Taking Flight

Schola Cantorum San Francisco, having lost its founding director John Renke to retirement, is fortunate to have in Paul Flight an able successor. Friday night's concert in St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley, well programmed and beautifully sung, featured English music from the time of Henry VIII. Said Henry, he of the many wives, turns out to have been not only a strong patron of the arts — especially music — but an able musician and composer himself.

The chorus began with two songs by Henry: a bright, lively rendition of "Pastime with good company" and the verse/refrain "Green grow'th the holly," showcasing the group's three excellent tenors in the solo verses. John Taverner's Western Wind Mass was the centerpiece of the program. Since it lacks a Kyrie, a substitute Kyrie by Taverner was performed, possibly based on a tune by Henry: Le Roy Kyrie. As was common in the 16th century, the music for the Mass was based on a popular song, "Westron Wynde," which the chorus sang in two different settings, one of which Taverner chose as the unifying musical theme of his Western Wind Mass. "Western wind, when wilt thou blow ... Christ, if my love were in my arms, and I in my bed again. " The Mass consists of variations on this decidedly secular song. The Gloria set the pattern of nine variations, the tune moving from voice to voice. The first part of the Credo had little variety of texture or dynamics, but a rise to forte for "et resurrexit" and a switch to triple meter for the closing material made for an upbeat ending of the first half of the program. Sanctus and Benedictus had some interesting rhythmic features, and the lovely Agnus Dei ended with a fine Dona nobis pacem (Give us peace). Since every section of the Mass is built on the same tune, it risks seeming monotonous to a concert audience. Paul Flight's choice in performance was to insert songs in English between parts of the Latin Mass. Variety of sound and texture was provided by placing songs in praise of the Virgin Mary between the Gloria and the Credo: the anonymous "Ah my dear son" (Mary's apprehensive lullaby) sung by the three upper voices in refrain alternating with solo trios, and Richard Pygott's "Quid petis o fili?" (What do you wish, Lady?), also varied in texture as solo ensembles sang the verses.

On the Hunt

The men — altos, tenors, and basses — sang two secular pieces by William Cornysh. "My love, she mourn'th for me" juxtaposed the choral sound with recurring bass solos, nicely done, accompanied by lutenist Dominic Schaner. Flight added recorder to the mix. "Blow thy horn, hunter" portrayed a lively hunt, winding down with a slow tempo on "I was weary of the game" and ending in a tavern. The four women gave a spirited performance to an English song by Taverner himself, composed in the same style as that of his Mass: "The Bella," a florid and rhythmically active piece of 16th-century soft porn. The Schola Cantorum singers have sung together for a decade with little change in membership. Their ensemble is tight and their group sound is remarkably well blended, considering that they are all capable soloists. Perhaps it is just as well that the printed program does not identify who is singing which solo. It would have been hard to pick only some for mention. I thought that two pieces by Christopher Tye could have been done in reverse order. The splendid performance of Peccavimus cum patribus nostris (We have sinned like our fathers), with its "quartets in high and low vocal combinations and its full seven-voiced polyphonic sections and stratospheric treble parts" (to quote the program notes) would have made a striking beginning for the second half of the concert. And after Taverner's Agnus Dei, Tye's In pace in id ipsum (in true peace) would be a lovely ending, coming quietly to its close in the bass voices.