San Francisco Classical Voice

There are few ensembles like The Whole Noyse performing today, and the Noyse, presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society at St. John's Presbyterian Church Saturday, as well as in San Francisco Friday and Palo Alto Sunday, are among the best. They represent a kind of cornett and sackbut ensemble that was pervasive in Italy, Germany and elsewhere from the 16th century Gabrielis to the 17th century Corelli. These bands represent an early pinnacle in instrumental composition. Only a handful of ensembles recreate this music today, and while it is not one of the most famous, The Whole Noyse may count itself as among the most accomplished.

Though the Italian 17th century style is certainly fascinating and colorful, like all styles it is self-defined and self-limited. Ensembles like The Whole Noyse are challenged to create concerts that are fresh and stimulating, and within the confines of historical credibility, while they must avoid the perception of the same old concert, over and over again. In striving for variety such a group may overreach and stray into repertoire that is fundamentally unsuited to its own makeup.

The program here, "Music for Elizabeth and Beyond," English music for voices and consorts (Ruth Escher, soprano, and lutenist Richard Savino were added for this event), pushed TWN's envelope into the world of the English Renaissance, a musical landscape where recorders and viols are more the norm than cornets and sackbuts. Though known in Britain, the latter instruments are usually associated with ceremonial "outdoor" music, as opposed to the "indoor" consorts of the English courts.

The music was drawn from a variety of late Elizabethan sources, with the exception of material from Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth: Pills to Purge Melancholy, from about 1720. The music ranged from the ethereal (Ne iscaris of William Byrd) or academic (Fantasia á 5 of Coperario) to the pithy baseness of popular tavern humor (the ditties of D'Urfey). It is telling that the former have Italian titles, and it is with these that TWN achieved their greatest success. The ballads, consort songs and broken consort pieces on the program were not as successful.

A most engaging aspect of English repertoire is its populist "hail-fellow-well-met" good spirit, expressed in jiggedy-jig rhythms that invite all to bounce along and tap their ale mugs on the table. TWN couldn't quite achieve this spirit--the sackbuts just couldn't match the agility and wit of the viol or the recorder. As a result, the more spirited tunes were robbed of their charm: a march was funereal-- dance tunes failed to dance.

Secondly, most of this music was written for either viol or recorder consort, or for broken consort, known in their time as "soft" (bas) ensembles; sackbuts and trumpets were thought of as "loud" (haut), and employed primarily in public outdoor functions. TWN made a conscious decision to take an essentially "loud" band onto the musical turf of "soft" ensembles. It didn't really work-- the lute could not be heard with the sackbuts, and Ruth Escher's voice, admirable with the lute, struggled to balance the consort.

Finally there is the matter of stage presence: I am no fan of the forced jolly-good-time kind of behavior that certain prominent groups invariably exhibit (invariably accompanied by leering at the audience and one another), but this ensemble could benefit from attention to their presentation.

Let it be noted that the Berkeley audience seemed to enjoy The Whole Noyse very much, applauding enthusiastically.

(Joseph Spencer is a longtime early music devotee, who divides his time between being a merchant (The Musical Offering in Berkeley, an early music CD store and cafe/bistro), a record producer (Wildboar Recordings and others), and radio broadcaster (Chapel Court & Countryside, KKGO, Los Angeles, 7-9 am Sundays)

©1999 (Joseph Spencer, all rights reserved