Mike Telin

ClevelandClassical.com

"CIARAMELLA RENAISSANCE WIND BAND AT CASE" (Oct. 19, 2009)

On Saturday evening, Chapel, Court & Countryside opened its twenty-fourth season in Harkness Chapel at Case with its annual concert featuring alumni from the CRWU/CIM Joint Music Program (Adam Gilbert, Rotem Gilbert & Debra Nagy) joined by colleagues who originally played with them at Case when they were grad students. A large audience enjoyed a spectacular performance by the Los Angeles-based Renaissance Wind Band Ciaramella in a program called 'The German Orpheus and his student: Heinrich Isaac and Ludwig Senfl'.

The six performers -- including Doug Milliken, Greg Ingles and Erik Schmaltz -- demonstrated their complete mastery over a variety of Renaissance instruments including shawms, recorders, bagpipes, slide trumpets and sackbuts, playing works by two masters of polyphony with perfect intonation, nuance and a beautiful sense of line.

The underlying theme of the evening was the passing on of traditions and their evolution. At this alumni concert, Ciaramella chose to perform the music of Isaac the great and generous teacher alongside that of Senfl his finest student. In the same way, the Case alumni and their colleagues received a musical tradition from their teachers in Cleveland and are passing it along to their own students (Adam and Rothem Gilbert at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, Debry Nagy at Case and the other players in their private teaching activities and ensembles). In the process, knowledge about the performance of the repertory and new research into the instruments on which it is played continues to evolve, creating better instruments and more informed techniques for playing them. The shawm, for instance, is a difficult instrument for anyone to tame, but newer instruments in the hands of players who have polished their playing skills produce increasingly wonderful results, as we heard on Saturday night.

The program was beautifully constructed, opening with a slide trumpet fanfare by Greg Ingles and Erik Schmalz that set the tone for a well-paced evening. Then the band alternated between shawm & sackbut ensembles and recorder ensembles, giving the players a break from the intensity of shawm playing, and interleaving pieces by Isaac and Senfl to show, in some cases, how they set the same tunes ( 'J'ay pris amours' and 'Zwischen Berg und tiefen Tal').

Although both Isaac and Senfl are best remembered today for important collections of church music, most of the pieces heard tonight were secular, and some of these were pretty earthy. Adam Gilbert's eloquent program notes and humorous but informative verbal comments before each set made the theme of pieces immediately accessible to the audience. In talking about the 'alba' or morning song in which lovers have to break up before they get caught together, he wrote "Later versions range from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet to the Everly Brothers' hit, 'Wake up, Little Susie', and he pointed out the raunchy lyrics that weren't printed in the program. The ordering of selections was musically intelligent and held the audience's interest throughout the program.

After the brilliantly played concert, the band held a twenty-minute question and answer session which gave those who stayed an opportunity to see how much fun the six musicians have together. They have great rapport and mutual respect. It was fun to hear them talk about the evolution of their instruments and how they continually discover things which make the instruments better. Some of the questions were pretty basic, but the players had a very nice way of addressing even the most rudimentary queries.

"TALENTED ENSEMBLE PAINTS 15TH-CENTURY PORTRAIT"

Internationally-renowned shawm, recorder and sackbut ensemble Ciaramella performed a tapestry of instrumental works and arrangements from 15th-century Europe last night in Capital University's Mees Auditorium. The musicians, all Ohio trained, delivered a polished performance of a program as appealing as it was unusual.

Regarded today as a precursor to the modern oboe, the shawm has a potent, nasal sound. Today we know the sackbut as an ancestor of the trombone. Smaller than the modern trombone, the sackbut produces a rounder and gentler sound. Most players never fully overcome the technical challenges both instruments pose. Not so for the musicians of Ciaramella, whose accomplishment on these and other early instruments was in plain view last night.

The concert began with a commanding performance of the Dove, dove, or donne, el mio signore. The work's many cadences, performed with flawless intonation and perfect balance, brought each phrase to a satisfying and restful conclusion.

