A DELIGHTFUL EXPLORATION OF MUSIC OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV FROM THE SALISH SEA EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Jeffrey Cohan (baroque flute), Susie Napper (viola da gamba), Stephen Stubbs (baroque guitar): Music of Couperin, Morel, Corbetta, De Visée, Sainte-Colombe, Marais, de la Barre and J. S. Bach, St Mary’s Kerrisdale, February 19, 2024.
We often have to travel considerable distances to go to concerts, so it is nice when one alights on your doorstep, so to speak – in a church very close-by in your neighbourhood. This concert was part of the Salish Sea Early Music Festival, a project that finds its original roots in Seattle and Chicago as far back as the 1980s but has been championed in recent years by American flutist Jeffrey Cohan. It now plays a series of concerts in a number of Pacific Northwest cities, and Cohan invites different early music specialists each time. It gave its first concert in Vancouver in 2015.
The programme on this occasion was adventurous, showcasing some little known, but inspired, music from the court of Louis XIV. The invited participants were of the highest order: lutenist/conductor Stephen Stubbs, the long-time director of the Boston Early Music Festival and founder of Seattle’s Pacific Music Works; and Susie Napper, viola da gamba, founder and director emeritus of the Montreal Baroque Festival and currently a member of Ensemble Caprice. The three musicians now combine under the name Simphonie Nouvelle.
This was a lovely ensemble performing in an almost perfect sonic acoustic, Cohan’s pure and cleanly-etched baroque flute line meshing with the multi-shaded virtuosity of Napper’s viola da gamba, with Stubbs’ subtle and knowing continuo set in the middle. The results were exceptional. A notable feature of the instrumentation was Stubbs’ use of a baroque guitar for the continuo, which was in fact introduced and made popular by one of the composers featured, Francisco Corbetta (1615-1681).
Francois Couperin’s more familiar and extended Second Concert from Concerts Royaux started things off. At what might be termed comfortable tempos, the playing had remarkable ease and flow, with a sense of natural inevitability. Cohan’s flute was both tender and searching, Napper brought the sinew and angularity, while Stubbs added an absolute rhythmic certainty. The overall result was full of charm. There was not only continuity and balance, but also a nice feeling of space. Less well known is the Chaconne en trio by Jacques Morel (c.1680-c.1740) that followed, also a piece of considerable charm which displayed Cohan’s agility and Napper’s virtuosity, and also gave plenty of room for the guitar’s contribution.
Two of Corbetta’s pieces were featured. His rhythmically-beguiling Sinfonia brought Stubbs and Napper fruitfully together, while his Chaconne for solo guitar was a showcase for Stubbs’ precise and deeply considered playing. Robert De Visée (c.1655–1732) also was enamoured of the guitar, and his Allemande and Courante from Livre de Guitarre were performed with a fetching liquidity of line.
Possibly the deepest feelings came in ‘Les Pleurs’ (The Tears) for solo viola da gamba by Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c.1640-c.1700), where Napper found the most subtle legato shadings and a remarkable expressive power. Marin Marais’ (1656-1728) lovely Muzette, with offstage flute, also amplified dirge-like feelings.
Slightly later composers closed the concert: Michel de la Barre (c.1675-1745) and, yes, ‘the elephant in the room’, as Susie Napper described it – Johann Sebastian Bach. The former’s Chaconne was quite a delectable virtuoso piece, rhythmically-decisive and featuring a variety of different instrumental techniques, including double/flutter tonguing on the flute. It was beautifully executed. The Bach Flute Sonata in E minor was just as fine. It found playing of real character in the opening Adagio, strong rapport and rhythmic bite from Cohan and Napper in the following Allegro, tangible feeling from Cohan’s flute over pizzicato in the Andante, and energy and delight in the canonic and strongly rhythmic finale. The encore was a compelling little piece by Élisabeth de La Guerre (1665-1729).
All of this was just delightful. This was not just an inspiring local concert; it would have been an inspiring concert anywhere.
For more information on the season series, go to this link.
Four more concerts are planned from April 2024. St. Mary’s Kerrisdale has absolutely excellent acoustics.
© Geoffrey Newman 2024