October 8, 2024
Chicago Symphony Chamber Music Series
Orchestra Hall, Chicago Symphony Center
Chicago, IL – USA
Jordi Savall, director and treble viol; La Capella Real de Catalunya (Anna Piroli, soprano; Maria Chiara Gallo, mezzo-soprano; Ferran Mitjans, tenor, Mauro Borgioni, baritone; Salvo Vitale, bass); Hespèrion XXI (Jordi Savall, treble viol; Philippe Pierlot, alto viol; Juan Manuel Quintana, bass viol; Xavier Puertas, violone; Enrike Solinis, theorbo and guitar).
Samuel SCHEIDT: Paduan and Courant Dolorosa
Claudio MONTEVERDI: Lamento d’Arianna (Madrigal, Book 6, No. 1, SV 107)
Anthony HOLBORNE: Pavan and Galliard “The Tears of the Muses”
Claudio MONTEVERDI: Lagrime diamante al sepolcro dell’amata (Madrigal, Book 6, No. 5, SV 111)
John DOWLAND: Pavan Lachrimae gementes and The Earle of Essex Galliard
Claudio MONTEVERDI: Qui rise, O Tirsi (Madrigal Concertato, Book 6, No. 7, SV 113)
John DOWLAND: (unnamed piece)
Jacomo de GORZANTIS: Gallarda “La Barcha d’amore”
Claudio MONTEVERDI: Tirsi e Clori (Ballo Concertato con voce e instrumenti, Book 7, No. 29, SV 145)
Michael Moore | 18 OCT 2024
I have had the great pleasure of hearing Jordi Savall with various of his ensembles, including full Monteverdi opera performances in France and Spain starting in 1972. Despite just hearing the Haymarket Opera in Chicago days before, I hopped back on a plane to catch this Chicago leg of Jordi’s North American tour.
At the age of 83, Jordi Savall is showing no signs of slowing down, besides the use of his cane. Next month, he continues his busy schedule by conducting repertoire that includes Gluck, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, and Bruckner — five programs and nine concerts in November alone!
As opener of this season’s Chicago Symphony Chamber Music Series, Jordi Savall’s La Capella Real de Catalunya and Hespèrion XXI presented a carefully curated program entitled “Monteverdi: A Baroque Revolution,” which is accurate, given the seismic transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque Monteverdi and his friends formented!
The madrigal quintet, La Capella Real de Catalunya, was created in 1987 by Jordi and his bride, the great soprano Montserrat Figueras (d. 2011), modeled after such vocal ensembles common in the royal chapels of Iberia from the Middle Ages through and beyond the Golden Age. The quintet is famous for its careful attention to authentic styles and faithful rendering of the poetic texts. I will say that their ensemble, pitch, individual, and blended sounds were some of the finest I’ve ever heard live, and no one in the nearly full Orchestra Hall on a Tuesday evening was disappointed.
Hespèrion XXI is the 21st-century name given to Hespèrion XX, the flexible, primarily instrumental ensemble formed in 1974, also by Savall and Figueras. The name comes from the ancient Greek term for Hesperia, the peninsulas of Iberia and Italy. The consort considers itself a tool with which to experiment and teach the music of the Middle Ages through the Baroque, discovering and performing world music of the period. This consort of flexible instrumentation has made over 60 CDs (of Savall’s 200+) and performs globally.
Last week’s Orchestra Hall concert utilized a consort of treble (Savall himself), alto, tenor and bass viols, violone, and theorbo doubling guitar. They began each of the four groupings with instrumental sets of Paduans, Courants, Pavans, Galliards, and other instrumental works by Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) Anthony Holborne (1545-1602) John Dowland (1563-1626), and Jacomo de Gorzanis (1525-74), all contemporaries of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), who wrote all of the incredible vocal works that followed each instrumental set.
The first two groupings consisted of Scheidt’s Paduan and Courant Dolorosa, and Monteverdi’s madrigal version of the epic Lamento d’Arianna, (book 6, no. 1, SV 107), followed by a second instrumental set of Pavan and Galliard by Holborne “The Tears of the Muses,” followed by another Monteverdi madrigal Lagrime diamante al sepolcro dell’amata (book 6, no. 5, SV 111), with more heart-wrenching and rather morbid suffering. The audience was extremely well-behaved, holding applause until after each grouping.
Following the stated subtitle of “The Tears and the Fire of the Muses,” the second half of this 90-minute concert continued with lighter, love-filled fire, starting with John Dowland’s beautiful Pavan Lachrimae gementes and the Earle of Essex Galliard, followed by the entire company performing Monteverdi’s madrigal concertato, “Qui rise, O Tirsi”, (book 6, no. 7, SV 113), lovely and optimistic, with the ritornello (translated) “O happy memory, O joyous day!”
The finale of the evening began as before with another work by John Dowland, followed by a rarely-heard Gallarda “La Barcha d’amore” by the blind lutenist, Jacomo de Gorzanis, featuring Enrike Solinis, followed by another collaborative Ballo Concertato con voce e instrumenti “Tirsi e Clori,” (from book 7, no. 29, SV 145) a dialogue between the two lovers with the rest of the singers joining in with “Let us dance, let us whirl, let us run, let us jump; the dance teaches us what is best!” This was the highlight of the evening, representing Monteverdi at his operatic best. The protagonists showed their dramatic flair as they demonstrated the joyous and fiery dance of Striggio’s text and Monteverdi’s music.
Amid all the bravos and bravas that followed, the combined ensemble delighted the audience with a Baroque encore from Perú that they will perform there as part of their tour of this hemisphere. They all had fun improvising freely, and Jordi showed off his undiminished versatility on the Treble viol before taking up his cane and leading everyone off the stage. It was an evening well worth the airfare! ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Jordi Savall: jordisavall.com
- La Capella Real de Catalunya: alia-vox.com/en/artists/la-capella-reial-de-catalunya
- Hespèrion XXI: alia-vox.com/en/artists/hesperion-xxi
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra: cso.org
Read more by Michael Moore.
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