BOSTON — With the world in tumult, the Boston Early Music Festival arrived as a blessing. This premier early-music festival is always a marvel, but this year’s performances (June 8-15) seemed all the more poignant amid political strife and violent conflict here and abroad. The festival leads a listener into a finer and more graceful place dedicated to beauty, brilliantly rendered. This year’s timely theme was “Love and Power,” with the message, intentional or not, that love wins in the end.
Every two years, the festival offers a rare opportunity to enjoy a weeklong feast of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music in historically informed performances on period instruments by world-class ensembles
“Heavenly” is an adjective that came to mind often during this 23rd festival and certainly at two concerts by Britain’s Tallis Scholars. The vocal ensemble’s performance of Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere at Boston’s Emmanuel Church, for instance, was breathtaking, with soprano Emma Walshe’s radiant voice rising five times to the piece’s famous high C. That high C, of course, almost certainly was not intended by Allegri, but it has become a tradition, and who would argue with such a divine addition to the piece?
The Tallis Scholars is something of a grandfather of early-music ensembles, having been founded more than 50 years ago by the excellent conductor Peter Phillips, who still leads. Generations of singers have performed with the group, but the standards of the current youthful lineup are, as always, top-notch. As in other early-music vocal ensembles, the sopranos and altos sing with a pure, highly focused, and almost vibrato-less sound. Here, the 10-member group brought a luminous blend to works by late Renaissance composers such as Orlande de Lassus and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
The Tallis Scholars almost always sing a cappella, but at the festival they were joined by the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble for a couple of rousing numbers at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall.
It was a treat to see the return of the expressive instrumental ensemble ACRONYM on June 9 at Jordan Hall for a spirited program of works by Bertali, Schmelzer, Valentini, Biber, and others. Of particular interest was Biber’s colorfully descriptive The Battle of Vienna. Observing Baroque practice, the violinists and violists of this young group stand while playing. They seem justifiably enraptured by their own performance, swaying to the music, and their passion is contagious. They’re a delight to see and hear. The 12-member group performed with consummate skill, with violinists and founding members Edwin Huizinga (looking like a Robert Plant of the violin) and Adriane Post dashing off musical pyrotechnics with aplomb.
Early-music instrumental ensembles aim for clarity and transparency in their sound, and those virtues were pleasingly conspicuous in several concerts. The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra featured water-inspired music of Handel and Telemann in a June 12 concert. Robert Mealy directed a vigorous and polished performance. The polished sound of the strings contrasted nicely with the robust natural horns and trumpets, which produce a more rough-hewn sound than their modern descendants. The concert also featured some nimble Baroque-style dance from Marie-Nathalie Lacoursiere and Hubert Hazelbrouqc.
The opulent-voiced soprano Sherezade Panthaki performed demanding works by Handel and Telemann in a June 10 concert with the fine Austrian group Ensemble Castor. Later that day, the talented musicians of the Boston Camerata spotlighted some of the earliest music of the festival — medieval chants and other pieces by theologian and poet Pierre Abelard and several anonymous composers.
The festival is noted for its diligent musical archaeology, often unearthing forgotten or rarely performed gems of the past. Such was the case with the centerpiece opera, Octavia, composed in 1705 by Reinhard Keiser, a German Baroque composer who was once favorably compared to Handel, but whose works have been neglected until recent decades.
The opera, performed at the lovely Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre for the first time in North America, was Shakespearean in its mix of the comic and tragic. The production itself was splendid — visually sumptuous and musically luminous, spotlighting superb singing.
The centerpiece opera is always a historically informed production. The festival’s veteran team — musical directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, and violinist Mealy — ensured the highest performance standards.
The opera places historical figures in a fictional narrative of love triangles. The main story finds the young Emperor Nero besotted with Ormoena, Queen of Armenia. Driven by his desire to marry Ormoena, Nero commands his wife, the Empress Octavia, to end her life. Nero later believes himself haunted by the ghost of Octavia — actually, she didn’t die — and repents of his wickedness.
Douglas Williams, singing with a warm bass, was a commanding Nero despite the character’s lovesick inanities. Emőke Baráth was a regal Octavia, negotiating the part’s dazzling pyrotechnics with vocal virtuosity. Amanda Forsythe, a familiar festrival presence, sang Keiser’s ornamental music with precision and passion. Aaron Sheehan brought his burnished lyric tenor to the role of Piso, who rebels against Nero. Other outstanding singers in the cast include Michael Skarke, Hannah De Priest, Sherezade Panthaki, Christian Immler, Jason McStoots and Marc Molomot. The chorus delivered the ensemble numbers with robust appeal.
Gilbert Blin’s stage direction emphasized graceful acting but also included some pleasing comic turns. Dance often played a big role in Baroque opera, and the elegant choreography in this production was by Marie-Nathalie Lacoursiere and Hubert Hazebroucq. Alexander McCarger’s set design was a Baroque painting writ large. Anna Kjellsdotter created the colorful, captivating costumes.
A particular joy at the festival are the late-night concerts at Jordan Hall that begin at 10:30 and last only about an hour. An engaging June 9 concert spotlighted the tenor Aaron Sheehan and lute/theorbo player Paul O’Dette in songs of love, inspiration, and drinking by prolific English composers John Dowland and Henry Lawes. Sheehan and O’Dette would occasionally pause in the program to toast each other with a glass of wine.
Another late-night concert featured the silvery voiced soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah in a charming performance with the Pacific MusicWorks ensemble. Reutter-Harrah sang English folk ballads (including “The Willow Song” and “The Wind and the Rain”) and other pieces in an emotive, caressing soprano.
The festival offered far more than the performances mentioned above. And like many summer music festivals — Spoleto Festival USA comes to mind — Boston has given birth to a fringe festival that offers several events in connection with the main performances. There are accomplished student performances as well, suggesting that early music has a bright future. The festival also hosts an exhibition featuring its own award-winning CDs and sellers of harpsichords, violins, flutes, recorders, and other period instruments.
Being in Boston, a global center of higher education, the festival takes its educational role seriously. The offering includes seminars, discussions, and a hefty 400-page program book (costing a mere $20), full of interesting notes and a wealth of background information.
The festival succeeds with a small seasonal staff and an army of volunteers. In addition to this biennial event, the organization also offers a season of year-round performances.
