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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
February 15, 2004
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By Rebekah Ahrendt
Wine, women and song were the order of the day on Sunday as the Orlando Consort hosted a banquet of medieval and Renaissance tunes. They appeared at the McKenna Theatre of San Francisco State as part of the (free entry!) Morrison Artists' Series. From England to Portugal and everywhere in between, the banqueting table was laden with pieces both sacred and secular having to do with food or wine in some way.
The Orlando Consort traversed their repertoire of short pieces like a sort of Grand Tour of early Europe. To compensate for the fact that the printed program contained no information or texts for the songs, the members of the Consort introduced each set of pieces, divided into geographical regions. The concert began in France, with an anonymous piece from Nôtre Dame de Paris. This solo, sung beautifully by tenor Mark Dobell, tells a story of St. Francis tending his figs and vineyards. It was a very nice introduction to the melismatic journey that would follow. Continuing with a few multi-texted polyphonic works, the Consort demonstrated their great sensitivity to the complexities of rhythm in early French music. Especially enjoyable in this first set was a duo of Adam de la Halle, sung by tenor Angus Smith and baritone Donald Greig. Its second text, “Hé resveille toi Robin” (Hey, wake up Robin!), refers to a story of Robin Hood and Maid Marion making merry at a picnic in the woods.
The merrymaking moved back to England in the next set, opening with a mystical musical vision of Pentecost from the monks of Fountains Abbey. Though this purely religious work might not seem to have immediate relevance to the program, Donald Greig informed us that the monks of the Abbey were famous brewers (and drinkers) of beer. In fact, during Lent the monks would only consume beer, their “liquid bread.” The piece alternates monophonic chant and response sections with polyphony in wild 14th-century English flavor. The Consort also sang an early English carol, “Nowell, nowell: The Boar”s Head.” The infectious rhythm of this carol may have something to do with the fact that carols were originally intended for dancing (even in church, as long as your feet didn't leave the floor).
Angus Smith, Mark Dobell Donald Greig, Robert Harre-Jones Your feet had better take leave of the house — and your morals — during the Florentine Carnival season, as the set of pieces from Italy demonstrated. The “Canto de cardoni” (Artichoke song) informs us that an artichoke without salt is like going to Carnival with your own husband. Much more homophonic, catchy and simple than the pieces presented to this point, the carnival songs also creeped down the moral scale, with texts full of dirty puns about knobbly bread and creamy cheese. You get the picture. The Burgundian leg of the journey opened with Guillaume Dufay's famous adieu to the great wine of Lanois (“Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys”). Sentimental and fragile, Dufay's lament describes leaving behind his wine and his beloved, made even worse by the fact that he has to carry a large sack of walnuts for provision. Next came two delightful songs from the (sadly) oft-neglected Loyset Compère. The first, “Un franc archier” (A Frank bowman), relates in four parts a typical soldier's lunch and dinner. The Consort carried off the vocal pairing and contesting amongst parts to great effect. I could only wish that someday we'll get a whole program of Compère from them. Next, it was on to the Iberian Peninsula. The Consort served up a variety of Spanish and Portuguese delicacies, snappy, spicy and delectable. Their performance of “La Tricotea” was the first time on the program that they really seemed to loosen up and enjoy themselves, giving a great “hey!” at the end. The velocity with which they spat out text in this piece was truly impressive and exciting. Another enjoyable song was “Ave color vini clari” (Hail the color of clear wine). Though it sounded just like your average early Renaissance sacred motet, the text is all about the excellence of good wine, with quasi-religious diction like “Happy is the belly that is full of wine.” The Consort delivered the piece with completely straight faces, adding to the comedy value.
The real comedy was saved for the German set, which I found the most enjoyable part of the program. First up was Matthias Greiter's hilarious “Von Eyern” (All About Eggs), which catalogues all ways you can do eggs. It would make a great commercial: catchy tune, extols virtues of product, promises happiness, etc, all in close four-part harmony. But even better than that was Ludwig Senfl's “Von edler Art,” whose first line translates roughly as “With noble art I barf into my beard.” As Donald Greig said it, this was probably the moral low point of the program. As the happy tune progressed, the Orlando Consort became more and more raucous, boisterously bleating out false notes in imitation of good lads who have uncorked a few too many. To cap it all off, tenor Mark Dobell fell dramatically on his face, while the other three members of the group swayed in sympathy. It was uproarious.
Admirably, the Consort successfully overcame the wretched acoustics of the McKenna Theatre at San Francisco State, but I could have wished for a better venue. Though there were times when they appeared somewhat warmed-over (they arrived from frozen Minnesota that morning), the very fact that they are able to pull off such obscure and difficult repertoire at all is in itself stellar. And that they do it so very well is amazing.
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