I spent the morning looking for a post office and took these pictures of churches along the way. Yesterday was cold and rainy and today is a beautiful day in Boston!
After spending about six hours yesterday attending three organ recitals at First Lutheran Church of Boston, I never expected I’d be back here so soon.
But this morning after checking the schedule and the logistics of planning my walking route, I decided to attend the Berkeley Baroque Strings noon concert at First Lutheran Church.
Here is a description for the group— as written in the program:
Amateur Baroque string players gather in Berkeley, California, to rehearse under the leadership of Kati Kyme, who conducts, instructs, coaches and inspires us in the essence of Baroque style, technique and elegant musicianship.
Kati’s forty years of experience as a violinist and frequent leader with Philharmonia Baroque and the American Bach Soloists has deepened her enthusiasm and joy in all things Baroque! She is happiest when she is communicating this delight with the players of Berkeley Baroque Strings and our appreciative audiences.
Well … you wouldn’t confuse them with the BEMF Orchestra—but you can’t deny their enthusiasm and commitment. Their director, Kati Kyme, must have been a toddler when she started violin lessons, because her appearance belies her 40 years as a violinist!
William Skeen, cellist, played the Concerto in A Major by Vivaldi. He is an experienced professional who is Grammy-nominated and has many recordings to his credit.
I met my long-time friend, Edith Ho, at the Canto Armonico concert, a small vocal ensemble which performed an all-Hassler program, mostly secular love songs, with two added sacred pieces, separated by organ interludes (intonations) played by 24-year-old Nicola Procaccini.
I personally enjoyed listening to the organ pieces more than the choral works, primarily because the choir sang very loudly with little change in dynamics. I heard one person say after the concert, that is apparently informed performance practice, that Hassler needs to be sung like German drinking songs!
The organist certainly showed off his brilliant technique and virtuosity in the keyboard intonations, which sounded very Italian in style. I think I need to work up some Italian-style music since I’ll be going on tour to Italy with the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus next summer.
Edith and I, along with Frederick Gable, a prominent musicologist who has done intensive study of Hieronymus Praetorius, and Fred’s wife, Barbara, all took our first Uber ride to a Chinese restaurant where we enjoyed some delicious vegetarian entrées.
The evening concert was at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, a large barn of a building with very dry acoustics—absolutely a terrible place to hold a choral concert! It was the wrong place to have the Stile Antico early vocal ensemble sing a program called “Queen of Muses: Elizabeth I as Monarch, Patron, and Lover.” The music was mostly English Tudor: William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Adrian Willaert, Pierre Sandrin, John Taverner and John Dowland. This was their 10th anniversary of singing in America, and exactly ten years ago they sang the concert at Emmanuel Church in Boston. Next February they’ll sing their 100th American concert, at St. Paul’s in Cambridge.
The first half unfortunately was spoiled for me because a woman two rows behind me coughed throughout, and made no attempt to stifle it. How annoying! Thank goodness, she left at intermission and the second half of the program was much more enjoyable.
I absolutely loved Stile Antico when they sang in the reverberant acoustics of Gloucester Cathedral—go back and read my post, “Died and went to heaven“; tonight I was distracted by the coughing behind me. What a shame! They would have sounded so much better in Jordan Hall, but I guess it may not have been available.
