Rose Ensemble's 'Elizabethan Christmas' is one for the ages
By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press
Updated: 12/19/2009
OK, maybe the pop star's recent fascination with music of the Elizabethan era had little to do with the paucity of available seats at St. Paul's Nativity Catholic Church on Friday night. But there's no question that interest is up for the sounds beloved by Englanders while Shakespeare was premiering his plays. For those bitten by the motets and madrigals bug, this weekend's "Elizabethan Christmas" concerts by the Rose Ensemble should be their flagon of mead.
And a tasty brew it is. Friday night's concert was faithful to a fault when it came to re-creating the sound of a solemn Christmas service at a London church circa 1600. The members of the St. Paul-based early music choir blended their nine voices beautifully, weaving about one another in meticulously balanced fashion, soaring atop the lute, harp, violin, vielles and viola da gamba of their three accompanying musicians. Thanks in part to the ideal acoustics at Nativity, it was a lovely evocation of the era.
Lest you associate early music with a spare sound and a lack of harmonic complexity, you should know that there are many pieces on this program that feature a full, lush complement of voices. A Thomas Weelkes "Gloria" emphasized the tonal extremes to which this group can go, and the harmonies proved delicious. Similarly, a tandem of works by John Amner showed off the Rose voices to excellent effect.
But the most transfixing moments may have been the most intimate, as when soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw brought a crisp clarity to the ornamented lines of Thomas Campion's "Sing a Song of Joy" or Tim O'Brien's resonant baritone lent power to Thomas Ravenscroft's "Remember, O Thou Man."
In both cases, Phillip Rukavina's lute lines provided a light and lovely foundation beneath the singers, making the four-century journey backward as smooth as could be.
Capsule: A lovely way to celebrate Christmas as Shakespeare might have.