Newberry Consort kicks off season with a blast from the Jacobean past
The Newberry Consort opened their 38th season Friday night at Hyde Park’s First Unitarian Church of Chicago with “I Tremble Not: Music from Jacobean England for Viols, Brass, and Voices.” The performance marked the beginning of artistic director Liza Malamut’s third season at Newberry’s helm, and continues the refreshing trends of innovative programing, expanding collaborations, and thought-provoking curation that she has established over her young tenure.
The evening was divided into six musical “chapters,” each of which explored aspects of the reign of King James I (1603-1625), a brief but complex and tumultuous period in England’s history. The opening “Celebration and Coronation” conveyed James’ ascension via the regal strains of Orlando Gibbons’ “Great King of Gods,” while “Masques and Merriment” captured the ubiquity of music from the pub to the palace.
“Espionage and Intrigue” centered on Guy Fawkes’ failed “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up Parliament, including selections of Angelo Notari and Nicholas Lanier, composers involved in political schemes of the day, and “Science and Sorcery” captured the polarities of witchcraft and scientific advancement. “Love and Death” plumbed mournful responses to James’ death and the concluding “War and Peace” moved the focus to the wider political world.
As suggested in the program’s title, the Consort divided neatly into three smaller groups: viols, led by Haymarket Opera founder Craig Trompeter; brass, led by Malamut herself on sackbut and Kiri Tollaksen on cornetto; and a vocal quintet of soprano Erica Schuller, tenors Matthew Dean and Steven Caldicott Wilson, baritone Andrew Kane, and bass-baritone Jonathan Woody. Without violins and having Schuller’s soprano, Tollaksen’s cornetto, and Trompeter’s soprano viola da gamba as the only higher voices, the collective sonority had a robust darkness that made for an absorbing contrast with other Newberry rosters.
The vocal quintet was particularly impressive, all singing with fluency and grace as they shifted among solos, duos, trios, and their full complement. Woody provided an evening highlight with his florid melismas in Notari’s “Anima Eletta” and provided sturdy grounding in ensemble selections. Schuller’s bright soprano was idiomatically suited to Thomas Campion’s “What if a Day or a Month or a Year,” and she movingly lofted the titular “I Tremble Not” from Gibbon near the end of the evening.
Newberry stalwart Matthew Dean took advantage of opportunities to show off his nimble countertenor in selections of Weelkes and Byrd, while his counterpart Wilson offered a plangent lament in Dowland’s “Flow My Tears.” Kane launched the severe narrative of “The Gunpowder Plot” ballad with stern gravitas. Composer Thomas Ravenscroft was best known for his inventive rounds, of which “New Oysters” was a charming example, belted in canon by Dean, Wilson, and Kane near the top of the night.
The brass and viol troupes were equally accomplished, consistently offering responsive support to their vocal colleagues, and dancing elegantly together in purely instrumental dances and airs. Lutenist Brandon Acker offered a haunting solo rendering of Dowland’s unaccompanied “Fortune My Foe.”
As always at Newberry, vocal texts were offered in projections by Shawn Keener, whose work Friday was particularly appealing. Assembling art from the period along with gorgeous renderings of London at the time, one was appreciative for her unobtrusive and undeniably enhancing work that made the packed program easy to follow and helped bring it to life.
On the administrative side, historical trombonist Ben David Aronson, who performed Friday, has assumed the position of the Consort’s executive director, with Friday’s performance his first in that new role.
“I Tremble Not” will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston and 4 p.m. Sunday at Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall. newberryconsort.org
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