As seen in Noteworthy by Michael Caruso

PAGEANTRY 2009/Chestnut Hill LOCAL by Michael Caruso for 11/26/2009

If you’re looking to give the gift of music with a local connection this Christmas season, there are three compact discs you should consider. Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, and The Crossing, the chamber choir, have joined forces to record Kile Smith’s Vespers. Songstress Katie Eagleson can be heard on her recently released CD, “On the Other Hand.” And Camerata Ama Deus’ performances of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and three other concerti are captured “live in concert” on their CD, “The Four Seasons & More…” [Emphasis Added]

Philadelphia composer Kile Smith’s Vespers was a commission by Piffaro and The Crossing. It’s a modern setting of the tradition Vespers liturgy of the German Lutheran Church for chorus and period instruments. The work was given its world premiere in 2008 by Piffaro and The Crossing under the direction of the latter’s Donald Nally in the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. The Vespers was subsequently recorded at The High Point, St. Peter’s Church, in the Great Valley, Malvern, by Chestnut Hill’s George Blood Audio.

Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Smith’s Vespers is his nearly unique ability to blend the traditional outlines of centuries of musical settings of the Vespers’ selections from the Bible plus additional devotional texts with the harmonic sounds of modern music. This is all the more impressive when you consider that he’s using Renaissance wind instruments to accompany contemporary singers. Smith had to first take into consideration the obvious technical limitations and peculiar tones of instruments that are the predecessors of those we now hear in orchestras and bands. He then had to find ways to both overcome and even exploit those limitations – and advantages, as well! – in the service of harmonies, voicings and combinations those instruments were never intended to project. Yet he managed it all without ever sounding either condescending or constricted.

His vocal writing is no less impressive in this score. He calls upon the 21 singers of The Crossing to both evoke the singing style of the Renaissance – straight tone and purely tuned – and employ the more sharply focused sounds of the early 21st century. The span of the vocal parts is sometimes broadly spaced out and sometimes tightly knotted – but always used to delineate the interior and exterior meanings of the text in combination with the instrumental accompaniment.

Therein lies one of the most amazing aspects of Smith’s Vespers – the organic integration of the instrumental and vocal parts to produce a piece in which the choir is not so much accompanied by the band but one in which both singers and players form one multi-textured and multi-colored body of sound that expresses the convictions of the text.

Both the singing and the playing are splendid. The Crossing proffers singing that’s pure in pitch, eloquent in phrasing, powerful in emotional projection, dramatic in narrative conception and exquisite in the tone painting of the text. Piffaro plays with tart timbres and technical virtuosity. And George Blood’s recording perfectly balances clarity with resonance.

KATIE EAGLESON

I first had the pleasure of hearing Katie Eagleson this past summer in Pastorius Park, and what a revelation her singing was to me! She drew her repertoire from what is nowadays often called “The Great American Songbook” of classic popular standards and her new album, “On the Other Hand,” proffers 16 intelligently chosen and exquisitely sung masterpieces of the genre. The CD opens with “Who Cares?” and closes with “Too Marvelous for Words” – the latter providing a ready answer for the former’s question. Anyone who loves the great works of lyrics & music that once defined American popular music are the very ones who should and do care about singers like Katie Eagelson, and they’re the one who will undoubtedly find this album too marvelous for words.

But permit me to offer a few regarding the CD. It includes such tiny masterpieces as “Last Night When We Were Young,” “How Deep Is the Ocean,” “I Concentrate on You,” “Guys and Dolls” and “I Wish I Knew,” and all of their renditions capture Eagleson at her loveliest and most telling. Her voice is clear and unaffected yet poetically inflected. Her diction is pointed and simple. Her phrasing is natural yet potent. And all of her instrumental accompaniments work to efficaciously interact with her singing by providing an instrumental dialogue with her voice that supports yet never overwhelms the words.

And remember. It’s the words that come first and remain foremost in these songs. Eagleson’s voice is beautiful, but it’s how she utilizes that beauty to communicate the meaning of the lyrics that makes her singing so memorable. While studiously avoiding cheap sentimentality, she nonetheless delivers the inner sentiment that motivates the personal narrative of each selection, entering into its world and delving into its emotions to return all the wiser for the sake of her listeners. Though obviously still quite young, Eagleson sings with a knowing maturity that ranks her as an artist fully deserving of a broader stage.

VIVA VIVALDI

Although no one is likely to rate Vivaldi superior to either of his baroque contemporaries Bach and Handel, his music nonetheless retains a freshness that has assured its popularity not just within the ranks of classical music lovers but out and beyond into the wider world of music listening. And of all Vivaldi’s works, none is more popular – or deservedly acclaimed, for that matter – than his set of four violin concerti, “The Four Seasons.” That’s why this album by Valentin Radu and the Camerata Ama Deus, “The Four Seasons & More…”, is such a treat. Alongside the four concerti of the title you get the Concerto for Flute in A minor, the Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, and the Concerto for Two Trumpets in C major.

Most interesting of all is the fact that the album was recorded “live in concert” on April 17, 2009, in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. As all local classical music lovers know, both the smaller Perelman Theater and the larger Verizon Hall (the “home” of the Philadelphia Orchestra) have been disappointments regarding both their appearances and their acoustics. The former is irrelevant here, but the latter isn’t. Verizon Hall simply does not provide the Philadelphia Orchestra with a hall suitable for finely heard concerts let alone state-of-the-art recordings, both of which were the premise for its design and construction. While the Perelman is no beauty nor does it offer fabulous acoustics, it’s at least attractive and its acoustics are good if not great for smaller ensembles.

And yet, the Camerta Ama Deus sounds great on this compact disc. The tart twang of period instruments is surprisingly resonant as well as bracingly clear. And Radu has elicited some fine playing from his musicians, one of the most prominent of which is Roxborough harpsichordist, Bronwyn Fix-Keller, whose sparkling and vibrant playing is heard in all seven concerti.