Throughout the concert, organist Mahan Esfahani played keyboard intabulations of vocal works from important sources of 15 th century music with spotless technique and an uncomplicated sense of phrasing. His most notable performances were of intabulations of Gille de Bins, dit Binchois' chanson Adieu ma tres belle maistresse and Antonio Zachara da Teramo's Un fiore gentil m'apparse.

The ensemble's performance of their namesake work, an arrangement of Zachara's popular chanson Ciaramella, me dolce Ciaramella, for recorder ensemble, was a suave and refined rendition of one of the 15th century's raunchier secular songs (the summary of whose text was sanitized in last night's program). Beautiful though the performance was, the double entendre important in texted works of this period did not come across.

Rotem Gilbert delivered some of the most accomplished recorder playing of the evening in the first of two arrangements of Alexander Agricola's Comme femme desconfortee. The sweetness of Gilbert's sound was undisturbed even during virtuosic technical passages, which she played seemingly effortlessly.

The second half of the concert saw not only the addition of bagpipes to the mix, but also several works of dance music, including La spagna, by Josquin Desprez. Shawmists Rotem Gilbert, Adam Gilbert, and Doug Milliken, and sackbut players Greg Ingles and Erik Schmalz delivered a nearly flawless performance of Josquin's masterly counterpoint.

"THE LOUD AND THE QUIET "

Ciaramella’s special blend of Renaissance polyphony and improvisation went down most smoothly Sunday afternoon. Spicy, yet with a refined finish, the program presented the practices of Northern wind players who moved south in the 14th and 15th centuries, bringing their techniques and music with them to Italy and France. These expert improvisers were so successful that no great occasion was complete without the loud band of shawms and sackbuts to regale the public. As Ciaramella demonstrated, however, the soft consort of recorders was just as important for its flexibility and grace.

Adam Gilbert’s excellent notes spoke of a practice common to Renaissance wind players, that of adding an extra voice to a pre-existent composition. Many examples were presented on the afternoon’s program. One that was particularly interesting was a six-voice version of Josquin’s famous Ave Maria . . . virgo serena. The two added voices are in fact an imitative duo, thus magnifying the imitative nature of the original piece. Played skillfully on shawms and sackbuts, the piece's effect was overwhelming. Another example was a set of three three-voice pieces, one of which had had a fourth voice added in the 15th century. Gilbert himself wrote fourth parts to the other two. As he said to the audience, it is really like doing a crossword puzzle, since the fourth voice is hidden somewhere in the others. If one follows the rules, the result is indistinguishable from a part written back in the day.

Another type of improvisation common at the time was the intabulation and ornamentation of songs on the keyboard. Three examples from the Buxheimer Orgelbuch, one of the most important sources for this repertoire, were played by rising star Mahan Esfahani. He then presented his own intabulation of the beautiful chanson "De tous biens plaine" by Hayne von Ghizeghem. Esfahani’s quick fingers made light work of the elaborate ornamentation.

When it comes to the sweet and subtle art of a composer like Johannes Ciconia, no extra elaboration is needed. Rather, a group must just be extremely tight and have a superior sense of rhythm. Ciaramella’s recorder consort of Adam and Rotem Gilbert, Debra Nagy, and Doug Milliken expressed these qualities perfectly, and gave the most convincing reading of Ciconia’s Una Pantera (A Panther) that I’ve ever heard. Their superior tone and flexibility lent perfect subtlety to this work of the Ars Subtilior (literally, "more subtle art"). In particular, Rotem Gilbert is one of the finest recorder players I’ve had the pleasure to hear. Her complete mastery of her instrument, as well as her superior ensemble skills, added a sheen to the whole group that was irresistible.

The loud ensemble was just as charming, in its own bombastic way. Milliken showed off his bagpipe skills in a few pieces, joined by the shawms played by the Gilberts and Nagy, and sackbut and slide trumpet. In a raucous Dutch New Year’s tune called "Mit desen nywen iare," and an even more raucous tune called "Rostiboli gioioso" (something like “joyously roasted and boiled”?), the loud band rocked. Adam Gilbert here switched to a small drum to add to the festivity. Greg Ingles’ suave slide trumpet playing was impeccable, and Erik Schmalz showed what a sackbut can really do.

