Church of St Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th St, New York; January 2, 2012—Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is the composer who best links the Renaissance with the Baroque periods and what was known as the prima pratica and seconda pratica, a/k/a the “old style” and the “modern style”. The former emphasized clear, smooth polyphony as ordered by the Council of Trent and personified by Palestrina (the text was always to be understood), specified under what circumstances dissonances were to be used, and relied on the cantus firmus (fixed song) technique that was the backbone of Gregorian Chant. But he also made use of the stile moderno, which used monody—a single vocal line, sometimes highly ornamented, over a bass line played by lute, theorbo, organ, harpsichord, or a combination—the type of exclamation that was being used in opera, dance forms, and instrumental interludes. And none of his works exemplifies this connection—this perfect marriage—better than his Vespers of 1610.
The sheer variety of sounds and forms in the Vespers is staggering. The opening words are intoned by a soloist and these are answered by full chorus on one note, surrounded by the ornate brass fanfare Monteverdi used for the opening of Orfeo. The following Dixit Dominus has everything—dueling choirs, bits for soloists, simple monody that somehow transmogrifies into elaborate vocalizing; instrumental ritornellos for one piece contain 10 vocal parts and several instruments; the Lauda is polyphonic, the Sonata Sopra is an instrumental canzone, a simple chant by the chorus around which cornetts, sackbuts, and strings riff with different rhythmic and melodic strains.
A perfect example of seconda pratica is the psalm “Nigra sum”. A solo sings the text while a most ascetic basso continuo underpins the voice. But Monteverdi makes certain that the words are painted by the music: The word “nigra” means “black”, and the vocal line begins on low, long, dark notes presented in the minor key; “formosa”, meaning beauty (in reference to the Bride, or Virgin Mary), winds up in the major, is set higher, and is rhythmically appealing; “surge”, a call to “rise”, is sung to a melismatic rising vocal line. In “Duo seraphim” two angelic voices cry out; when the Trinity is invoked, a third voice, in imitation, joins them. The effects are playful, dramatic, and always surprising to the ear, introducing dissonances, soon resolved, which startle and entertain. The parts of Monteverdi’s Vespers are remarkable; the sum is both articulate and soulful.
Tenet, an early music group that has been around for a while, has sprouted The Green Mountain Project, and for the third time in four years has just presented a pair of evenings devoted to the Vespers at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, an oasis of calm on west 46th street, just steps from bustling Times Square. There are 14 singers and 14 instrumentalists, with the cornettists doubling on recorders. The performance on January 2nd was a beauty.
The Vespers is of course a religious service, and before each psalm a brief Antiphon (plainchant) for the First Vespers of the Feast of the Purification, which falls on February 2nd, was added. Music director (conductor and first violinist) Scott Metcalfe had the three men and one woman who performed the antiphons placed at different parts of the church; the listener was acoustically surprised each time they sang. The work can be presented with great drama or great simplicity; Metcalfe chose a middle ground—pious and intimate for the prayers and often quite dazzling for the more showy pieces, especially the ones for solo or pairs of voices. The Nisi Dominus may have been slightly too delicate—or perhaps coming in mid-evening just seemed to lack energy; but otherwise Metcalfe could not have opted for wiser tempos. Refusing to showboat, even the Lauda Jerusalem, which can sound like an anthem on a level with “Don’t Stop Believing”, was played with divine, seamless legato and with exceptional beauty of tone.
Some of the evening’s real highlights were tenor Jason McStoots’ singing of “Nigra sum” with the tone of an angel and some modest embellishments that took the vocal line even higher; the “Pulchra es”, in which silver-voiced sopranos Jolle Greenleaf and Molly Quinn were handsomely backed up by Hank Heijink’s and Daniel Swenberg’s theorbos and the always remarkable Avi Stein’s organ continuo; and the staggeringly virtuosic violin playing of Metcalfe and Julie Andrijeski, with three women soloists intoning “Santa Maria Ora pro nobis” from the pulpit. And of course, the “Duo seraphim”, possibly the most technically wild piece ever penned for three tenors (move over, Rossini!), was a glorious moment of teamwork. The Magnificat (transposed downward) that ended the program was both beautiful and simple.
I might add that the Church was filled to the rafters and that the performers received a stunning ovation at the close of the 110-minute program. All of the players and singers are to be lauded, as soloists and parts of the wonderful team that is the Green Mountain Project.
