TAVERNER

At the risk of sounding obsessive, Tuesday night’s “Chamber Music in Historic
Sites” concert was one in a long series for which “perfection” is the most
accurate description.
The venue was beautiful; so was the music; so was the way the two elements
seemed made for one another. The matter at hand was a program of Claudio
Monteverdi, music’s first true innovative genius. The performers were the
members of Andrew Parrott’s Taverner Consort in their first Los Angeles
appearance. Their music, and their singing, made the clean, noble outlines of
the Wilshire Christian Church, in downtown Los Angeles, seem even more
beautiful this once.
The music was entirely drawn from Monteverdi’s vast compendium of sacred pieces
composed for St. Marks in Venice in 1640, marvelously rich settings of psalm
verses and other biblical texts for vocal ensemble with instrumental
underpinning, interspersed with Gregorian chants sung by solo voices
unaccompanied. The expressive range here is extraordinary.
Monteverdi, already the supreme operatic and madrigal composer of his time,
here brings his sublime dramatic gifts to the underlining of words of passion
and exultation in the liturgical repertory. It was fascinating, for example, to
trace in several selections on this program the setting of the one word
“misericordia” (“mercy”), always lit with a deep, mysterious burst of
innovative harmony, always different.
Parrott is one of the long list of British conductors concerned with
“authentic” musical interpretations. He and his group have a long list of
recordings to their credit, including these Monteverdi pieces and a recent,
jubilant performance of Handel’s “Israel in Egypt.” His views on authenticity
are rational and enlightened; his players use old-style instruments but aren’t
afraid of an expressive vibrato when it shines a light on the music. His
singers — eight in number for this particular program — are, similarly,
unafraid to sound like what they are: skillful and dedicated, thoroughly modern
artists.
The result was authenticity in the best sense: a glowing, rich tribute to one
of music’s astonishing creators. The program ran without intermission; seldom
have 70 minutes seemed so short.