The California Bach Society opened its new season with a monumental composition: Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin), a work that in the English-speaking world (for unclear reasons) has lost its reference to Saint Mary and is known under the rather matter-of-fact title Vespers of 1610.
Likely composed as a sort of job application, the Vespers are a demonstration of Monteverdi’s abilities as a composer, in which he incorporated a large variety of musical forms and styles, both old and new for the day, combining liturgical with secular elements. There are indications that these Vespers (or evening service) helped Monteverdi get the job as Maestro di Cappella at the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, a position he held from 1613 until his death in 1643.
A monumental work is also a monumental undertaking. The Vespers require a choir that is large and skilled enough to handle the six-, eight-, or 10-voice psalm settings that Monteverdi incorporated in the piece — and the Cal Bach Society is such a choir. Also, the accompanying orchestra includes not only strings but also a number of wind instruments, such as cornetts, sackbuts (early trombones), and a curtal (early bassoon). Fortunately, the Bay Area is home to one of the country’s leading early wind ensembles, The Whole Noyse, which supplied most of the wind players for the Vespers.
Due to last-minute illness, the California Bach Society had to find replacements for cornettist Joyce Johnson Hamilton, and for solo tenor Brian Staufenbiel. The Whole Noyse supplied the missing cornettist in the form of its founding member Stephen Escher, while the missing tenor part was divided between Cal Bach member Mark Bonney and Artistic Director Paul Flight, who, when singing, sometimes communicated with the rest of his ensemble via head nods and eyebrow movements.
Flight’s short-notice musical multitasking was perhaps the most remarkable achievement.
Given the fact that Flight is a countertenor who, when asked, mentioned that he had never before sung this tenor part, his short-notice musical multitasking was perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the Friday night concert at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco, which I attended.
The way in which an organization deals with unforeseen circumstances is a measure of its artistic flexibility and creativeness, yet last-minute changes to a well-planned and prepared event are always disruptive, no matter how well a chosen solution works out.
Cal Bach could have used one extra rehearsal in the “emergency configuration” to adjust the whole ensemble to the new situation, settle a few nerves here and there, and reduce the inevitable opening-night jitters of Friday’s concert to normal proportions. Still, a few inconsistencies and minor irregularities aside (including one good rescue), the entire performance was a profound testament to the eloquent expressiveness of Monteverdi’s work, from the ringing opening chords with their ascending flourishes in the cornetts, to the last jubilant “Amen.” The two repeat performances on Saturday and Sunday in Palo Alto and Berkeley must have gone even more smoothly.
The Cal Bach chorus members not only produce a wonderful, transparent, and glowing choral sound but also evince technically perfect coloraturas. The vocal soloists from within the choir were excellent, especially the sopranos (Nalini Ghuman, Rita Lily, and Christina Schiffner Santschi) and the alto (Gabriela Solis).
The entire performance was a profound testament to the eloquent expressiveness of Monteverdi’s work.
And even though I would like the tenors — as a group — to strive for a more-homogenous overall sound, one of the absolute highlights of the concert was brought by three tenors, right before intermission in Duo Seraphim, which begins as a duet but becomes a trio as soon as the Holy Trinity is mentioned in the text. A great performance was delivered by tenors Greg Meissner, Simon Wilson, and pinch-hitter Flight.
A special mention and compliment must go to the members of the wonderful 13-piece orchestra, which performed the instrumental interludes of these Vespers of the Blessed Virgin with pristine precision and should, in this configuration, seriously consider exploring a few concerts of its own.