All in all, this was one of the best concerts I’ve had the pleasure to attend lately. Ciaramella is certainly one of the finest ensembles in the world today for this special repertoire. The excellent skills of all the members, as well as their congenial presence on and off stage, are truly inspiring.

(Rebekah Ahrendt holds the artist’s diploma in viola da gamba and historical performance practice from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. Currently, she is a graduate student in historical musicology at UC Berkeley.)

"SPLENDID CASE ALUMNI PLAY WITH WARMTH, ZEST "

And you thought bagpipes were loud. They almost can't compare with a quartet
of shawms, those extroverted old oboes, when playing at full, glorious tilt.

The early-music ensemble Ciaramella derives its name from the Italian shawm
and, as its biography rather cheekily puts it, "a 15th-century song about a
beautiful girl whose clothes are full of holes."

Happily, the group's concert Saturday at Harkness Chapel avoided any
Swiss-cheese syndrome.

It was a gorgeously woven fabric of works for winds and voices by composers,
many anonymous, who wrote for musicians traveling from Germany to Italy.

The program, "Pipers from Over the Mountains," inaugurated the 20th
anniversary season of "Chapel, Court & Countryside: Early Music at
Harkness," the treasurable series at Case Western Reserve University founded
by Beverly Simmons and Ross Duffin.

Case's music department trains some of the finest early-music
instrumentalists, singers, conductors and educators of our time, a fact
Chapel, Court & Countryside is trumpeting with this season's performances by
successful Case alumni.

The musicians of Ciaramella have been sending ancient sonorities into orbit
since 2003, though their performances suggest longer acquaintance with one
another's artistry. Much of the music they play is the result of scholarly
conjecture, compelling them to find improvisatory solutions to unanswered
sonic questions.

There is no way to resist Ciaramella's immediately communicative
music-making. This nonet of recorder, shawm, bagpipe, slide trumpet, sackbut
(old trombone), percussion, organ, and singers goes about its
artistic business with utmost enthusiasm and expressive zest.

Their program Saturday embraced some two dozen songs and dances performed in
various instrumental and vocal configurations.

Every phrase emerged as a freshly considered musical statement, the weird
harmonies relished and the rhythmic twists emphasized, with touches of jazzy
swing.

Soprano Anna Levenstein made a saucy thing of Antonio Zachara da Teramo's
setting of "Ciaramella, me dolce Ciaramella" and collaborated vivaciously
with vocal colleagues Gail West and Debra Nagy in other songs. In one
uproariously fowl selection, Levenstein and West clucked with rowdy appeal,
a technique not likely to be required in too many early-music curricula.

But technique, however legitimate, is only a means to an end with
Ciaramella. Whether the music was festive or poetic, the performers drove
home the emotional meaning of each piece by exploring nuances and stressing
shapely interplay.

So much to enjoy, so little space to enumerate Ciaramella's myriad
enchantments. But let me mention organist Mahan Esfahani's fleet-fingered
solo work, Doug Milliken's suave bagpiping, Greg Ingles and Erik Schmalz's
sophisticated sackbut tooting, and, of course, the resonantly reedy shawm
artistry of Nagy, Milliken and founding members Adam and Rotem Gilbert. They
bring old music to alluring life.

"EARLY-MUSIC ENSEMBLE BRINGS CROWD, EARS RINGING TO ITS FEET"

Ciaramella charmed listeners with a spirited concert of ravishing Renaissance music Saturday night at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood.

The exceptional early-music ensemble takes its name from the Italian word for "shawm," the shrill double-reed instrument that gives the group its distinctive sound, and also from the name of a girl in a 15th-century song. According to the program notes, her clothes, like the instrument, are "full of holes, and when she opens her mouth, she knocks men flat."

The repertoire of devotional music from Austrian manuscripts circa 1500 did not feature Ciaramella's song. Instead, the theme was the poem "War ich ein Falk" ("Were I a falcon, I would soar on high"). Like other pieces on the program, it was heard in contrasting instrumental and vocal versions.

The opening piece indeed knocked the audience flat, with the piercing sonorities of shawms in concert with slide trumpet and sackbuts (Renaissance trombones).

