Armonico Consort with Rachel Podger et al, Town Hall, Birmingham, 12 February 2024. 4✩✩✩✩ Review: David Gray & Paul Gray.
Armonico Consort with Rachel Podger et al, Town Hall, Birmingham, 12 February 2024.
4✩✩✩✩ Review: David Gray & Paul Gray.
“An impressive concert of some new old music.”
Antonio Vivaldi – Violin Concerto in G major, from ‘La Stravaganza’ Op 4 No 12
Francesco Scarlatti – Dixit Dominus a 16 voci con instromenti tono VIII
Johann Sebastian Bach – Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041
Francesco Scarlatti – Mess a 16 voci con instromenti toni II
Here was a concert with not one, but two Star Attractions. The first of these was the vibrantly alive violinist Rachel Podger, who gave us sparkling readings of concerti by Vivaldi and Bach. The second, a long dead composer, Francesco Scarlatti, brother of the more famous Alessandro and Domenico. Alas, Francesco died in obscurity and his music was forgotten. In the event it has been rediscovered in recent years, hidden away in university libraries, and reworked into performing editions.
As a consequence of this the Armonico Consort was able to perform two of his major works: settings of Dixit Dominus, and of the Kyrie and Gloria mass texts.
For the concert, Armonico opted for minimal orchestral forces: two violins, one viola, one ‘cello, one double bass, trumpet and chamber organ. This combination worked well for the two concerti. During the Vivaldi it allowed Podger to deliver delicate passage work, limpid textures and exquisitely lyrical phrasing without effort while still projecting through the texture.
At times the orchestra seems a little tentative and, as a consequence, the soloist a little unsupported. There could have done with a little more presence and personality from the band, and it wouldn’t have threate to the balance.
The bands playing in the Bach concerto was significantly more vibrant. Bach being Bach, all of the parts were given something significant, interesting and virtuosic to do. As a result Podger shone out as first among equals. The ensemble was exceptionally fine. And the Andante movement was heartbreakingly beautiful.
According to the programme, notes Scarlatti composed his Dixit Dominus in 1703, a scant four years before Handel realised his treatment of the text. Despite their chronological proximity, the two works seem to belong in very different musical periods. While the young Handel has his eyes firmly fixed in the extravagance and energy of the High Baroque, Scarlatti’s composition sits firmly in the mid-baroque and draws on the early.
In his introduction to the concert, conductor, the very brilliant Christopher Monks, referenced this, drawing our attention to the influence of the Monteverdi and his use of spatial effects in music written for St Mark’s. To my mind the performance would have benefited from a more adventurous spatial treatment. In his Dixit Scarlatti’s counterpoint is very call-and-response and imitative. The justification for the use of four choirs seems to lie in the potential this provides for dramatic antiphonal effects. One could see the way that musical ideas were thrown from choir to choir. One longed to hear it too.
Although written a year earlier, Scarlatti’s partial Mass setting seems rather more forward looking. Here the justification for the 16 voices lies rather more in the quality and complexity of the counterpoint. This is a rich and remarkable work which, in its extensive use of quartet, provided all of the sixteen singers the opportunity to shine as soloists. This is a very fine body of singers, individually exceptional but also well blended as an ensemble.
The final Cum Sancto fugue was quite magnificent and drew from much of the audience a well justified standing ovation.
Armonic Consort
Christopher Monks – Director
Rachel Podger – Violin
Geoffrey Webber - Organ