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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
June 12, 2004
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By Benjamin Frandzel
This past weekend's Early Music on the Fringe Festival
in Berkeley brought together some of the better-known
local early music performers along with some welcome
new voices. One terrific discovery was The Camerino
Band, a group performing songs of the Italian
Renaissance. They have a specialty within this
specialty, songs for voices and guitars notated with
the early continuo tablature called alfabeto, a system
of chord-shapes for the guitar intended for
self-accompanied singers. Dating from the late 16th
and early 17th centuries, many of the songs are
settings and reworkings of popular melodies of the
day, from the repertoire of street musicians. In
their Saturday program at First Congregational Church,
the ensemble's four members delivered an exuberant
performance of many gems from this body of
music.
The core members of The Camerino
Band, made up of both Bay
Area and out-of-town musicians, are singer/guitarists
Angela Mariani and Elizabeth Ronan-Silva.
Ronan-Silva's rich voice and idiomatic Italian were
employed to great effect throughout the afternoon. In
Barbara Strozzi's “Amante Segreto,” her
deepening embodiment of the song's tormented lover was
put across by her fine control of the vocal line as it
grew more melismatic. She also made a canny use of her
wide dynamic range to define the varied emotional
states that the song's text visits.
Mariani's voice is less full and flexible than
Ronan-Silva's, and showed a little strain at the ends
of her range early in the program, but she's also very
capable, and brings an expressive conviction to her
singing that was genuinely moving. Especially in
Giovanni Sances' “O perduti diletti,” her total
involvement in the song's portrayal of lost love and
happiness was among the most affecting points in the
program. She and Ronan-Silva also produced a
wonderful blend in the program's many duets, greater
than the sum of its parts, and their accompaniments on
five-course guitars shared the propulsive rhythmic
sense that they both brought to their singing.
The afternoon's guest vocalist, soprano Sonja Rasmussen, made strong contributions as both soloist and ensemble singer. Her clear and nimble voice was especially well employed on Stefano Landi's “Augellin ch'el tuo Amor,” bringing the increasingly fiery tune to life as the singer's love is reborn. When the vocalists formed a trio, their lovely combined timbre and energetic approach were irresistible. They brought some charming theatrics to the a cappella “La Burlescha,” a setting of some sly advice to young women by G. Montesardo, the primary composer/collector of songs in the alfabeto genre. Supporting the singers throughout the program, guest theorbo player Gary Hess was an ideal accompanist for this music. He brought a sensitivity to vocal phrasing and a gentle gait to the slower pieces, adding tasteful ornaments that didn't overwhelm the simpler guitar parts. At faster tempos, his accompaniments retained a gently pulsing quality, even as he provided a base to move the music along. The concert raised hopes that both this ensemble and the repertory they bring to light will be heard here more regularly
(Benjamin Frandzel is a Bay Area musician and writer. In addition to
writing concert music, he has collaborated with dance, theater, and visual
artists, and has written about music for many publications and musical
organizations. He is currently a graduate student in composition at San
Francisco State University.)
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