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Catacoustic Consort Brings Rare Program to Cincinnati

Mary Ellyn Hutton
Posted: Sep 22, 2014 - 4:31:17 PM in reviews_2014

Catacoustic_Buxtehude_concert_image.jpg
Buxtehude playing a viol, from "A Musical Party" by Johannes Voorhout (1674)
In addition to its many other musical assets, Cincinnati is home to one of the finest early music series anywhere.

Catacoustic Consort, founded by Annalisa Pappano, presents vocal and instrumental music spanning the Renaissance to Baroque periods, performed on authentic instruments by some of the top early music practitioners in the country.

Catacoustic opened its 2014-15 season on a sublime note Sunday afternoon at historic Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills. Centerpiece was the rarely heard “Membra Jesu Nostri” (“The Limbs of Our Jesus”) by Danish-German composer Dieterich Buxtehude (famously known as the composer Johann Sebastian Bach walked 200 miles to hear).

This 1680 masterpiece is a set of seven cantatas, each addressed to a part of Christ’s crucified body: “Ad pedes” (“To the feet”), “Ad genua” (“To the knees”), etc. The texts are from the Bible and the poem "Salve mundi salutare" ("Hail, Savior of the world") by medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain.

The work is set for five singers, a chorus, which, as here, may comprise the same singers, two violins -- here two pardessus de viole, the highest-pitched member of the viol family -- and basso continuo. As Catacoustic board president Alice Nutter explained in remarks before the concert, the continuo, i.e. the musicians who render the bass line and the harmony, may vary. The continuo here consisted of archlute, baroque organ and bass viola da gamba. Playing the pardessus de viole were Pappano and Joanna Blendulf, with Daniel Swenburg on archlute, Michael Unger on organ and David Ellis on bass viola da gamba.

In short, it was a feast for early music lovers.

The concert opened with Buxtehude’s “Klag-Lied” (“Song of Lamentation”), written in 1674 on the death of his father. Soloist was countertenor/male soprano Michael Maniaci, who offered a tender and heartfelt rendition of the text (Buxtehude’s own). The peerless Maniaci negotiated its wide range with ease and great beauty of tone, accompanied by pardessus and continuo.

The seven cantatas of “Membra Jesu Nostri” are not strictly formulaic, though they contain the same elements, i.e. a sonata (instrumental introduction), plus arias and choruses. The opening cantata, “Ad pedes,” for example, contains three arias, two for soprano and one for bass, given beauteous expression Sunday by sopranos Youngmi Kim and Melissa Harvey and bass-baritone Aaron Cain. The third cantata, “Ad manus” (“To the hands”), includes an aria each for alto, tenor and bass, likewise beautifully expressed by Maniaci, tenor Brian Thorsett and Cain.

The fifth cantata, “Ad pectus” (To the breast”), for alto, tenor and bass only, was one of the most touching, with separate arias for each voice. “Si tamen gustatis” – “Thus, shall ye taste” (“how good the Lord is”) – was repeated individually for emphasis in the choruses framing the work.

A consort (ensemble) of violas da gamba is featured in the sixth cantata, “Ad cor” (“To the heart”), where gambists Stephen Goist and Cole Guillien joined the ensemble for a full rich sound. Vocalist Cain gave keen expression to his aria “Viva cordis voce clamo” (“I shout in the living voice of my heart”).

All five vocalists returned for the seventh and final cantata, “Ad faciem” (“To the face”). Maniaci’s plangent aria “Dum me mori est necesse” (“Since I must die”) set up the final chorus, “Cum me jubes emigrare” (“When thou biddest me leave this world”), which was followed by a joyous “Amen.”

Catacoustic Consort returns for its second concert of the season Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills. The program, entitled “Eyes Only for Love,” will feature 17th-century Italian music for tenor, harp, theorbo, lirone, and gamba. Tenor soloist will be Sumner Thompson.

Three more concerts round out the Catacoustic Consort season:

“My Heart is Prepared.” Feb. 28. 7:30 p.m. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Terrace Park. Sacred music of the French high Baroque by Jean-Joseph de Mondonville for soprano, harpsichord and pardessus. Shannon Mercer, soprano.

“Great Musick’s Mysteries.” March 27. 3 p.m. Trinity Episcopal Church, Covington, Kentucky. Music by Matthew Locke and William Lawes for Baroque harp, viols, and theorbo.

“The Turn of the Year.” April 26. 3 p.m. Church of the Redeemer, Hyde Park. Contemporary music for viola da gamba and voice. Composers include Elvis Costello and Tan Dun. Michael Maniaci, countertenor.

Information and tickets at http://catacoustic.com/catacoustic-season/