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Concert Reviews |
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 Index of Reviews |
Mark Tucker/Paula Chateauneuf, 20th November 2002, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham Drama and emotion in great measure were on display at this Barber Celebrity Concert, entitled ‘Songs of Passion’. Inspired by the life and work of Anthony van Dyck, the concert was staged in connection with the Institute’s current exhibition of the artist’s paintings. Thematically, we were presented with a programme of songs exploring the ‘Language of Spiritual and Erotic Ecstasy’. With music by key composers in the development of the new seconda prattica of vocal music in the early 17th Century – a move away from Renaissance counterpoint - this was bound to be an exciting selection. Tenor Mark Tucker, renowned for his interpretations of baroque and classical music, was accompanied by leading early music performer Paula Chateauneuf on the lute and its larger, more resonant cousin, the chitarrone. The recital began with songs by Robert Johnson and John Dowland. There were swift changes of mood, from ‘doleful’ Dowland’s solemn ‘Tell me, true Love’ which was delivered tenderly and sensitively accompanied, to Johnson’s jovial ‘Have you seen the bright lily grow?’. Tucker addressed the audience directly with each line of poetry. This selection concluded with a typically expressive Dowland ayre ‘In darkness let me dwell’, begun distantly but sung with ever increasing passion – rich, chromatic harmonies highlighting the gloomy imagery of the text; the famous English melancholy of the age poignantly conveyed. An interlude provided by Chateuneuf explored the subtle yet versatile timbres of the lute. In intricately contrapuntal solo pieces by Johnson, Gregorio Huwett and Dowland, one could only be impressed by her subtle and expressive playing. Tucker returned to the stage for the evening’s only programmed item by the great innovator of Italian early Baroque music, Claudio Monteverdi. ‘Iam moriar, mi fili’ was appropriately more operatic in performance than the English offerings; the audience excited by huge dynamic contrasts and dramatic silences. Most fascinating here is the way in which the music, originally a lament from Monteverdi’s opera L’Arianna, was adapted to fit a religious text expressing the grief of the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion. It became clear at this point why secular and sacred songs of this era can be juxtaposed so successfully. A shame, though, that we were not to hear more music by such a significant composer in this genre. Another enjoyable instrumental interlude preceded a cheerful and lyrical song by Girolamo Frescobaldi ‘Se l’aura spira’, in which evocative pastoral images provide a backdrop for the expression of unrequited love. An air of slight menace pervaded Constantyn Huygens’ ‘Morte dolce’ which was fastidiously enunciated by Tucker, and the first half concluded with ‘Entro nave dorata’ by Frescobaldi – an energetically rhythmic dance-like song. A second half altogether more warm in tone began with works by Alessandro Grandi and Domenico Mazzochi. Grandi’s ‘O quam tu pulchra es’ was rich and sensuous, complimenting Mazzochi’s poignant and impassioned ‘Dunque ove tu, Signor’ and the grief filled ‘Lagrime amare’ with its sighing ‘ohimés’ and virtuosic scalic passages. Mazzochi’s music was considered to be amongst the most experimental and chromatic of its time; in this latter work, the harmony becomes more tortuous as the declamatory lamentations of Mary Magdalene intensify. The beautiful sound of the chitarrone filled the auditorium with two solo items. The first, ‘Toccata seconda’ by Kapsberger was elegantly performed, though the ground bass variations ‘Ritornello primo’ by Bellerofonte Castaldi came across as a duel between performer and instrument. The chitarrone is, evidently, a temperamental beast. The next selection of songs was lighter in spirit, and one could sense the metaphorical tongue in cheek throughout – Tucker finished each (unnecessarily) with a knowing nod of the head. Nicholas Lanier’s ‘Fire! Fire! Lo, here I burn’ was tackled appropriately, the extravagant imagery provoking a chuckle or two from the audience. There was a change of mood with the final song here by Lanier, ‘Mark how the blushful morn’, featuring a beautiful text. Another short chittarone solo led straight into the final work, Giacomo Carissimi’s epic ‘Suonerà l’ultima tromba’. This was begun offstage, in another needlessly operatic gesture. The song itself could strike the listener as unusual: its major key seemingly at odds with the morbidity of the text. It was, however, powerfully conveyed. A beautiful encore from Monteverdi’s Vespers perhaps underlined the evening’s theme, the use of music to express both spiritual and erotic love. Throughout, Tucker was in full operatic mode; enunciating his consonants with vigour, though not allowing his vibrato to obscure the words. His approach brought an intensity to the performance that some may have considered too much for the more intimate songs. Chateauneuf provided a fitting accompaniment, underscoring the passion in a measured and delicate way; counterpoint in more ways than one. Tim Foxon |
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