Gotham Early Music Scene (10/5/23)

Vox Fidelis

Byrd 400 – Mass for Five Voices

Timothy Smith ~ director and tenor; Marisa Curcio & Carey Hackett ~ sopranos; Candice Helfand-Rogers & Gloria Kierniesky ~ altos; Sam Denler ~ tenor; Les Anders & Erik Potteiger ~ basses

O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth – William Byrd (ca. 1543–1623)
Mass for Five Voices – Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus & Benedictus; Agnus Dei – William Byrd

I went into this concert thinking ‘oh, an old favorite; I’m looking forward to this.’ Whoops! I didn’t recognize it at all. I’m guessing now that I got it confuzzled with Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices. That said, I had a hard time discerning five voices. Maybe the sopranos were split? Maybe others?

Anyhow, I really enjoyed the concert. The opening introductory was pleasant, if a bit fawning (obeisance to royalty). 

The mass was fairly standard. The Gloria and Credo each had an incipit (a sung introduction of the first line of text). In this case, it was by one of the basses—I’m used to it being sung by a tenor. (Usually me.) 

The mass was pretty straightforward and progressed without applause between movements. In fact, even though this was a concert, it seemed a bit odd applauding at the end, since it was the end of what was essentially a church service. In a church. But applaud we did. My only drawback was that with only eight voices, the move toward louder dynamics seemed a bit forced. A minor drawback.

Would I hear these eight voices again? In a New York minute. Oh, the 400 reference is that this year is the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s. death. Weird, I know, but there you are.

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Found in a Flea Market (9/21/23)

Midtown Concerts sponsored by Gotham Early Music Scene

Music from the Carlo G Manuscript
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser ~ soprano; Gwendolyn Toth ~ harpsichord

Confiteor Deo – Carlo G (?–?) (see below)
Iste est qui ante Deum
Panis Angelicus

Keyboard Intabulation of Vidi Speciosam by Alessandro Grandi (1583–1630)
(in the style of Carlo G by Gwendolyn Toth)

Sub umbra illis
Quam dilecta

From the Castell’ Arquato manuscript – (anon. ca. 1550)
  Pavana – Saltarello – Ripresa ~ Ciel turchin ~ Non ti partir de me ~ Al carmoonese ~ Zorso

Benedictus Deus – Carlo G 

Apparently, this folio of music (c.1600–1620) was actually found in a flea market about fifteen years ago. By now you’re probably asking, “Who the heck is Carlo G? The great-great … grandfather of Kenny G?” I just don’t know. The program notes gave no explanation. Of course, I dove down the rabbit hole and found this – Most of the pieces in the manuscript are by Carlo G.; his name appears fully on the first page of the manuscript, but unfortunately a dark stain hides his last name. In the rest of the manuscript  only his initials are used: C. G. 

Well, that clears things up, right? Anyhow, the music was very interesting, even if there was a sameness from piece to piece. 

Overall, the concert was very enjoyable. Within the sameness of the pieces there were tempo and dynamic variations. The texts were a little hard to follow, since the vocal writing involved a lot of melisma (one vowel stretched over many notes) and poetic license (the text not always following the written lyrics). 

The harpsichord piece of dances in the middle was also a little hard to follow as well, since one dance seemed to blend into the next. [phone! really?!?] But all of the dances were very interesting, with nice variations of tempos and rhythms. 

The final Benedictus was indeed a blessing, with hope for the future included.

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It’s Not Always a Concert (10/1/23)

A first for me, I went to the Broadway Flea Market, an event that supports Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. I go way back with that organization—my Teeny Todd production at Circle in the Square (1989) produced mini-meat pie pins and magnets that we sold for BC/EFA’s benefit. I also performed in the inaugural Gypsy of the Year competition (as Mrs. Lovett/Sweeney Todd) to raise funds for BC/EFA. But enough about me.

The Flea Market (44th St. and 45th St. between 7th Ave. and 8th Ave.) had a lot to offer. Alas, not much of which appealed to me. There were signed Playbills galore. There were pins. There were wristbands. There were plastic cups. There were beer steins (I was tempted). There were signed window cards/posters. You know what? I don’t need to bring more stuff into my apartment. That said, the display of available articles was quite impressive. One that caught my eye was a signed The Cottage poster, signed by the author of the play. She was there! I did not buy it but I did tell her that I had treated myself to seeing the production on my August birthday and that I had laughed out loud. She seemed pleased. Probably not as pleased as if I had bought the poster (see stuff, above).

I did, however, spend money there. The TDF Pik-aTkt booth offered chances to win a pair of tickets to various Broadway shows. I bought five chances. I won nothing. C’est la vie (shut up, you sillies!).

Here was the best part, though. Via FB, I knew that a former cast mate (1992, touring production of Brigadoon) would be there. I didn’t know exactly where, but I found him! We shared a nice few moments before I fled the very crowded venue. Just too crowded for me.

I really hope that BC/EFA raised tons of money. They do such good work.

This is probably a one-and-done for me. But I’m glad I had the experience.

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