Tage Alter Musik – Almanach 2018

title of Purcell’s Playground – a very apt name, given their ‘relaxed’ approach to in- terpretation. A very well-rehearsed series of improvisatory impressions of Purcell’s music contrasted songs and instrumental pieces with pure theatrics. The principal singer was soprano Berit Norbakken Solset, who opened with If music be the food of love be- fore countertenor Per Buhre took over with Here the Deities approve . The Evening Hymn followed, aptly, as the man sitting next to me had already ‘bid the world goodnight’. Most of the pieces dissolved into imaginative jazz- like flights of fancy and entertaining stage antics, aided by some nifty dance moves from Steven Player. In what was then officially Monday (00:15), the men of Barokksolistene then transferred to the adjoining roomwhere a tightly-packed audience witnessed one of their alehouse sessions , in this case vol. 2: the nordic im- pulse showing the influence on the music culture of northern Europe of music from 17th-century English taverns. Then, as now, it seems that for Scandinavians, “no trip to England is complete without a visit to the lo- cal pub . . . the second home of the English since the Middle Ages”. Liberally lubricated, they frolicked around a tiny stage in another well-rehearsed bit of improvisatory fun. Monday 21 May The final day of the festival started in the Re- ichssaal with the ensemble stylus Phantas- ticus with soprano claire lefilliâtre and their programme La carte de tendre or the Geography of Feelings , an exploration of the “land of love”, in this case in 17th-cen- tury France, with music by Guedron, Boes- set, Lejeune, Moulinié and Tessier. Led by gamba player Friederike Heumann, the six instrumentalists provided excellent accom- paniments to the singing of Claire Lefilliâtre as well as providing their own instrumental contributions with two Canzonas by Cheru- bino Waesich, an attractive Fantaisie by Claude Lejeune and the Suite in G from Mersenne’s 1636 Harmonie Universelle . This was a very well-balanced and thoroughly professional performance, mercifully devoid of some of the antics we had seen in earlier events. Claire Lefilliâtre’s singing was sensitive both to the varying moods of the pieces, and to the characteristic French style of perform- ance. There were important instrumental contributions from Jean Tubéry on cornetts and recorders. One thing the audience and I were very pleased about, and something I have suggested in previous Tage Alter Musik reviews , was a short pause to open windows andrewbensonwilson.org 12 Stylus Phantasticus im Reichssaal Alehouse Session mit Barokksolistene (Bjarte Eike, Violine) im Restaurant Leerer Beutel