For the past 10 years the early music ensemble Terra Nova Consort has been in residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and as such has long experience providing pre-theatre entertainment (often in collaboration with the festival’s dance group) to enthusiastic listeners. From the lively and colorful performances on this disc of songs and dances from Renaissance Spain you can appreciate how attractive the group’s concerts must be for those festival audiences. And for the most part the singing and instrumental pieces work just fine on a recording–but in some instances, what certainly comes off splendidly in a live performance, especially with lots of entrancing visual effects, just doesn’t fall kindly on the ear when focused through the speakers of your home audio system.
Although you can’t argue with the first rate instrumental artistry–on recorder, percussion, violin, viol, guitar, vihuela, and shawm–the voices, which carry the majority of the program, run the gamut from agreeable to intriguing to irritating. Due to the nature of the musical selections, drawn from popular repertoire, these knowledgeable vocalists have chosen to sing in the less-refined, earthy style that probably would characterize the sounds of traditional popular singers of southern Spain. Mezzo Pat O’Scannell and baritone Nicholas Tennant make effective interpretations, convincingly coloring words and melodies with a believable, acceptable attempt at realism. Soprano Kay Hilton may have the authenticity correct on some level, but to my ears her screechy, strident mannerisms are just plain annoying–to the point of unlistenability in Alonso Mudarra’s song “La tricotea Samartin”. The skillful arrangements highlight the music’s Eastern Mediterranean and North African influences, reinforced with unmistakably Spanish idioms, and if you confine your listening to tracks such as No. 5–Luys Milán’s “Falai miña amor”–or the several instrumental selections, you’ll come away with a good impression and the memory of an interesting listening experience. The sound, from Dorian’s “home” venue at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, is typically excellent.
