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Director Benjamin Bagby has bet his life’s work that scholarship and musicianship can co-exist on a musical stage. On Friday night, The Friends of Chamber Music brought Bagby and Sequentia to a packed house at Grace and Holy Trinity Church. It was the perfect forum to showcase the ensemble’s signature ability to take listeners to surprising places. Sequentia’s work satisfies on every level: followers of the venerable ensemble know what to expect, and first-time patrons soon appreciate the depth to which Sequentia prepares a program. Bagby brings inventiveness and flair (yes, flair!) to medieval music, making it positively thrilling to sense the performers’ and listeners’ commitment to the music.

On tap was Voices from the Island Sanctuary: Ecclesiastical Singers in Paris (1180-1230). Throughout the 80-minute program, I sensed an intention to present something contemporary and timely. Much of the music resonated in a very human way, contextualized so that modern listeners might believe these “voices from Notre Dame” had similar weaknesses and shared familiar concerns.

The real focus of Friday night’s performance was the music—not the men making it. Not that it was an egoless performance! Indeed, each singer, probably much like in a Notre Dame social or liturgical setting, contributed something unique. Still, I sensed an obligation to avoid gratuitous showmanship or pretense. Admirably, each performer seemed capable of working instinctively with and for the music. There was much required of the audience as well. Detail about history, preparation, and execution of the music is provided in copious program notes, which lend a necessary transparency to the program. Hint: arrive early at a Sequentia concert to allow enough time to read all of the notes before the venue goes pitch dark. As a technological aid for Friday’s audience, English translations were projected on a screen. This tolerable interpolation facilitated a specific atmosphere, with only a few candles at the windows providing limited light.

Voices from the Island Sanctuary was an intelligent, well-paced program, staging appealing contrasts in sentiment, function, and style. Ave gloriosa virginum regina opened the evening. The one-voice sequence called for the entire ensemble to deliver a sonorous blend. An audience might expect that monophonic singing is simplistic and dull, but the clarity of this music refreshes and moves the imagination; it is humbling in its purity. Centuries fell away with the first utterances, as modern sensibility alongside some dramatic posturing brought this praise song to life. The rhythmic inflections imposed on the music were subtle and almost lilting at times.

The program notes introduced the first set of pieces as written by “young clerical intellectuals” who were the “angry young men of their time.”  Aurelianis civitas (“O City of Orleans”) brought an edge to the opening moments of the concert. The text was rendered with a sharp tone, describing a city “evil and polluted by an unimaginable crime” (referencing early thirteenth-century riots that left over 100 students dead). It was a fascinating contrast to the opening song sweetly praising Mary. The 2-voice conductus O varium fortune lubricum (“O Fortune, Changing and Slippery”) introduced a discordant polyphony, where stark, open intervals were a jolt to modern listeners. Powerful musical devices were in play here, as the Parisian singers declared disgust at greed and corruption. The fuller sounds of this harmony resonated in Grace and Holy Trinity, and the audience seemed fixated on the tight intervals and moralistic text.

Initium sancti evagelli (“Here Begins the Holy Gospel”) was robust and energetic. Josep Cabré’s dramatic narration lightened the mood and brought a chuckle from the audience. Curritur ad vocem nummi (“Run to the Sound of Money Calling”) continued the rather mocking tone and proved, through crisp diction and definite entrances, that this ensemble was on its game.

The lament Anglia planctus itera (“England, Repeat Your Lamentations”) was fascinating. The harp mesmerized via its delicate embellishments woven into a cyclic melodic formula. Bagby’s imaginative playing accompanied Vincent Pislar’s florid vocals, brilliantly showcasing his agile voice. The audience responded heartily.

The following section, New Sounds in Parisian Churches, began with Descendit de celis (“He came Down From Heaven”), a tour-de-force and perhaps the most challenging music of the program. Wolodymyr Smishkewych’s adventurous melismatic lines scampered above Pislar’s persistent tenor drone to create a beautiful complex of organum duplum. In the demanding clausula, the union unraveled in rhythm and in pitch, and there were some obvious efforts between the singers to reconcile.  It was clear that this performance was not effortless chanting, but overall it was a thrilling execution.

Mathias Spoerry gave Minor natur filius (“The Younger Son”) a vivid performance. Spoerry was a patient singer, gracious with his melodic ornaments and cadences. He had a genuine feel for this music. In Zima vetus expurgetur (“Let the Old Leaven Be Purged”) independent vocal inflections demonstrated the depth inherent in pure unison singing.

The section titled Eros and Ambition featured songs more about worldly pursuits than religious ones. Sic mea fata canendo solor (“Only by Singing Can I Endure My Fate”) was a gem. The beginning was austere, featuring solo harp. The singers gradually joined the unison versus where themes of unrequited love and sexual conquest warmed up the drafty church.  The disjunct Vitam duxi (“I Have Lived a Joyous Life”) was rendered admirably by Michael Loughton Smith’s versatile tenor. Procurans odium (“The Slanderers’ Plot”) called for a darker timbre and exploited a lower range; the liquid, sinewy weaving of polyphonic lines blended delightfully here. Olim sudor Herculis (“Once, the Labors of Hercules”) was another high point of the evening. Singers joined in one by one to weave a powerful, engaging narrative in alternation with the repeating refrain.

Listeners appreciate a concert like this for all it represents: inquiry, exploration, and adventure—all in service to music that deserves to be heard. Ancient social and musical myths will undoubtedly continue to reverberate in the minds of this modern audience. In such a clever reconstruction, where scholarship and speculation merge, no one seems to mind the questions left unanswered. After all, who would want all of these mysteries to be definitively solved? We would rather keep enjoying how alive this ancient music still feels, open to hearing again and again the learned interpretations of the who, when, and why of it all.

REVIEW:
The Friends of Chamber Music
Sequentia: “Voices From the Island Sanctuary: Ecclesiastical Singers in Paris”
Friday, January 21 at 8 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Church, 13^st and Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For information visit online at www.chambermusic.org

By Sarah Tyrrell

Opera, Vocal and Classical Contributor

Since 2004, Dr. Sarah Tyrrell has been part of the Musicology faculty at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. In 2003, she completed doctoral work at the University of Kansas and also holds degrees in music history and voice performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and Kansas State University. At UMKC, Sarah teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in music history and world music, as well as graduate seminars on American and Latin American musics. Sarah has presented her research locally and nationally (her research specialty is the art music of Brazil) and actively guest lectures about town on Brazilian popular subjects such as samba and bossa nova. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Musical Quarterly, Latin American Research Review, and Latin American Perspectives.

Sarah is also active in the Kansas City choral music scene: she is the Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City and also sings soprano with the group. This 60-voice ensemble presents four concerts each year and recently completed a performance tour of Brazil.