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Lionheart, the NewYork-based male vocal ensemble, returned to Milwaukee for a Saturday eveningconcert at the beautiful St. Joseph Center Chapel, presented by Early MusicNow. The program focused on the Medieval to Renaissance tradition of theItalian lauda, or song of praise.
Early Music Now hassteadily presented Christmas-themed programs that invite an audience to explorethe intriguing and unfamiliar. Lionheart’s concert was another such adventure.Some pieces were a chant-like melody sung as a solo, or in precise and expressiveunison. Rhythms were not notated in the musical sources of these melodies, butinformed study of the traditions led to Richard Porterfield’s often catchy andlively rhythmic settings of these tunes.
As the laudadeveloped, it became more complex in composition, in multiple parts. Manypieces featured various combinations of the six singers: countertenor, twotenors, two baritones and bass. Sometimes in trio or duet, sometimes in fullensemble harmony, the voices expertly blended in stylish fluidity, helped bythe pleasing acoustics of the chapel. Rather exotic to modern ears, most of themusic was captivating and even moving, with interesting variety showing theaesthetic range of the lauda. Though highly accomplished, I did not findthe singing quite as refined as I recall from Lionheart in the past. Certainlya highlight for many was a touching arrangement of the carol “In the BleakMidwinter,” sung as an encore.
Earlier in the weekPrometheus Trio presented a tasty concert at the Wisconsin Conservatory ofMusic. Guest violinist Margot Schwartz joined pianist Stefanie Jacob andcellist Scott Tisdel. Elliott Carter’s Elegy from 1939 was followed thesame composer’s final piece, Epigrams, written at the age of 103 in2012. The angular, brief movements of Epigrams brought out sharp andcolorful playing. Mozart’s Trio in B-flat Major, K. 502, was magical in thetime-stopping beauty of the slow movement. A solid interpretation of Tchaikovsky’sexpansive Trio in A Minor rounded out the concert. Schwartz’s unfussy yetinsightful playing, which seems to come from a fire within, was a convincingmatch with Tisdel and Jacob, in sound and temperament.
Early Music Now hassteadily presented Christmas-themed programs that invite an audience to explorethe intriguing and unfamiliar. Lionheart’s concert was another such adventure.Some pieces were a chant-like melody sung as a solo, or in precise and expressiveunison. Rhythms were not notated in the musical sources of these melodies, butinformed study of the traditions led to Richard Porterfield’s often catchy andlively rhythmic settings of these tunes.
As the laudadeveloped, it became more complex in composition, in multiple parts. Manypieces featured various combinations of the six singers: countertenor, twotenors, two baritones and bass. Sometimes in trio or duet, sometimes in fullensemble harmony, the voices expertly blended in stylish fluidity, helped bythe pleasing acoustics of the chapel. Rather exotic to modern ears, most of themusic was captivating and even moving, with interesting variety showing theaesthetic range of the lauda. Though highly accomplished, I did not findthe singing quite as refined as I recall from Lionheart in the past. Certainlya highlight for many was a touching arrangement of the carol “In the BleakMidwinter,” sung as an encore.
Earlier in the weekPrometheus Trio presented a tasty concert at the Wisconsin Conservatory ofMusic. Guest violinist Margot Schwartz joined pianist Stefanie Jacob andcellist Scott Tisdel. Elliott Carter’s Elegy from 1939 was followed thesame composer’s final piece, Epigrams, written at the age of 103 in2012. The angular, brief movements of Epigrams brought out sharp andcolorful playing. Mozart’s Trio in B-flat Major, K. 502, was magical in thetime-stopping beauty of the slow movement. A solid interpretation of Tchaikovsky’sexpansive Trio in A Minor rounded out the concert. Schwartz’s unfussy yetinsightful playing, which seems to come from a fire within, was a convincingmatch with Tisdel and Jacob, in sound and temperament.
