"Polyphony", a collaborative concert of Baroque music performed in Jerusalem by the Mezzo Ensemble, Ensemble Naya and the Jerusalem Vocal Consort. Vocal soloists: Yeela Avital, Yaniv d'Or

 

Claudio Monteverdi

Salamone Rossi manuscript

The Mezzo Ensemble (artistic director: Doret Florentin) hosted Ensemble Naya and the Jerusalem Vocal Consort in “Polyphony”, an evening of mostly Italian Baroque works at the Eastern Music Center, Jerusalem, on June 30th, 2024. Vocal soloists were Yeela Avital (soprano) and Yaniv d'Or (countertenor). Playing on Baroque period instruments were Doret Florentin (recorders), Noam Schuss (violin), Orit Messer-Jacobi ('cello), Gideon Brettler (guitar) and Aviad Stier (harpsichord). 

Works of Claudio Monteverdi constituted a major part of the evening's program, meaning that emotions would be running high as, within the course of just a few bars, Monteverdi's madrigals would take  performers and listeners through a whole realm of human experience. Yeela Avital and Yaniv d'Or, the vocal ensemble and instrumentalists opened with “Ardo, avvampo mi struggo” (“I burn, I burn, in flames I melt.”) in which love is, quite literally, a disaster as the singers urge to “tell everyone of the danger!” In “Et e pur dunque vero” (Is it then true), to an ostinato bass and affected by Monteverdi's use of dissonance, Avital, haughty yet vulnerable, was convincing in the role of the slighted, angry lover. Then, introduced by two solo singers, we heard a fresh, well-integrated performance of "Vago augelletto che cantando vai" (Pretty little bird, you that are singing), distinctive for its dance rhythms and changing moods and tempi. In "Si dolce è’l tormento" (So sweet is the torment), its wistful text telling of a broken heart leading it to the "victim" being suspended between hope and pain, we are reminded of how Monteverdi renders texts with a radically modern sense of human subjectivity. The song provided a fine template for d'Or's expressive facility, with hearty sonic interest added by the guitar (Brettler) and an embellished version of the melody played by Florentin. But that wasn't all: on stage, engaging in movement and some vocalization, three women dancers (choreography: Michal Grover-Friedlander) conveyed the text's theme of heartbreak and unreciprocated love. In "Lamento della Ninfa" (the Nymph’s Lament), written over the ground-bass pattern moving through a descending minor tetrachord ("lament emblem"), we hear the nymph (Avital) lamenting her fate in the middle section and the choir of pastori (male choir members) introducing, commenting and concluding the nymph's story in splendidly blended singing (note again the daring Monteverdi dissonances!) Prefacing this piece, the composer had specified that the soloist was "to sing according to her emotions" (al tempo dell’affetto del animo), while the pastori were expected to sing at a regular beat (al tempo della mano). Avital's interpretation gave poignant expression to the nymph's depth of despair.

When Claudio Monteverdi arrived at the court of Mantua, he was initially engaged there as a viol player (a fact often overlooked), where instrumental music played an important role. The latter was largely dominated by the violinist Salomone Rossi. Playing the upper parts of Rossi's "Sonata dialogo detta la Viena", Noam Schuss and Doret Florentin highlighted the piece's conversational nature, with the two parts taking turns, playing independently rather than sharing themes. Anchored onto a mostly harmonic bass line, the unique style of this trio sonata (Rossi was a pioneer of the trio sonata form) invited Schuss and Florentin to attest to the work's improvised nature, as each retained her individual style of performance. Rossi’s great claim to Jewish musical fame came with his publication in 1623 of "Ha-Shirim Asher li-Shelomo", a collection of 33 Psalms and other liturgical poems (with Hebrew texts) set for combinations of from three to eight voices and intended for use on festive synagogue occasions. There is little information as to the manner in which any of  Ha-Shirim were performed. In "Barekhu'' (Bless the Lord), the solo was sung by d'Or (the precentor), with sections sung by the vocal ensemble (congregation) and some instrumental solos, the harpsichord solo (Aviad Stier) concluding the piece. Rossi's "Kaddish" (a doxology sanctifying God’s name) was sung a-cappella. The singers gave lively expression to this strophic song written in the balletto style, colouring its joyous dancelike manner with dynamic-, textural and tempo variety and the use of a tambourine. 

 

 

 It is always a joy to revisit Tarquinio Merula's exuberant Ciaccona from the "Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera" (1637), its short bass ostinato pattern (here, introduced by Orit Messer-Jacobj) providing the treble instruments with the structure for variation and melodic invention.  Florentin and Schuss handled these roles with gusto and mastery. The final Italian work on the program was Antonio Lotti's 8-voiced "Crucifixus". Issued in by the lowest basses, the choral weave builds up with suspensions, the texture soaring into piercing intensity by the time the highest voice enters. The singers called attention to the motet's variety, incessant invention and outrageous, luscious harmonies, the work representative of music written for the Basilica of San Marco in Venice at a time when expense and extravagance were not spared!

 

The concert concluded with works of J.S.Bach, beginning with "Leget Euch dem Heiland" (Lay yourselves beneath the Saviour) from “Himmelskönig sei willkommen” BWV 182, the aria given a moving and profound rendering by d'Or, with Florentin's playing of the recorder obbligato elegantly shaped. Concluding the program was "Ich lasse dich nicht" (I will not let you go), Bach’s earliest known motet, written not later than 1712, and possibly his most unusual (leading scholars to be suspicious about it being from the pen of J.S. Bach). Both introspective and playful, the two-movement motet for double choir made for a rewarding and moving conclusion to the program. And there was one more offering - J.S.Bach's funeral chorale "Dir, Jesu, Gottes Sohn, sei Preis" (To you Jesus, God's son, be praise) performed by all singers and instrumentalists.

It was an evening of fine collaboration and informed, high-quality performance.