Renaissance Voices concert truly a gem

By CHRISTOPHER HYDE, Special to Portland Press Herald

Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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REVIEW Who: Renaissance Voices When: Saturday, May 15 Where: Chestnut Street Church To top of story

Contributors to the a capella choir Renaissance Voices are grouped under gemstones, from topaz through ruby. The system is appropriate, because each of the group's concerts is a carefully faceted jewel.

The Spring program, "To Music," at the Chestnut Street Church on Saturday night Ð it will be repeated at the Fifth Maine Regiment Center on Peaks Island on June 14 Ð was only a little longer than an hour in length, but more satisfying than many concerts twice as long.

It was also revealing. Many of the late Renaissance pieces are not often heard, and they were interspersed with equally unfamiliar works from the modern repertoire and the increasingly recognized upsurge of American vocal music that occurred around the time of the Revolution.

The choral works by Boston's William Billings (1746-1800) and Maine's Supply Belcher (1751-1836) hold their own, to a modern ear, with Dowland, if not Purcell. Conductor Harold Stover programmed a wonderful piece by Billings as an encore. Entitled "Modern Music" and written in 1790, it musically illustrates the construction of one of Billings' famous "fuging tunes," beginning with the bass line and building through increasingly complex additions to an appeal for applause.

His "Creation" was sung during the scheduled program. Supply Belcher's own "Creation," from "The Harmony of Maine," was also worthy of close listening. Both Billings and Belcher stem from the shaped-note singing school tradition, in which the shapes of the notes indicate the pitch, and the harmony and counterpoint operate in glorious American disobedience of the rules. If you want to hear real shaped-note harmony, get the Anonymous Four's version of "Amazing Grace."

The modern works on the program included an enigmatic "It is Good to Give Thanks" by Jane Marshall, "Hashir Hashem Luchem" by Jay Anthony Gach, and "Orpheus With His Lute," by Ralph Vaughan Williams. "To Music" by George Dyson (1883-1964), sets Herrick's sweetly melancholy lyrics to appropriate late-Victorian harmonies.

f+tAs usual in a Renaissance Voices concert, tf-tThe music, most of which was in praise of the art itself, alternated with spoken texts about the effects of music, from Rumi Ð "We listen and are fed with joy and peace" Ð Salman Rushdie Ð "Maybe the birds taught us" Ð and Shakespeare. It would be good to have printed versions of the spoken words as well as the verses of the music.

The early works on the program, by Amner, Croce, Hassler, Purcell and Weelkes, were also beautifully sung, lively and surprisingly earthy. Perhaps our conception of Renaissance music stems more from the church than from Rabelais. A course in Purcell (or Dowland, the Eric Clapton of his time) would be a good antidote.

Christopher Hyde's Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

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