Mastery of Baroque Instruments Displayed at Church of the Ascension

In the otherwise darkened sanctuary of the Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre on Sunday afternoon, the illumination of music of the Baroque era by nine-piece ensemble Tesserae led to a new understanding of the intricacies of early period music.

Tesserae, which refers to glass cubes in a mosaic, is a newly formed early music group, having started only last year.  They are quickly making a mark for their mastery of historically accurate Baroque instruments on which they perform.

The afternoon program by Tesserae consisted of "Music from San Marco" signaling that the numbers they would perform would be church music from the 16th century—music heard at Basilica San Marco in Venice, Italy from about 1550 to 1650.  The now famous Venetian style of performance was a musical art-form that was developed at St. Mark's Cathedral, that is, the "museum" or basilica known as Basilica San Marco, the church that anchors the historic Piazza San Marco.  The composition style calls for the separation of musicians into two choirs – strings to the left, brass to the right. 

Tesserae honored the set-up with baroque violinists Sue Feldman and Amy Wang; Leif Woodward, viola da gamba and Gabriel Golden, violone to the left of the church's altar; and cornetto player Alex Opsahl, sackbut (or trombone) players Noah Gladstone, Ken Kugler and Greg Ingles to the right.  Ian Pritchard was set at the center to play the virginal, a form of harpsichord, and soprano Suzanne Anderson was stationed to the right of Pritchard.

Music of this era is strongly harmonic and rhythmic with an emphasis on counterpoint, something new and perhaps even avant-garde for the period.  It is also surprisingly lighthearted musically and not at all church-y, except in the text of songs, as performed in Latin by soprano Suzanne Anderson.  

In Giovanni Battista Grillo's (1550-1622) lively and complicated "Sonata Seconda a 7", Opsahl's cornetto offered a mellow almost trumpet-like sound to the ensemble's work.  Later in the program Greg Ingles, a guest with the ensemble worked with Pritchard.  Following Pritchard at the virginal, in Bertholdo Sperindio's (ca. 1530-1570) "Intabulation, Ingles played "Thomas Crecquillon's Frais et Gaillard".  This piece, cast like a modern popular song, with theme, bridge and theme, showed Pritchard's keyboard fluidity, and Ingles bouncing things along with the sackbut, an instrument described as an early form of the slide trombone.  Sackbuttist Ingles and Gladstone blended well throughout the program.  They were notably in top form in Francesco Cavalli's (1602-1676) "Sonata a 6" along with Wang, Feldman, Woodward and Pritchard.

Here, Feldman and Wang  kept the baroque violins in tune in spite of the gut strings tendency to stretch with changes in temperature and humidity.  They were both excellent throughout the afternoon.  Da gamba player Woodward was lively in their turns, especially in Dario Castello's (1590-1685) "Sonata Septima, libro primo" a work they worked well combining the dance-like quality of the piece with Feldman's almost country fiddle.

Guest soloist Suzanna Anderson added a lilting soprano to her solos.  The timbre of the music turned out not to be solemn as you would suspect from the words (sung in Latin, but translated in program notes), which in at least one number, "Pianto della Madonna" ("The Madonna's Complaint") revisited the story of Jesus' death on the cross.  Anderson, a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and locally she serves as Director of Music for Children and Youth at Church of Our Savior in San Gabriel.  She is an early-music vocal specialist.

All members of Tesserae are professional musicians.  Although they may be heard on movie soundtracks or even jazz ensembles, most are active early-music performers with such local groups as Musica Angelica and others.  Two of the members of Tesserae, Opsahl and Pritchard, perform around the world.  The married couple resides in Sierra Madre.