Asteria Performs Songs of Burgundy

Many people seemed to observe that this year's Berkeley Festival and Exhibition was somewhat smaller in scale than previous years' festivals had been, and that audiences too were smaller than in years past. Yet the festival's offerings were met with great enthusiasm, and the conversations I overheard while walking from concert to concert unvaryingly described delightful and transcendent experiences.

The duo Asteria — Sylvia Rhyne, soprano; Eric Redlinger, lute and tenor — captivated their audience on the evening of June 9 at Hertz Hall with a program of largely Burgundian chansons, with a few sacred and English pieces offered, as well. Asteria was largely unknown before winning Early Music America's medieval/Renaissance music competition in 2004, but from the audience's reception on Friday, it is unlikely that they will remain unknown for long.

The two performers offer different strengths: Rhyne has had an international career in musical theater, and she uses her acting abilities to bring the texts to life. Her voice is beautifully nuanced and works well for this repertoire, with the rare exceptions of Broadway "belt" moments that emerged when the music was a bit too high and loud. Redlinger, in contrast, has a soft and gentle voice, supportive but not obtrusive. His lute playing is delicately finessed, and his knowledge of the period and repertoire immense, as he showed when he spoke about their encore piece, Languir me fais by Sermisy. Together, Rhyne and Redlinger give a sensitive and heartfelt rendering of these chansons, connecting intimately with each other and with the audience, using pianos for dramatic effect, and varying their "instrumentation" so that some pieces have lute introductions and some have only one singer.

Their program offered many wonderful songs, including an anonymous piece in three languages, Novo Profusi Gaudio, Tant est mignonne by Dufay, Pour prison and Seule esgarée by Binchois, and Morton's Le souvenir de vous me tue. Asteria singled out one of the pieces for its text: Dueil angoisseux by Binchois, to a poem by Christine de Pisan, written after the early death of her husband, to whom she was clearly devoted. This was an exception to the prevailing texts, which all celebrated the Lady or the Virgin, both of which were the standard tropes of the day. At the end, after their encore, they invited Shira Kammen to join them on one final piece, citing her profound influence on them and celebrating the rich repertoire of the medieval period. (K.M.)

An Unexpected Turn at the Bach Finals

The American Bach Soloists and Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artists Competition, at First Congregational Church on June 9, produced a winner after two hours of virtuosic singing from the required Bach repertoire. Countertenor Ian Howell of New Haven, Conn., won the first prize of $3,000 and a featured appearance on an ABS concert the following season; baritone Joshua Copeland of Knoxville, Tenn, won second; and alto Katherine Growden of San Francisco and soprano Yulia Van Doren of Boston shared third. The competition, now in its fourth year, highlights emerging early musicians under age 35, with a focus this year on the voice.

The judges seemed to have been bowled over by Howell's polished sound, clear resonance, and powerful enunciation, which makes sense owing to his experience as a member of Chanticleer from 2000 to 2004. But there was something missing from his performance, perhaps an emotional connection to the music. Katherine Growden, who recently made a big impression as a soloist with the UC Berkeley choruses in the St. Matthew Passion (see review), proved herself Howell's equal. Both sang Bach's intense longing for the afterlife, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (Delightful rest, beloved pleasure of the soul), but the differences between the two had more to do than simply with the differences between the alto and countertenor timbres. Growden sang with heartrending emotion, and excellent control in particular in the flowing "So flieht" section of the Recitativ. Howell showed real precision, but Growden displayed true passion. A shared first prize was in order. (M.B.)

Dramatic Flair From Musica Pacifica

On June 10, Musica Pacifica came to Hertz Hall and painted a picture of 17th century Venice with its "Venetian Carnival" program of concertos, sonatas, and dance pieces, interspersed with readings from the diaries of Charles Burney, an English music-lover visiting Venice at Carnival time. The chosen pieces all offered dramatic flair and included Vivaldi's La Tempesta di Mare and La Notte, Albinoni's Sonata in C for oboe and continuo (with its unconventional "Burlesque" movement) and Veracini's jaunty Capricio Quinto.

