"Shattered Dreams" - the Nari Baroque Ensemble performs European and English vocal music at the Dormition Abbey, Jerusalem

 

 

Yotam Haran, Guy Pardo, Liron Givoni, Naomi Hassoun (Noam Livay)

"Shattered Dreams" was the somewhat enigmatic (indeed, thought-provoking) title given to the Nari Baroque Ensemble's recent concert of Baroque (mostly) secular music performed in the Divan hall of the Abbey of the Dormition, Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, on June 22nd 2026. Fr. Simeon Gloger welcomed the audience to the event. Members of the award-winning Nari Ensemble are Liron Givoni (soprano), Naomi Hassoun (recorders), Yotam Haran (Baroque 'cello) and Guy Pardo (harpsichord).

 

Each of Nari's concerts tells a story. Falling into three sections, this program presented musical works interspersed with original texts, the latter recited by Liron Givoni and Yotam Haran in fine, articulate English and with much emotion. The program comprised mostly da capo arias, with Pardo and Haran forming the continuo section and Hassoun taking on all the solo obbligato roles on the various recorders, from sopranino to voice flute. The concert offered a representative selection of Baroque arias and art songs by German, French, Italian and English composers.

 

Of course, the subject was love and its many aspects. There were a number of idolised, blissful love songs, always cast against idyllic, pantheistic nature settings, as in George Frideric Handel's Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden (Flaming rose, adornment of the earth), in Handel's beautifully crafted Meine Seele hört im Sehen (My soul hears through seeing) and in the ensemble's wonderfully embellished reading of the composer's Endless pleasure, endless love. There was Alessandro Scarlatti's Quel venta che d'intorno (That wind which constantly plays around you), Pietro Torri's Son rosignolo (I am a nightingale), the latter abundant in bird calls, both vocal- and on the sopranino recorder, and The Midsummer Wish by Henry Carey, with its references to the lush natural English surroundings of the Thames.

 

However, so very many of the beautiful, bittersweet love songs from the 17th century are infused with longing, doubt, disappointment, refusal, jealousy, and farewell. Effectively performed, Handel's Brillava protetto (His radiance endured) speaks of grief endured and lingering sorrow. We experience the "enchanting pain" referred to in John Christopher Pepusch's Who, from his Heart securing and the efforts to "try to regain or quit the Cruel fair" in Pepusch's Why shou'd I love, the longing and word painting applied in the "beautiful, silvery tears" of Alessandro Scarlatti's Onde chiare che spargete (Clear waves, which scatter) and the predominance of happiness (yet hinting at "rebellious hearts" and "jealous fears") in Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's Règne, Amour (Reign, Love), its pastoral ambience fashioned by the velvety sounds of the voice flute, the work's French style suggestive of dance.  

 

Georg Philipp Telemann, who left one of the most extensive and celebrated legacies of recorder music of the Baroque era was, himself, a virtuoso recorder player. The program featured three Telemann pieces. In Nein, du wirst mich nicht versäumen (No, you will not forsake me) from Wer sehnet sich nach Kerker, Stein und Ketten (Who longs for dungeons, stones, and chains) a sacred cantata, the text celebrates the believer's spiritual and moral freedom from earthly trials. Here, Hassoun's virtuosic playing and Givoni's zesty reading of the vocal line were delightfully interwoven. From Telemann's collection of Easter and Pentecost cantatas, in the vehement Du bist verflucht! (You are accursed!), a da capo aria with recitative, the artists give masterful balance to the work's melodious element and counterpoint via their vocal- and instrumental finesse, the continuo instruments adding textural weight to the piece's all-consuming subject matter. Of an interesting genre, created in response to the growing popularity of works with moralizing texts, we heard a fiery, intense performance of Du bist ein tolles Ungeheuer (You are a wild monster) from the composer's Six Moral Cantatas (c.1739). For the program's only instrumental piece, Haran, Pardo and Hassoun (on soprano recorder) gave an evocative reading of L'hiver (Winter) from Telemann's Der getreue Musikmeister (The Faithful Music Master). 

 

Liron Givoni's enunciation of the relevant languages was excellent. Altogether, the Nari Baroque Ensemble presented an evening of informed, polished and moving performance.