Learnings

AAM and Barbican. Purcell and the Aeneid. All big names and that was enough to get us out, somewhat excited. The music was Dido and Aeneas, an early baroque opera from Purcell. That only lasted ~50 mins, in the second half. The first half was a collection of 7 pieces and songs, again by Purcell. The Barbican is big but comfy, arrayed with stalls, circle and balcony. The foyer is busy with lots of stairs (toilets well above and below!) and even a strangely raked floor down low. So it’s an adventure and an experiment. It didn’t always feel right but it’s of its period and renowned. I thought it sounded right. The audience was casual; the seating was similarly comfy and casually coloured. The stage was huge, sometimes noisy with footfalls, jutting into the audience. The AAM was similarly casual, bass and some others on stage early, tuning and warming up. Chairs were spaciously arranged; two harpsichords at the centre with two theorbos adjacent. Plenty of space around for theatricals. There was a surprising amount of theatre, mainly effective white puppetry against black costumes although also an oddly interjected sailors’ dance/ That was presumably for entertainment in the original: I’d seen something similar at the Globe to end Henry IV pt.1. So this was not music alone, but the music was lovely. It was mostly surprisingly simple, often repetitive, even as in contemporary looping (AAM uses the term in the program), several times with odd-feeling repeats. I counted one looping group of 6x¾ bars that was oddly unsettled but very inviting. Then the famed Dido’s lament, a tragic aria sung by Dido over a descending, repeated bass line as she dies. For this is a love story, love thwarted by the gods. Aeneas arrives in Carthage, falls for the widowed queen Dido; the gods forbid the love, call Aeneas away and Dido suicides. Typical ancient lit! The playing was lovely. I noticed a few holes (not least some strangely inexact sparse intro drumming; perhaps it was intended?). The singing was stunning if oddly complex to my ears. I guessed it was various ornamentations and articulations. The feel of time and interpretation was unexpected but these guys are experts in the relevant musics so it’s as close to authentic as we can expect to hear. But there were times that just floored me. Some beautiful and clearly identified individual choral voices and some stunningly together choral passages. Overall, it was pretty understated, fairly quiet in a large hall using period instruments, delicate with gut and harpsichords, with intense individual parts and a few ecstatic communal outpourings. So, a renowned venue and renowned performers and quite a lesson in the style. But one other factoid that stunned me. AAM have released over 300 albums, presumably mostly live. A list of future performances told of a concert that was planned to be recorded. That’s making a job of it, as well as a well-archived resuscitated genre. Much enjoyed and much learned.

The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) with the Choir of the AAM performed Prucell Dido and Aeneas and more at the Barbican Centre under Richard Egarr (conductor, harpsichord) with soloists Caitlin Halcup (Dido), Ashley Riches (Aeneas), Rowan Pierce (Belinda) and Neal Davies (sourceress). Judith Evans (bass) covered the bottom end.

Decorous not stuffy

I had two stellar groups I wanted to catch recently, Tallis Scholars and the Academy of Ancient Music. I had a gig when Tallis were performing so missed them (as I did for another last night when the ACO performed Mozart’s clarinet concerto). But I caught AAM with Australian singer Sara Mcliver. I took a while to settle in, but then I realised just how perfectly integrated were these musicians. Their sense of timing and balance and note formation and decay were excellent. Phrases just died in perfect synch. They played Locke instrumental suite form the Tempest and Purcell (excerpts from the Fairy Queen and Arne Overture no.6 Bb and a series of songs or hymn by Handel. The theme was of theatrical music of the era, around mid1600s to early 1700s, introduced as preparatory to Gilbert and Sullivan and even Andrew Lloyd Webber. Locke was entered into with a warning, that he’s “certainly not easy listening … quite weird” - the words of director and harpsichordist Richard Egarr. I found it the most satisfying of the works, with angular lines, counterpoint, odd harmonies. The others were neat and obviously works of expertise, but they were also predicable. Hear one line and you could guess the next. I felt just a little disappointed, but the performance was superb. The early oboes were delightful; the bass was big and omnipresent and the bassoon cut through clearly. Not sure the theorbo / lute was too aurally prominent although it’s an amazing visual presence. I loved watching Paula’s fingers as they formed over the theorbo’s fretted neck, as I enjoyed he relaxed precision of Judith on double bass (four string). There were occasional squeaks, which are the way with period instruments, and the bows were old-style French and the cello was held between legs with no end pin. Blokes wore morning suits, although without waistcoat (English informal, I guess) and the women were similarly attired, but this was not stuffy. The English do this nicely, decorous but jaunty, so I wasn’t surprised by Judith resetting her hairpin in a break in performance. And I should mention the David’s glorious trumpets. He had two, both long and probably without valves. I guess these are natural trumpets, in different keys, played like a bugle, but they seemed to have an almost complete chromatic range. And Richard on harpsichord. I strained for this, other than a feature solo that was besieged with notes. He sat with back and tails to the audience, leading his ensemble, all the world like images of baroque orchestras, which it was, of course. Sara Mcliver performed for most of the program. Clear high notes and coloratura virtuosity. I lost some of the lower notes, but it must be hard for soloists to avoid indulging their preferred ranges.

Some of the music had a predictability as the theatrical music of its day, but I loved the precision and casual professionalism of it all. These are masters from a centre of the art, England and the Barbican and Cambridge University and it shows. This is their 40th anniversary tour. The Academy of Ancient Music were Richard Egarr (harpsichord, director), Pavlo Beznosiuk, Colin Scobie, Iwona Muszynska, Bojan Cicic, Rebecca Livermore, William Thorp (violins), Jane Rogers (viola), Joseph Crouch (cello), Judith Evans (double bass), Frank de Bruine, Lars Henriksson (oboes), Ursula Leveaux (bassoon), David Blackadder (trumpet), Paula Chateauneuf (lute). Sara Macliver (soprano) sang.