Review published in Somerset County Gazette June 8th 2007

>> 

Great Venetians in Taunton

There was an expectant silence in St. Mary’s on Saturday as the audience awaited the dramatic intrada to Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers which opened Taunton Camerata’s concert.  The fanfares from the band of cornetts, sackbuts, violins, theorbo and organ immediately showed that we were in the presence of extremely skilled musicians.  The choir under the direction of Paul Ellis continuously demonstrated their understanding and competence with the early baroque Venetian programme, making a concert of great variety and agility.

The main work which threaded throughout the evening was Monteverdi’s “Messa a quattro voci”; here the choir was on its own and managed extremely accurate singing, despite the complexities of maintaining such difficult modal variation. And we enjoyed yet more Monteverdi (sonata a 8 sopra Sancta Maria) with the unique combination of the cantus firmus sung by solo soprano with eight instrumentalists from his Marian 1610 Vespers. The vocal soloists drawn from the choir deserve special mention for their dexterity and clarity, blending well in the various solos, duets and particularly the quartet in Salve Regina by Monteverdi’s pupil Cavalli.

It was however when the band got together with the full, often double, choir that the magnificence of the Venetian music was at its most stunning. From the enjoyment of the splendid early 16th century polychoral pieces by Croce and Gabrieli, we were given a tour right through to the middle of the 17th century with two pieces by Rigatti (Dixit Dominus and Magnificat) which made massive demands on the six soloists; the performance left an eerie feeling that that somehow battle had commenced in St. Mary’s…

The instrumental pieces by the band were splendidly diverse with a work by Marini for violins contrasted with one for their wind players by Andrea Gabrieli, and the concert ended with a truly exhilarating rendering of Gabrieli’s In Ecclesiis. It’s just a pity that a greater audience was not there to enjoy such a magnificent concert, however it was good to see so many youngsters there to hear such special music.

>>

Contributed

June 3rd 2007