Allegro presents light evening’s entertainment
Allegro presented an evening of sophisticated fluff Friday night at The Met, with chamber music and musical drama from the court of Louis XIV.
Fluff, because all of the music and drama was intended as such; written to be a light evening’s entertainment for the nobles of the court.
After a standing performance of Rebel’s rousing, march-like Tambourin, the first half of the concert was comprised of chamber music presented in the usual modern format and garb, and featured plenty of double reeds.
The Boismortier Sonata in G minor had all four of the woodwinds on stage at once. The four produced a rich sonority together, especially with all of the suspensions in the two slower movements.
There was some very nice solo work from both of Allegro’s artistic directors, Berverly Biggs at the harpsichord and David Dutton on the oboe, in Corrette’s “Les Amusements d’Apollon.” This featured the harpsichord with the oboe more in an accompaniment role, but there was good conversation and elegant turns of phrase from both.
The first half ended with Couperin’s depiction of the victory in battle at Steinquerque. As Dutton mentioned from the stage, this is “not one of Couperin’s most erudite pieces.” It was comprised of a string of short movements depicting the battle through fanfares and ending with a joyous celebration. In spite of its lightweight brevity, it was played with gusto and served its purpose well.
After intermission, the musicians assembled on stage in period costume and standing for the presentation of “The Marriage of Fat Kate.” Having no one on stage in modern dress lent an authentic historic flavor to the proceedings.
Andre Philidor’s bit of amusement is in no way deep, compelling, or anything close to grand opera. Then again, the composer has Fat Kate sing “I could care less for opera when I’m overcome with hunger” so there were never any pretensions to grandeur.
Light comedy and satire were the only objectives, and on those counts, the work and its performance hit the mark. Arias were short, the melodies were simple, and the text was repetitive enough that the points were driven home.
Fat Kate was played by baritone Randel Wagner in a white satin wedding dress which exposed some rather hairy-chested cleavage. Michael Caldwell was Kate’s prissy suitor, gliding about in a black velvet suit with powdered wig and perpetually extended hankie. Jadd Davis, who sang an admirable countertenor, was the odd man out who “had no one to love. I take delight in drinking all the day.”
I should refrain from any evaluation of the singing from an operatic standpoint – the singing was fine for the task at hand, but the whole thing was so buffo that singing was of secondary importance. The mugging upstaged the tonsil-work, and all three played their parts with aplomb.
Interspersed among the short arias were dance numbers, also brief and lightly entertaining. Four women and two men from Theatre Ballet of Spokane in various combinations danced, and also remained on stage between their numbers for atmosphere.
One of the gentlemen was a constant distraction, as he seemed to always have to be following someone else’s lead, so was perpetually behind and even missed out on some steps from time to time. All in all, however, the ballet segments were quite a pleasure, especially the drunken dance that followed the aforementioned aria of the loveless imbiber.
Allegro is in the business of recreating historic performances of ancient music, and seems to be doing it well and with innovation this season. Programming to a particular time and place, as well as the inclusion of a costumed dramatic presentation, were both quite effective ways to present material which would be lacking substance without the nice packaging.
On another note, arriving at a concert earlier than the announced start time may be an inconvenience or impossible for some, but more people really ought to make the effort. The pre-concert talks are free and often fascinating, and Leonard Oakland’s introduction to Allegro’s concert was certainly interesting and informative. The evening’s music was not especially deep and worthy of a half-hour of delving, so he set the stage by putting the performance into the context of the life and times of Louis XIV and the court at Versailles. What would have seemed so much fluff without a background understanding became a door to another time.