Early Music Now finishes in a Blaze of Glory

The vocal quintet Calmus Ensemble Leipzig and the recorder consort Quartet New Generation combined Saturday to complete Early Music Now’s 25th season in a splendid, fitting “Blaze of Glory.” Like so many musicians Early Music Now brings to Milwaukee, these are virtuosos.

The nine (Calmus: Anja Lipfert, Sebastian Krause, Tobias Pöche, Ludwig Böhme, Joe Roesler; QNG: Susanne Fröhlich, Andrea Guttmann, Miako Klein, Heide Schwarz), all with ties to the venerable musical traditions of Leipzig, performed in the vast, high-domed chapel of the St. Joseph Center. The chapel, adorned with with the late-afternoon sun streaming through the stained glass on the western wall, proved just the right place to hear music by big names from the early and middle Renaissance — Des Préz, Victoria and Gesualdo — and lesser-known worthies of the period.

Added to this was the premiere of Sacred Love Songs, by Pulitzer Prize composer Paul Moravec, commissioned by the two ensembles in honor of their collaboration. The School Sisters of St. Francis built this chapel; serendipitously, Moravec drew a portion of his text from the celebrated Prayer of St. Francis. A nice touch. One of the vocalists also reminded the audience that the “Now” in “ Early Music Now” provided a good reason to present a new composed piece. He was probably preaching to the choir. This audience knows that early music concerts are not just for early music anymore.

Technique was never in question. Intonation was flawless and thus beautiful, which is not always the case when recorders blend with voices. The resonance of the hall allowed for a remarkable effect: Several times, perfectly tuned final chords lingered after the musicians had finished. What a memorable and pleasurable way to spend three or four exquisite seconds of your life.

It’s nice to be a virtuoso, but tempering that virtuosity with restraint puts things on a higher level. It is hard enough to perform a Dufay motet, in this case Ecclesiae Militantis, accurately. It is another thing to perform it a way that gives the audience a fighting chance to glimpse the music’s fantastic rhythmic and contrapuntal structures. It could be argued that the only way to get to the bottom of this piece is to dissect the score at a seminar. This transparent, expressive performance was the next best thing.

Several programmatic pieces describe battles. This gave both ensembles a chance to show off a their sonic imaginations. They figured out how to make the music really sound like battles. In Clement Janeqin’s La Guerre, for example, singers and instrumentalists almost magically maintained the tonal integrity of the music while adding a litany of vocal percussion, spectacular glissando effects on the recorders, vocal whoops, and manic squeaks. Thus, a usually charming and witty Renaissance battle piece became something far more disturbing. Battles were no prettier in 14th and 15th century than they are now, and these musicians made sure that the audience knew it.

After the Dufay, everything else took on the quality of sublime “easy listening” music. The gem-like movements of a Victoria mass formed a connecting thread throughout the concert. A funeral piece for Phillip II of Spain was gorgeous and lachrymose. It might well be one of the saddest pieces of music ever written. Moravec’s Sacred Love Songs were engaging and accessible; clearly this prize-winning composer treats his texts with care and respect. Words such as “Love” and “Peace” rode sudden consonant chords; “hatred” got a more dissonant treatment. There was lots to hold onto in this music: a fleeting fugato, octave leaps, and funky arpeggios in the recorders.

What else? An astonishing long, seamless drone from two recorders in Johann Walter’s cheerful Vivat Carolus, and a stunning gathering of three great bass recorders and a contrabass recorder in Alonso Lobo’s Vers est in luctum.

Three great bass recorders and a contra playing the purgatory out of Alonso Lobo’s Vers est in luctum; you don’t hear that every day.

Jonathan Brodie is a violist, occasional viola da gambist, and teaches stringed instruments in Whitefish Bay Public Schools.