Yesterday I attended the inaptly named
Noontime Concerts at Old St. Mary's & heard mezzo
Danielle Reutter-Harrah, tenor
Brian Thorsett, violinist
Natalie Carducci & lutenist
Adam Cockerham in a pithy 45-minute
program of 17th century music. It opened with Ms. Reutter-Harrah presenting 3 coy love songs in English by Henry Lawes. Her singing is controlled & steady, & she makes every note sound distinct. Tenor Brian Thorsett then sang 3 lovely Monteverdi songs. His voice is high, floating & focused, & his singing expressive & urgent. I especially enjoyed the plaintive "Et e pur dunque vero," in which the singer alternates with a violin. Mr. Thorsett &
Natalie Carducci, playing a baroque violin, made it seem like a dialogue between the 2 of them. Ms. Carducci then peformed a melancholy Prelude by Kapsberger & a virtuosic sonata by Corelli. Her playing had a nice freedom & was a bit jaunty. The program ended with Ms. Reutter-Harrah giving a firm performance of "Bess of Bedlam," a disconcerting mad scene by Purcell. Mr. Cockerham accompanied all the pieces, sounding calm & secure. He played a very tall theorbo with 2 sets of strings. The Noontime Concerts audience listened quietly & politely. Ms. Carducci had to compete with a jackhammer on the street during the Corelli sonata.
§ Noontime Concerts
Brian Thorsett, tenor and Jarring Sounds: Adam Cockerham, theorbo & lute
Danielle Reutter-Harrah, mezzo-soprano with Natalie Carducci, violin
Henry Lawes (1595 - 1662)
Loves Bachinall
On inconstancy
To his Chloris at parting
Love admits no delay
Jarring Sounds
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643)
Ecco di dolci raggi il sol
Et e pur dunque vero
Quel sguardo sdegnesetto
Brian Thorsett, tenor
Adam Cockerham, theorbo
Natalie Carducci, violin
Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger (c. 1580 - 1651)
Prelude No. 13 in C major
Natalie Carducci, violin
Adam Cockerham, theorbo
Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1715)
Violin Sonata III in C major, Op. 5, No. 3
Natalie Carducci, violin
Adam Cockerham, theorbo
Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)
From Silent Shades, z730, “Bess of Bedlam”
Jarring Sounds
February 18, 2014, 12:30pm
Old St. Mary's Cathedral
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