein Seel
den Herren," singing against all six of the brass). And the strings had a
fantastic spotlight in the second, Biber-influenced Weichlein sonata, which
ended with the two violins tangling in an intricate melancholy duet. But it's
the brass instruments that give Spiritus - led by two brass players, Greg and
Kris Ingles - its distinctive shine.
ANNE MIDGETTE
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A Baroque Masterpiece Full of Strength and Texture
|
icholas
White established the Tiffany Consort in 2003 as a virtuoso chamber choir that
would sing music of all eras. But the group's biggest successes so far have been
in early music, and on Sunday evening, the chorus joined with the St. Michael's
Choir (which Mr. White also directs) and the Spiritus Collective, a period
instrument band, for a passionate rendering of Monteverdi's "Vespers of the
Blessed Virgin" (1610).
The combination of three ensembles notwithstanding, the performing forces were compact, in the current fashion for early-music performance. There were 17 choristers, about half of whom were also soloists, supported by a dozen instrumentalists playing cornettos, sackbuts, period strings, theorbo and organ.
These Vespers, a complete evening service appropriate for one of the feasts honoring Mary, include not only the five Psalm settings, the hymn ("Ave Maris Stella") and the concluding Magnificat that would be typical for such an occasion, but also a few extras, including motets based on excerpts from the "Song of Songs" and other texts. Monteverdi kept the textures changing constantly, with pieces for solo voice or duet with the sparest accompaniment, to celebratory settings for the full complement of singers and players.
It was in the full-scale blowouts - the rich-hued "Domine ad Adiuvandum" opening, for example, and the choral setting of "Nisi Dominus" - that Mr. White and his forces were at their best. When the scale was reduced, tenuous pitches were more evident, although the reverberance in St. Michael's went a long way toward obscuring those faults.
Mostly they were in the male voices, which were attractive but modest, with the exception of Mark Risinger, a bass whose singing was powerful and precisely focused. The soprano soloists - Cathleen Ellis, Jennifer Ellis and Jolle Greenleaf - were more consistently pleasing, and Robert Isaacs, an alto, made strong contributions.
But in a way, handicapping the vocal performances is beside the point. These musicians conveyed the depth of spirit and the sheer visceral appeal of this magnificent score, and that is more crucial than whether all the notes were perfectly centered.
The Tiffany Consort returns to St. Michael's Church, Amsterdam Avenue and 99th Street, on Feb. 27 to perform music by Machaut and Poulenc.