The players of Musica Pacifica share the sort of interaction on stage that makes for the most compelling performances — they each appear to be completely immersed in interpreting the music while at the same time responding to each other's ideas and lines. Though not all the pieces were virtuosic, there were many virtuosic moments, clearly displaying the many individual talents of these players. My favorite pieces on this program were the two by Uccellini: a sonata full of virtuosic flourishes and shifting moods and harmonies, and an aria on the popular song Caporal Simon, which invited the players to briefly sing along. The one non-Italian piece on the program, a suite from Campra's Festes vénitiennes, provided the opportunity for a surprise appearance by Linda Tomko and Melinda Sullivan, Baroque dancers who joined Musica Pacific for one movement. (K.M.)

Noyse 2 Noyse

The King's Noyse and The Whole Noyse have more in common than just the Noyse in their name. As Whole Noyse member Herb Myers explained in his program notes, despite their different methods of tone production, both the violin family and the cornett/sackbut family were used regularly in churches as well as in dance halls, both have the capability of lyrical as well as percussive expression, and they were often used interchangeably — meaning that they share a vast repertoire. And the June 10 performance at Hertz Hall was, it seems, their first public performance together.

The Noyses played music of 17th century Germany: Praetorius, Haussmann, Scheidt, Franck, Hammerschmidt, and Widmann — with a piece by Sweelinck added in, as well. The pieces that used the full ensemble were mostly the large hymn settings by Praetorius. The sound there was transporting. The compatibility of the brass and strings was immediately apparent, but it was also a testament to the fine players, who balanced each other, matched tone and quality, and allowed their lines to intertwine seamlessly. The pure, straight tone adopted by the string players made for a magical combination with the clarion sound of the brass. The groups also played some pieces on their own, alternating settings or dances.

Some of the stellar moments, in my view, came in the second Ecce Dominus by Praetorius, the duet between violinists David Douglass and Robert Mealy in Praetorius' Christ lag in Todesbanden, the solo verse of Praetorius' Von Himmel hoch played by Douglass and cornettist Stephen Escher, and Widmann's Cantzon Nr. XIII. Finally, two solos by Mahan Esfahani deserve special mention — Sweelinck's Mein junges Leben hat ein End, a tour de force on the harpsichord, and his dramatic improvisation on the organ, billed as Scheidt's Toccata on In te Domine speravi, but which I heard from many sources was in fact his own improvisation and not at all by Scheidt. I do not claim any knowledge of organ repertoire, but the lack of music in front of him makes me tend to believe those who say it was his own creation. Either way, the audience went wild. (K.M.)

High Eclecticism at the Fringe

You never know who, or what, you'll hear when you hit the Berkeley Festival Fringe, the motley collection of dozens of grassroots-produced concerts, often housed in the tiniest of chapels and scattered in between the cracks of the main festival schedule, an hour here and an hour there. It's a delightful way to spend a day, or, judging from the same faces in the crowd, a week.

It's also a chance to hear music that's rarely performed. A sampling of the eclectica: the complete viol works (over five days) of father and son Forqueray, not names you see every day and certainly not in such high doses, performed by Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, players familiar to anyone who has heard that itinerate band of early music specialists who make up the area's finest ensembles; an all-Dufay concert by Vox Populi (with yours truly taking part); De Profundis, featuring only compositions showcasing the lowest range of voices and instruments; all-lute concerts (Howard Kadis and Franklin Lei); vihuela concerts (Pedro Jesús Gómez); music of the apocalypse (Artists' Vocal Ensemble), fittingly on June 6, 2006; and on and on. And that's not including the dozens of worthy concerts that left out the catchy obscurantism. What follows are some of the Fringe events we managed to catch. (M.B.)

