Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini's painting of 'Jepthe' encountering his daughter (early 1700s). Image provided
NYS Baroque, central New York’s own professional period music ensemble and the only such ensemble outside of a major metropolitan area in the US, offered a special treat in their spring outing last weekend: the debut of Vocantur, a new vocal ensemble led by tenor and early music specialist Thom Baker.
In using a pared down instrumental ensemble of just six (three on continuo) against two guest vocalists (Baker and soprano Laura Heimes) and a 16-voice choir, the Baroque could have come across as underpowered. Instead, this arrangement clarified the individual melodic lines, and made the counterpoint almost legible in the air. With the strong rhythm/bass line provided by theorbo (a sprightly Deborah Fox), organ (played with a light, steady hand by Leon Schelhase) and violone (the ensemble’s superb director, Heather Miller Lardin), the effect was much the same as a modern-day jazz sextet. Even tied to a written score, there was a sense of interplay and even improvisation between the two violinists (Julie Andrijeski and Boel Gidholm), cellist David Morris, and the continuo players.
Virtuosity, freedom of line, and intricate interplay were the staples of the early Italian Baroque period. Vocantur burst out of the gate with the opening piece, an exultant “Beatus vir” by Italy’s first Baroque master, Monteverdi, with voices in six parts and a concertante styling that featured brief solos against the answering chorus, which was sprightly conducted by Scott Tucker.
A sinfonia in D minor by Stradelli, hearkening to the mid-Baroque, was most notable for the interplay between lead violin and cello, particularly in the two adagios: the first spaced in a more usual configuration of high against low, the second repeating the musical material but inverting the lines, so the cello is playing high and the violin low, evoking a more intimate, caressing line. A Cavelli sonata gave the back and forth to the violins (with some guitar-like moments for theorbo), while the opening piece of the second half, a sonata ottava by Fontana, was a rapturous celebration of all the instruments, featuring denser harmonies, with cellist Morris switching to the lesser known lirone.
Laura Heimes presented two motets by Grandi in the program’s first half. ‘O intermerata’ was beguiling for the way Heimes’ rich mezzo seemed to just lift from the accompaniment, as if on a single breath. (It should here be noted that terms can be confusing: while “Baroque” distinguishes a departure in music from Renaissance polyphony, the very engine of this departure was the Italian Renaissance ideal of reviving a Greek melding of music and drama. Thus Monteverdi and Grandi were among the first composers of opera, and much of their vocal writing is concerned with a careful setting of text to music, sometimes known as ‘word painting.’ While there is some room for ornamentation, much more emphasis is laid on expressivity and nuanced delivery of the libretto.)
Heimes’ work throughout the evening was tightly focused, with a creamy texture unusual in this repertoire. The concert’s raison d’etre was the final offering, Carissimi’s little performed oratorio Jepthe, in which the general Jepthe promises God a sacrifice of the first to greet him on his return to his household if he is granted victory in battle. Who else but his daughter greets him on his triumphal return?
Beginning with a plaintive, simple recitative by the narrator, the oratorio proceeds to a solo of exhortation by Jepthe (Baker), set in a confident, uncomplicated melody followed by a rhythmic, even strident description of the battle by the chorus. A triumphant return elicits a jubilant solo by the daughter (Heimes), interwoven with the chorus.
This launches us into the oratorio’s remarkable second half, the doom-laden, hollowed out sound of Jepthe’s dismayed response (artfully and simply conveyed by Baker), a halting back-and-forth as the daughter understands her fate, then a haunting solo for her as she takes a last tour of the countryside before her death. Sealing the tragedy is a great choral lament, handled with aplomb by Vocantur. This final movement provided a wondrous coda to a splendid evening of vocal and instrumental prowess.