Classics, Hidden Gems at Early Music Now’s Holiday Concert

×

Expand

Photo via Early Music Now

Trio Centecetto

Trio Centecetto

The Baroque Era of music produced a great heritage of pieces for Christmas, some of which have become some of classical music’s biggest hits. Early Music Now presented a program of some of these classics along with lesser-known hidden gems, a great way to celebrate the season when Christmas carols and pop standards have already run their course. I enjoyed hearing some fresh repertoire, but this concert also had some issues, which I’ll get to.

The night’s featured artist was Trio Centecetto, comprised of violinist Rachel Barton Pine, cellist John Mark Rozendal and harpsichordist David Schrader. Soprano Laura Heimes joined for some vocal motets, and Pine’s thirteen-year-old daughter Sylvia filled out the ensemble as an additional violin.

Since classical music knowledge among even the concert-going public tends to be restricted to reasonably popular works, it’s crucial that performances of those particular works be satisfying. And the opening piece, Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, was sadly not. Even after a lengthy tuning session, intonation issues popped up. In the bustling Allegro, the ensemble seemed to disagree on tempo, and Rozendal’s cello then shrank in volume for a while and disappeared from the mix. The slow movement was fine, and the two ensuing movements had the two violins sounding the most in sync. Rachel Barton Pine’s occasional cadenzas and flourishes were pleasing. But overall I was puzzled by the disjointed Allegro and surface-level interpretation. This is a piece that many string players tackle in high school orchestra (I sure did) or play many times in various gigs. In an ensemble that specializes in such music, should this not be executed with a show of mastery?

Alternative Tuning, Lovely Playing

Rachel Barton Pine gave amiable, engaging spoken introductions from the stage throughout the concert. Though she projected her voice well, she should have been given a microphone to aid the hard-of-hearing seniors in this audience. She next played a sonata by Heinrich Biber with an alternate tuning, which yielded some intriguing resonances in double-stops.

In Lorenzo Zavatieri’s Concerto Pastorale, the ensemble fared better. The violins sounded lovely together, with Sylvia holding her own against the adult players. I did notice that sometimes her volume didn’t match her mother’s in occasional echoing phrases.

The next big hit was the Largo from Vivaldi’s Winter Concerto from The Four Seasons. I expected greatness here and was again disappointed. This time it was the harpsichord, which sounded rhythmically uneven.

Sensitive Interpretation

Vivaldi’s motet Nulla in mundo pax sincera represented the high point of the first half, with the arrival of soprano Laura Heimes. I enjoyed the pure, bell-like quality of her high notes, nice combination of straight tone and vibrato, and sensitive interpretation. The ensemble provided good support.

The Pastoral Symphony from Handel’s Messiah was given a lovely reading, with nice string ornaments. Then the Symphonie de Noëls of Michel Corrette provided some delightful discoveries. The seven movements, all arrangements of French carols, had lots of variety and fun instrumental writing.

Harpsichordist David Schrader played a Domenico Scarlatti sonata (K. 513) as a solo. While it was neat to hear Scarlatti live on a harpsichord and to hear the material’s resemblance to Mozart’s sonata K. 331, I heard more unsteady rhythm and some hesitation later on.

The other famous Scarlatti, Alessandro, was represented in a Christmas cantata for soprano. Laura Heimes again gave a pleasing performance. The second aria was particularly beautiful.

Christmas Oratorio

The group closed the program with the Sinfonia movement from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, which I had heard at the Milwaukee Symphony just a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, this jewel of Baroque Christmas music had the weakest performance of the night. Tempos fluctuated, intonation issues crept up, and I perceived an overall lack of care for the source material. Surprisingly, I also heard the same rushing of the back ends of beats that I heard in the MSO performance. I started to wonder if this had become a matter of performance practice, but I listened to a few commercial recordings again and confirmed that I wasn’t going crazy.

For an encore, Sylvia Pine joined Laura Heimes in singing (!) a piece whose title I didn’t catch, but which Rachel noted was the tune that eventually became “And He Shall Feed His Flock” from Handel’s Messiah. The two had a sweet sound together.

Overall, this concert felt like a bit of a miss. The programming was good, if overstuffed, running almost two and a half hours. But the quality varied from piece to piece. I also can’t decide how I feel about Rachel Barton Pine’s decision to include her daughter. Sylvia is clearly a gifted young musician, and there were times where she fit in well with the ensemble. But there were other aspects that pointed to her inexperience: a handful of bow slips, intonation issues, and a lack of confident stage presence. It’s also worth noting that it’s notoriously hard for two violins, even if both professional, to play in tune with each other, especially in straight tone. It seems a bit unfair to apply that pressure to someone still in training.

I know that Early Music Now brings in many fine ensembles, many of which I have wanted to hear but have been unable to – for years! – because of conflicts. Hearing this type of music live is a unique treat, and I hope to catch some of the other groups who pass through Milwaukee on their way across the globe.