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Early music concert: Thiessen/Calliope
Thursday, 5:15pm
Kimberly Stephans, Reviewer
True to form for an early music concert, there were significant rearrangements made to the program. John Thiessen began the concert with a very clean and beautiful performance of HIF. Biber's Sonata IV in C Major, accompanied by organist Bradley Brookshire and cellist Michael Kannen. Calliope then took the stage, and performed several pieces which, according to Calliope member Allan Dean, are some of the standards in the early music repertoire. Weit ghy, followed by two versions of Ich stund an einem Morgen by Paumann and Finck, and then Mit ganczen Willen, also by Paumann, were performed as a set, with only the briefest of breaks in between each number.
Thiessen then returned with Brookshire and Kannen to perform G. Torelli's Sonata in D Major (G1). His playing was very controlled, with a beautiful sound and clean attacks. The tempi in the fast movements were somewhat restrained, but very well-performed. Thiessen followed this with Shore's Musick, a collection of tunes that have been variously attributed to Jeremiah Clarke and John Shore. His performance was impeccable, clean and clear with a beautiful natural trumpet sound.
At this point, many in the audience got up to leave, assuming that the recital was over. However, Calliope returned to the stage for another enjoyable set. They first performed a number of versions on L'Homme Arme, beginning by singing it, in English, then continuing with alternating lively and somber versions, switching many times to different instruments such as the serpent, various sizes of recorders, and assorted percussion. They ended with their own set of variations on the tune, which moved from person to person in a semi-improvisatorial manner, much as a jazz combo would trade choruses in a solo.
The final pieces on the program were a real treat. Calliope has commissioned many works from modern composers (for, as Allan Dean pointed out in his commentary, it's difficult to get Josquin des Pres to write anything new these days). Another source Calliope has found is music from the early 1900s, in this case, the ragtime compositions Jovial Jasper and Rainbow Ripples by the xylophonist George Hamilton Green. It made for an incredible performance! Ben Harms played an old 1920s xylophone as a modern concession, and Lucy Bardo on "stride viol" and Allan Dean and Steven Lundahl playing jazz cornetto and sackbut, respectively. Who knew that the cornetto could swing so well! Overheard after the concert was mention of a CD entitled "Calliope Swings" on the Equilibrium label. If it is anything like this performance, it should be a fantastic listening experience. (Kimberly Stephans, M.M. student, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana) |
