Music of the Baroque’s concert tribute to Henry Purcell Sunday offered its followers a striking novelty: The conductor wasn’t Thomas Wikman.
Paul Hillier took over as guest conductor, only the second time that’s happened in this ensemble’s 30-year history. The chorus is looking for a new music director to replace Wikman. Hillier has ability and reputation to spare. So does Wikman, but part of his fame is his possessiveness about the baton, so Hillier’s appearance is bound to set off speculation: Was this concert an audition? Is Hillier–an immensely gifted Briton whose specialties range from medieval to avant-garde–a leading candidate to succeed Wikman?
If so, Sunday’s concert could not have hurt his chances.
The wide-ranging sampler of Purcell’s choral music was elegantly done. Seven soloists, chorus and orchestra brought out the grace and variety of Purcell’s writing. Soprano Ellen Hargis by herself would have made the concert worth attending.
And Hillier, to his credit, was hardly noticeable. This is a conductor who concentrates on the music to the exclusion of everything else, including the audience. What he clearly wanted from the performers–neatness, transparency, a feel for the period–he got with notable economy of means.
This is not the only test of a good conductor; heaven knows there is no contradiction between conducting and showmanship. Results are what count, and on this sampling Hillier gets maximum results with a minimum of gymnastics.
“Welcome to All the Pleasures,” Purcell’s setting of an ode to St. Cecilia, displayed one of the pleasant things about this composer: He could hardly help writing music for dancing. The firm downbeats, the springy dotted rhythms, above all the quirky tunes in a minor key, must have pulled the younger members of King Charles II’s court right out of their seats.
The work is a set of varied vocal ensembles and solos. Countertenor Jerry Hicks shone in a nimble duet with Barbara Haffner’s cello, “Here the deities approve.” Hargis, alto Emily Lodine and tenor William Watson did some lovely vocal capering in “While joys celestial,” and Peter Van De Graaff’s roomy bass gave a darker dimension to “Then lift up your voice.”
In “Hear My Prayer, O Lord,” the unaccompanied choir made a tightly woven texture of silk sound.
Hargis gave a light, caressing touch to her solo, “An evening hymn.” The voice seems weightless, clear as glass, and–when she wants it to be–completely vibrato-free. Yet it is anything but expressionless. She is a singer who lets the music speak for itself.
The musical peaks came in “Funeral Sentences” and “Love’s Goddess Sure Was Blind.” In the first, Hargis, Watson, countertenor Jerry Hinks and bass Myron Myers were a balanced, crystalline union of voices; when the chorus joined, you didn’t hear different voices, only an amplification of theirs.
“Love’s Goddess,” an unabashed shoveling on of flattery for Queen Mary on her birthday, brought out some of Purcell’s merriest music. In “Sweetness of Nature,” Hinks and Raymond Zrinsky joined their astonishing countertenors in a playful duet. After three soloists mourned her future death–beautifully, if not tactfully–the full chorus gave a rousing windup.
