Baroque ensemble turns down the volume -- and has fun

By Richard Storm
The Register-Guard

Think of it: Making wonderful music with your friends and getting paid for it!

That they appreciated their good fortune was clearly visible Thursday evening on the faces of the members of the Tempesta di Mare baroque ensemble.

One of the most notable characteristics of chamber music from the Baroque era is its warm intimacy, perfectly logical when you consider that most of this literature was created to be performed in homes, aristocratic music rooms or small royal theaters.

Tempesta di Mare is made up of Gwyn Roberts, recorder and flute; Emlyn Ngai, violin; Rebecca Humphrey, cello; Richard Stone, lute; and Joyce Lindorff, harpsichord. In the University of Oregon's Beall Concert Hall, they presented an ingenious program, "Invisible Bach," during which they deftly conjured up the atmosphere of those small venues.

In the first measures of the Trio Sonata in C Major for Recorder, Violin and Continuo, a reconstruction of a more familiar sonata for flute and harpsichord, the mellow tone of the recorder was a welcome contrast to the more familiar brightness of the modern flute.

This was gracefully mirrored in the rich softness of the cello (in its viola da gamba configuration), lute and harpsichord making up the continuo ensemble. Add clean, straight violin tone and you have the essence of baroque chamber music: incisive, transparent and rhythmic.

At first, the small scale of the sound produced by the ensemble was a bit disconcerting. Today's audience is seldom confronted with an ensemble which, even in full cry, barely equals the volume of a modern concert grand piano.

The challenge was clear in the Suite in A Major for Lute and Harpsichord, which followed. This is intimate music indeed, seldom rising above the level of quiet speech. It is all the more rewarding for the cleansing it administers to our sensibilities, blunted as they are by the constant onslaught of loud sounds.

This suite was created by J.S. Bach using materials first written by his good friend, the lutenist Silvius Leopold Weiss, and some original additions. After the first movement, an extensive "Fantasia," the remaining sections are based on courtly dance rhythms of the day, alternatively jaunty and elegant.

The amused glances and body language exchanged by harpsichordist Lindorff and lutenist Stone could well have been those of Bach and Weiss as they improvised together.

It seems likely that one of Bach's talented sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel or Wilhelm Friedemann, prepared the Trio Sonata in G Major for Flute, Violin and Continuo, based on the harmonic structure of Dad's earlier piece for violin and continuo. Using a wooden traverse flute, Roberts set the elegant and lyrical tone for the performance.

As the second half of the program began, the audience seemed better prepared for the intimate music to follow, a Partita in D minor for recorder and flute. In this affectionate exchange of melody, including an extended fugal passage, Stone and Roberts seemed to delight in their tasks, despite a few more patches of uncertain recorder pitch. Any lapses were soon forgiven in the fiendishly difficult final movement.

Stone has reconstructed a familiar organ sonata by Bach for recorder, violin and continuo. The lightly percussive rhythmic emphasis of the harpsichord and the rich underpinning provided by the cello served to emphasize the soaring violin line and its intricate interaction with the florid music given to the recorder.

It was not clear what the lute added to the continuo sound, but it was a pleasure to watch the "reconstructor" of the piece at work, as he exchanged conspiratorial smiles with his colleagues. As the final movement drew to a close and the pace picked up, some jaunty improvised decorations appeared, adding to the sense of fun to be found when lucky friends create beauty together.