In comparison to the intense timbres the wind players brought to Dufay's polyphonic setting of a French chanson, a keyboard version of the same tune sounded pale on the church's 1959 Schantz organ.

The sweet sounds of recorders playing sacred polyphony was also a blessed relief before the shawms and sackbuts returned to make the ears ring with the rich contrapuntal textures of sacred songs set by anonymous composers.

The first part of the program culminated in a thrilling performance of an anonymous polyphonic setting of an old German song about two sisters in love with the same man.

The pure voices of sopranos Debra Nagy, Anna Levenstein, Mary E. Larew and Gail West sounded angelic soaring over the reedy drones of bagpipers Adam Gilbert and his wife, Rotem Gilbert, founding members of Ciaramella.

After intermission, the musicians began gently with pieces featuring the organ's flute stops and a quartet of recorders. But then the textures built up with the addition of voices and sackbuts.

The concert peaked with all instruments and voices collaborating in brilliant Christmas music that vibrated like bells in the church's lively acoustics.

Although late 15th-century counterpoint is exceptionally intricate, the Ciaramella players performed it with the ease of jazz musicians improvising on a theme.

Their crisp articulation and colorful timbres made polyphonic lines clear. Their playing of shawms and recorders in all pitch ranges provided a variety of tone colors.

The concert was self-presented by the ensemble members, who either are or were faculty or students at Case Western Reserve University, the Oberlin College Conservatory or Youngstown State University.

The ensemble also includes Doug Milliken, recorder, shawm and bagpipes; Greg Ingles, slide trumpet and sackbut; Erick Schmalz, sackbut; Kris Ingles, trumpet; and Mahan Esfahani, organ.

Though standing ovations are uncommon at concerts of sacred early music, Ciaramella won one - and it was well-deserved.

Certain instruments from long ago are dulcet, such as recorders. Others are decidedly not. The shawm, for example, is a double-reed wind instrument of extroverted character that reflects the "haut" - or loud - aspect of music largely intended for outdoor performance.

The early-music ensemble Ciaramella brought various sizes of shawms and recorders, as well as other instruments and voices, to their concert Sunday at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Gartner Auditorium. The result was elegant, incisive music-making, whether the sounds were sweet or brash.

Ciaramella comes from the Italian word for shawm, which members of the eponymous ensemble play with a keen blend of historical authority and sheer panache. Their program, "Music of Composers From Liege and Burgundy, 1400-1477," was presented in conjunction with the museum's new exhibition, "Duke & Angels: Art From the Court of Burgundy, 1264-1419."

What the audience learned from this refreshing hourlong program was that Burgundy's dukes had access to a plethora of dandy music, of both sacred and secular persuasion. Most of the composers Ciaramella explored are unlikely to ring modern bells, including that pervasive figure known as Anonymous. But the composers' glowing musical ideas on this occasion certainly revealed the range and depth of their art.

Johannes Ciconia's works revel in expressive colorings and volumes. For three shawms, his "O Padua, sidus preclarum" is a stentorian declaration of metropolitan pride, while "O rosa bella" takes three recorders through tender musings on natural matters.

In Franciscus Andrieu's "Armes, amours," three shawms and a slide trumpet play a penetrating tribute to the deceased Guillaume de Machaut. By contrast, Antoine Brusnois' "A vois sans autre" is a love song in which three female voices overlap and intertwine phrases with radiant beauty.

There are moments, as in a textless motet by Paulus de Rhoda, when the resonant combination of three shawms and slide trumpet sounds like a particularly nasal bagpipe. Ciaramella's versatile Doug Milliken also played a real bagpipe splendidly in his own arrangement of a fervent Dutch song.

The members of Ciaramella are vividly alive to the buoyant rhythms, or "Burgundian lilt," that pervade many of these pieces. Everyone in this exceptional octet of early musicians exudes joy and purpose while weaving polyphonic lines with uncommon esprit de corps.

Anna Levenstein's pure, agile soprano was especially impressive, as were Greg Ingles' subtlety on slide trumpet and sackbut (an early trombone) and the quartet of lusty shawm players. Among the latter was Rotem Gilbert, who brought singular vibrancy to the alto shawm aptly known as the bombard.