"Esperar, Sentir, Morir" - Le Poème Harmonique at St. Mary the Virgin-Times Square

This evening I attended the latest concert in the Miller Theatre Early Music Series, presented at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square.  The guest artists tonight were Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique, a small early music ensemble consisting on this occasion of four members: Dumestre (director, Baroque guitar), Claire Lefilliâtre (soprano), Kaori Uemura (treble and bass viol), and Joël Grare (bass drum & castanets).  Their program was titled "Esperar, Sentir, Morir," appropriating the title of their last number, a song by Juan Hidalgo de Polanco (1614-85).  All of the music was written during the Baroque period, stretching from the late 16th through the early 18th century.

Most of the composers were familiar names to me, but they sounded quite unfamiliar in this setting, which I found to be, on the whole, inappropriate for the music.  This was an entirely secular concert of songs and instrumental music for a very small ensemble, suited to a small concert room or similar chamber, not a large, resonant church.  From the first notes of Luigi Rossi's song, Un ferito cavaliero, I could tell that there was little use trying to figure out the text, as the resonance of the church would make that virtually impossible.  And, indeed, the organizers of the concert agreed; although they printed texts and translations in the program book, the church was darkened to such a degree that reading was impossible.  So, a double puzzle: why incur the expense of printing texts and translations if the audience will not be permitted to read along with the performance, and why perform chamber music of this delicacy and nuance in such a spacious, resonant location?  Miller Theatre up at Columbia University, the home hall of the organizers, would have been much more suitable....

Getting past that, however, I can say that these performers are marvelous, each a master.  Ms. Lefilliâtre sang with wonderful expression and a beautiful large voice.  M. Dumestre is obviously a supreme virtuoso of the Baroque guitar, and he has his group playing together most expressively, with a feeling that is at once improvisatory and well-ordered.  Ms. Uemura provided sensitive bass-lines and counterpoint, and M. Grare a most spirited percussion accompaniment when required.  The program was well-composed to show the variety of southern European music of the time - Italians and Spaniards - and included one of my very favorite Baroque songs - Si dolce è'l tormento, by Claudio Monteverdi - exquisitely rendered as a coda to the Rossi song.  Hearing this group is a great incitement to purchase their recordings, which are featured on the French label Alpha.

Comments

[Lebas]

Perhaps you should stick to the quotidian of America's hamster wheel, comrade. You bizarrely missed the boat on this one.

[Piano Keyboard Reviews]

I can definitely symphatise with the bad acoustics of the building. When my church got renovated, the priest sent the choir and band upstairs. The choir and band did their best to project their voice, but it just sounded so wrong. In the end, the priest had to admit to his mistake and allowed the group to move back down.

The building can really do injustice to the singers and musicians. Fortunately you are familiar with the musicians. For those who aren't, they may discredit the musician as well as the building!

[Art Leonard]

Obviously we had very different reactions to this performance. (I just read Lebas' blog post.) Nobody in my vicinity was trying to follow the texts with small flashlights.

I agree that this ensemble presents potentially very exciting insights into this music. But I also think that when a piece of art combines text and music in a way that is supposed to be mutually supporting, an audience not conversant with the language of the text should be afforded the opportunity to follow a translation during the performance. In this case, text was provided but illumination was not. While one can have a certain level of appreciation of the performance without knowing what the performers are singing, appreciation may be enhanced by knowledge of text.

This is not, after all, opera where sets, costumes, pantomime, etc., may communicate the plot in broad outline so that one might forego simultaneous translation. (And even so, major opera houses now provide simultaneous titles precisely to enable audiences to be better informed.)

I persist in thinking that these were fine performances partially sabotaged by an inappropriate acoustical setting. This music was not conceived to be played in such a large, resonant space.

[diapason]

Very interesting comments all-round.

I'm a little confused that the acoustical properties of the church seem to be in question. Indeed, they are among the finest of their kind in the world, and this church is renowned for it's particularly fine liturgical music.

The problem(s) highlighted by this last concert, however, were the result of poor judgement on the behalf of the concert producers. A smaller, more intimate and, most importantly, secular venue is absolutely essential for this kind of performance. In this incredible space, however, I could not but laugh (cringe) at the sense of irony thus produced! Let's hope that, in the future, Miller Theater appropriately matches their programs to the relevant venue!

[Art Leonard]

The acoustics of this church are excellent for Renaissance polyphony and the like. They are not particularly fine for music intended to be performed in smaller spaces. I commented on the performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 performed there on New Year's weekend - the polyphony of that music was conceived for a smaller, less resonant space, and so it was muddled in some of the big moments. Because the Monteverdi Vespers are a big piece, and they were composed shortly before he became music director in San Marco in Venice, people assume they were written for a large space. But they were actually composed while he was still a ducal composer in a smaller town and was writing primarily for the palace, not the church, so would have been conceived for a chapel, not a large church or cathedral.

Great care should be taken in matching music to space.
I have no religious objections to singing secular music in a large church, although of course the result is quite ironic - my objections are entirely musical.

[portable keyboards]

There is marvellous energy and vibrance when music is performed inside a large church. It's an atmosphere that can't be matched!

[Art Leonard]

I agree that appropriate music performed in a large church space can be marvelous, and I've had wonderful musical experiences hearing Renaissance polyphony and other appropriate musical styles in this and other churches. But some music is just wrong for the space.

For example, I've been to concerts by the NY Philharmonic at St. John the Divine. Total mismatch of music and space. The results are consistently absurd....