Concert Review of Lillies
Rose Ensemble Expertly Weaves Choral Tapestry
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Star Tribune Staff Writer
September, 1998
Entering its third season, the locally based Rose Ensemble for Early Music is settling nicely into a two-fold identity. Led by the capable Jordan Sramek, it has established itself not only as the Twin Cities' premier performance group of the unaccompanied Renaissance vocal repertory, but also as an interpreter of contemporary choral works that draw upon a sonic palette similar to that employed by Renaissance composers. In this respect, Sramek follows the lead of the renowned Hilliard Ensemble.
Sunday evening, the Rose Ensemble performed new and old music at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis. The prize of the program was a requiem mass by the 16th-century Portugese composer Duarte Lobo. The 12 singers wove a sumptuous tapestry from the work's exquisite counterpoint. They quickly established that impeccable intonation - key in performing unaccompanied Renaissance vocal music - that was to rule the evening, allowing the ear to focus on the harmonies that fleetingly emerge in the music's layered melodies.
The contemporary work for the evening was also a requiem, taken from the music that Canadian Mychael Danna wrote for the 1996 film "Lilies." For this piece, never before performed in concert, cellist Daryl Skobba of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra accompanied a vocal quartet composed of two Rose Ensemble members and guest singers J. David Moore and Mark Dietrich. Though Skobba's contribution proved precarious at times, the singers delivered a compelling performance.
The only complaint of the evening was actually a wish. While Sramek varied the program with monophonic chant, the Renaissance works were largely slow-paced. Perhaps in the future the ensemble will bring its proficient singing to bear on more virtuosic Renaissance works, such as those of Antoine Busnoys or Josquin des Prez. This would vary this portion of the program and determine whether the Rose Ensemble indeed has the stuff of an expert group such as the Hilliard Ensemble.