Kent Sweitzer
Artistic director Trevor Stephenson plays harpsichord.
It is a measure of how well established early music is in our city’s scene that one of the lead-off concerts this new season is by the Madison Bach Musicians.
The program, first given on Oct. 7 at the First Unitarian Society, has an unusual theme for this ensemble: “English Renaissance and Baroque.” The numerous selections draw upon music of the 16th and 17th centuries, with touches of Shakespeare commemoration along the way.
A good deal of the music is for instrumental consorts, drawing upon two violinists, two players of viola da gamba, one on lute or theorbo, and one (artistic director Trevor Stevenson himself) on harpsichord. The latest of their selections is a set of bizzarie variations by the Italian import, Nicola Matteis. That falls just beyond a four-part Sonata (called “The Golden”) by Henry Purcell, a duet for two bass viols by Christopher Simpson, and two consort suites by Matthew Locke.
Added to that instrumental literature is a set of keyboard variations by William Byrd, and a lute solo by John Dowland.
Vocal dimensions are represented by five songs of Robert Johnson, a direct collaborator with Shakespeare — three of these songs having their places in the Bard’s plays. And there are, almost inevitably, songs by the great John Dowland. Among the four presented two are sung with only lute accompaniment; but for two of them ingenious combinations are made of the vocal originals with the consort arrangements the composer had included in his instrumental collection called Lachrymae.
The songs are sung by tenor Dann Coakwell, who has a strong and firm voice along with superlative diction and fine stylistic sense, even adding subtle embellishments. He is a valuable addition to the MBM team.
The formal program closes with four delicious consort arrangements (mostly by Chicago’s David Douglas, a familiar presence at the Madison Early Music Festivals) of tunes from John Playford’s epochal song collection of 1651. And as an encore on Friday evening, Coakwell sang another Dowland, again with a mix of the vocal and consort versions.
This excellent program will be presented again on Oct. 9 at 3:30 pm. at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton (4200 County Road). The concert will be preceded at 2:45 by Trevor Stephenson’s usual genial introductory talk.
