Music for Lunch, Around the Corner

Yesterday around 1:30pm I had the pleasure of attending a concert at the Church of the Transfiguration ("the Little Church Around the Corner"). My colleague and friend Amy Bartram, with lutenist Ekko Jennings, performed a handful of 17th century English ballads. Some familiar to me, some new discoveries, they sang and played them beautifully. Amy's voice is light and clear, and goes perfectly with the lute. I enjoyed her historical commentary on the genre of songs and the various tidbits regarding specific songs. I especially liked the story behind England's Joy, set to the tune of Hey Boys up go we. The song has to do with the abolition of the Chimney Tax. Apparently at that time in the 17th century, homes with chimneys, or hearths, were taxed (why, I don't know), and if you couldn't or wouldn't pay that tax, the tax collector could take your belongings, like dishes, pewter, etc. People would run and hide their serving-ware when they saw the tax collector coming. So, there was much celebrating it seems when the tax was repealed. Sounds like a dumb tax to me.

Her compressing of Greensleeves both in tempo and by eliminating so many choruses of "Greensleves was all my joy..." was a great choice and I think better clarified the message of the song. Not just a pretty song to the memory of an ex-lover, it was a list of things he'd given her to "win her love," and when she said "not interested" he got mad and whined about it. I had forgotten that he gave her not just jewelry and dresses, but horses, too!

A beautful gem of a song I'd never heard was the very last one, Love Will find Out the Way. It's a beautiful tune, and I love all the animal references about two-thirds of the way through:

You may train the eagle
To stoop to your fist;
Or you may inveigle
The Phoenix of the east;
The lioness, you may move her
To give over her prey;
But you'll ne'er stop a lover
He will find out the way.

If the earth it should part him,
He would gallop it o'er;
If the seas should o'erthwart him,
He would swim to the shore;
Should his Love become a swallow,
Through the air to stray,
Love will lend wings to follow,
And will find out the way.

I'd seen concert annoucements for a while now of Amy and Ekko's collaborative performances, but hadn't made it to a concert of their's until yesterday. I enjoyed very much Ekko's delicate approach to her lute solos. I'm really glad I got to hear her and hope to hear her again soon.

Additionally, I got a chance to see Mark Mangini, director of the Greenwich Village Singers, with whom I played last May. I also was able to speak with Claudia Dumschat, the Director of the concert series, and it looks like there's a good chance I'll be on the series in the spring. So, watch for me!

Trinity Church Archive

As you can see from the archive list of this blog, there were no posts in May '06. That's because my life was (a good kind of) crazy full of performing and rehearsing for numerous concerts. That month I performed with my colleague and friend Sang Joon Park at Trinity Church Wall Street's Concerts at One series. It was a great concert experience and I feel I played well. We played well. I've been meaning to post the link to that concert, which is stored in their archives there. So, here you go. Enjoy!

The Quality of Light, Among Other Things

Today was a beautiful day in New York City, sunny and warm. The quality of light was almost like that in California - clear and bright but not glary. Everything looked fresh. When I was planning my move to New York, one of the things I despaired about leaving behind was that amazing quality of light that you get in Mediterranean climates such as California's. Every once in a while out here, the light is almost the same. It's never identical, though, but close enough to make me feel a little homesick. I had a mad craving for iced rose garden tea, too, which fortunately I can get close to home.

Midtown's Bryant Park was particularly lovely today, what with all the trees budding and sprouting leaves. I love this time of year in the east.

Musically today, I came across this interesting site having to do with a piece of software called The Shape of Song. Created by digital artist Martin Wattenberg, it basically displays a piece of music in the shape of a series of transluscent arches, and repetition plays a big part in creating the arches. Variations from Bach's Goldberg Variations are particularly beautiful. I also enjoyed the rendering of Pachelbel's Canon. There are 648 pieces in the midi library and you can see the shapes for all of them, here.