The Winemaker's Art

The Fringe is a truly democratic, and sometimes family, affair. At a Les Violettes concert in the dim and intimate St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel on June 4, the first day of the festival, it was the chance to hear viola da gamba player Rebekah Ahrendt, a UC Berkeley musicology Ph.D. student who writes frequently about early music for SFCV, as well as harpsichordist Violet Grgich, a name that might ring a bell. Her papa owns the winery of the same name. Along with Grgich's husband, Colin Shipman, the trio played melancholy Marin Marais and Jean de Sainte-Colombe tunes familiar to anyone who has seen the haunting 1991 film Tous les matins du monde. Particular highlights were Sainte-Colombe's Pièces de Viole Seule in C major, with Ahrendt alone on bass viol displaying a warm tone and fine form in the long, singing lines, and Concert VII "Le Pleureux," with the viols intertwined in aching tenderness. (M.B.)

Whimsy From La Foolia

La Foolia presented a lecture-demo on the history of Western music, perpetrated by Fibbee Greg, Madame Zuschmatzka Eastine, Sheena Q.O.J., Guillietta Fineola Magdalena Brunhildur Jones, and Herr Professor Dietrich von Moritz, on June 5 at the Berkeley Piano Club. The Professor started at the prebeginning, in a learned discussion of the precursors of human music. Four gorillas appeared, beating colored sticks in a rhythm, finally seguing into a sort of tune that turned out to be Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" — a stunning feat of pseudo-Darwinian anachronism. A tapestry of leitmotifs spanning several centuries was created by the keyboard players, and the vocal contributions were equally disorienting. The musical sophistication of the audience was evident when all were invited to join in the singing of the macaronic "Honolulu Chorus," and everybody did it (the music part, that is) from memory, in harmony. And when we came to the grand pause at the end, where usually some unfortunate soul throws in an extra Hallelujah, not a single Honolulu was to be heard! (A.C.D.)

Forqueray Times Five

Perhaps the most daring Fringe endeavor was the Hallifax and Jeffrey duo: Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey on viols, playing nearly the entire extant work of Antoine and Jean-Baptiste Forqueray over a stretch of five days. I heard the G-minor fourth suite on June 8, in the Loper Chapel at First Congregational Church. The music was diverse and challenging, full of different moods — the entire suite has been described as a series of dreams — and full of references to other musicians and even a painter of the time. The sound of two bass viols playing together is unusual, as gambas more frequently venture out in consort. But Hallifax and Jeffrey have discovered that this combination is rich, and the music of Forqueray certainly deserves more hearing. Their performance aptly conveyed the moods of the suite, interspersed with anecdotes about the piece. If some of the higher notes weren't perfectly in tune, it didn't seem to matter — the joy for both the performers and the audience was clearly in the experience, and in the drama that this music could convey. One particularly astounding fact: Hallifax was playing from memory during the entire week. (K.M.)

Ensemble Vermillion's Intriguing Transcriptions

Ensemble Vermillian describes itself as a group that "explores less-familiar repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries, making it their own through transcription for their particular instruments; the very special group chemistry these players create together makes for compelling performances for audience and performers alike." I couldn't describe it better. The ensemble consists of Frances Blaker, recorders; Barbara Blaker Krumdieck, cello; Brent Wissick, gamba; and Katherine Heater, harpsichord. The repertoire for their concert on June 8 at Trinity Chapel was 17th and 18th century Italian music, including pieces by Bassani, Leonarda, two Vitalis, Stradella, Bononcini, and Merula — all of it inventive and engaging. All the parts played by Blaker were originally violin lines, but they worked extremely well on her various recorders. One set of pieces, from Partite sopra diverse sonate by G.B. Vitali and performed by Krumdieck, Wissick, and Heater, came from one original line of music, written for solo bass. In all of the pieces, the outstanding quality was the engagement that the players had with the music and with each other — coupled with the interesting choice of, and approach to, the repertoire. (K.M.)

