by Robert Myers

Boston, MA, 19 December 2009.  The rustic worship hall in Boston’s Old South Church provided the acoustical setting on Saturday afternoon for the Musicians of the Old Post Road to present their concert entitled: “A Mediterranean Baroque Christmas.”  The ensemble is a period instrument chamber group comprised of accomplished performers based in the Boston area that prides itself on “rediscovering” works from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods that are seldom performed.  Indeed, the venues for their concerts are purposely chosen historic landmarks, contributing to the experience as fully anachronistic. 

The program began with the Sinfonia II for traverso, violin, viola, and continuo from Michel Corrette’s Six Symphonies en Quatuor contenant les plus beaux Nöels.  Corrette was an organist-composer who served as organist to Parisian collèges and French nobility alike, and whose compositional range includes ballets, organ concerti, and chamber vocal works, among many other genres.  Like many composers of his day, Corrette here sets popular Nöel tunes for instrumental ensemble, embracing both style and source material of countries outside his native France, lending his settings a many-hued texture.  The musicians performed expertly and accurately, and not without a decent helping of Corrette’s historically infamous wit.

Following the Nöel settings came Per il natale, a beautifully lyrical work for soprano and continuo by woman composer Antonia Bembo.  Taught by Francesco Cavalli, Bembo’s writing is a blend of French and Italian styles (as was her life).  Part of a larger work dedicated to Louis XIV, Per il natale is a beautifully introspective reflection on the Virgin Mary and her infant.  Barbara Kilduff’s voice gave life to this rarely-performed gem, a perfect marriage of composer and performer.  Following was Giusseppe Valentini’s  Sinfonia à tre, per il Santissimo Natale, termed his “Christmas Concerto.”  A contemporary of Vivaldi and Correlli, the younger composer was no doubt aware of the latter’s work of the same name, yet manages some innovation in his formal structure and rhythmic vigor.  The musicians demonstrated a superb ensemble, communicating beautifully across the ever-changing musical mosaic of Valentini’s concerto.

Following the intermission, the musicians performed Juan Francés de Iribarren’s A Belèn caminad pastorcillos.  A representation of the Spanish/Italian blend that synthesized Spanish song form with an incorporation of aria-recitative formats, this Italianate villancico is a grandly expressive work, belying Iribarren’s choral background in its remarkable crafting for the voice.  A work by landmark composer of Baroque flute writing, Nicolas Chédeville’s Sonata No. 4 for traverso and continuo from Il Pastor Fido followed.  His work is a remarkable example of lightheartedness, written primarily for enjoyment of the musical amateurs within the noble class.  This particular sonata was once attributed to Vivalidi, though recent scholarship has reassigned its authorship.  Suzanne Stumpf is a superb master of the traverso flute, an instrument renowned for its difficulty in tonal stability and intonation – a fact which discouraged many composers from writing for it as other instruments improved.  She has an unquestionable grasp of the requisite style, performing with elegance and ease.

The final piece on the program was Francesco Mancini’s Con pace si bella.  Mancini was a protégé of and the successor to Alessandro Scarlatti as Maestro di Cappella in the court of the viceroy of Naples.  During his time there, Mancini came to be esteemed for his sacred works, a shining example of which is this cantata.  The original manuscript for Con pace si bella exists, preserved at The British Library, and the work was presented on this program for the first time in New England.  A remarkably picturesque composition, it sets a descriptive libretto amidst myriad instrumental textures and effects.  Sometimes striking in its beauty, Mancini’s writing never failed in its aim to evoke imagery – both natural and divine.

The Musicians of the Old Post Road is a cleverly conceived and impeccably presented group of artists who render a great service in the realm of period performance.  Through their scholarship, programming, and enthusiasm, they shine a light on a corner of the repertoire that is too often neglected – a praiseworthy contribution to the Boston area concert calendar.