Relic Travels to Spain

The ensemble Relic — Karol Steadman, soprano and Jennifer Sayre, harp — took their audience on a visit to Spain, when they performed June 8 at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel. Their repertoire, drawn from original collections of court music in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries, has some attributed but many anonymous pieces. Some of this music has not been heard in roughly 300 years — and what a shame. It is lively music, the sacred as well as the secular, and both in its musical style and in its texts it opens up a world that was unique at its time. Though audiences flock to exponents of this genre and era, such as Jordi Savall and Hesperion, the repertoire hasn't made as wide an impact on the average performer as that of the Italian or even French Baroque. Steadman's performance showed her total commitment to this music, and her familiarity with each piece and each text. Sayre accompanied on Spanish double harp, as well as a smaller harp that balanced better with Steadman in the space. My favorite piece on their program was an anonymous song called "Oye, tirana Brigida," which describes the damsel Brigida as "a nymph in the shape of a mandrake." (K.M.)

Don't Mess With Texas

Who knew that Texas was such an early music hotbed? The University of North Texas in Denton ranks right below Indiana University, Longy, USC, and Oberlin as one of the largest degree-granting early-music programs in the U.S., with more than 70 students participating. It recently recruited mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane, who has performed since 2003 with the San Francisco Opera and with noted early music ensembles around the world, and who will soon teach voice at UNT. For those few souls in Berkeley who have "braved" a visit to the Lone Star State, or even grown up there, as I did, the fact that excellent music thrives amid the multitudinous churches and first-class school music programs isn't a surprise at all.

The UNT Baroque Ensemble brought a little bit of Texas to Berkeley on June 8 at St. Mark's with a delightful and polished concert of music from the 16th century Italian court of Ferrara. The singers sang with infectious pleasure, quite apparently enjoying each other's company on O villanella (O peasant maid) by Lodovico Agostini. Sarah Griffiths, Dianna Perry Grabowski, and Jennifer Lane had good intonation and a lovely sense of ensemble on T'amo mia vita (I love you my life) by Luzzasco Luzzachi. Later, a tight trio that substituted Rebecca Beasley for Lane brought Non sa che sia dolore (He knows nothing of pain) to a touching and lyrical close. And on Io mi son giovinetta (I am a young girl), yet more by Luzzaschi, Sarah Griffiths and Jessica Heuser sang together with great spirit, with Griffiths showing a rich luster to her sound and Heuser a bright upper register. Among the instrumentalists, Nicholas Harvey stood out on the cornetto with soaring, legato playing on the intricate runs in Frais et galliard by Jacobus Clemens non Papa, and Mary Heiden on the harpsicord played fluidly on the fast passagework of Luzzachi's Toccato del quarto tono. (M.B.)

Disperata's Magic

The ensemble Disperata — Sonja Gruys, recorder, Rebekah Ahrendt, gamba, Alex Jenne, theorbo and Xavier Arreola, organ — also explored 17th century Italian repertoire, on June 8 at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel. The program, titled "Abracadabra," consisted entirely of virtuosic music, showing off a style of virtuosity that, according to the program, "could never be displayed per se: it had to be tempered by a veneer of naturalness, resulting in the magical combination of nature and artifice that the Italians referred to as sprezzatura." These four are all players to watch. Gruys, visiting from Holland, took the prize for fanciest fingerwork, though Ahrendt was not far behind; Arreola had his moment in his own virtuoso piece, and the ensemble was always tight. It would be hard to pick one piece as a standout, as they were all daring, impressive, and extremely well played, but Castella's Sonata Prima featuring Gruys, Rognoni's diminutions on Ancor che col partire played by Ahrendt and Jenne, and Salaverde's third Canzon with the whole ensemble do deserve special mention for their beauty, novelty, and skill. (K.M.)

The Harpsicord From Hamburg

Janine Johnson, writer of program notes par excellence, was inspired to play music published in Hamburg in 1728, performing at Trinity Chapel on June 9. She played on a harpsichord made by Owen Daly, which is a copy of a Zell harpsichord made in Hamburg in 1728. The first half of her program featured Telemann, who published his own pieces plus those by other, now-obscure composers in his periodical, Getreue Music Meister — pieces well worth hearing, particularly under Janine's expert hands. I wasn't able to stay for Handel and Bach (whose connections with Hamburg were to be found in the program), but I am sure they were also well worth hearing. (A.C.D.)