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New Trinity Baroque’s ‘Candlelight Christmas’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New Trinity Baroque’s “Candlelight Christmas.” Saturday at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. www.newtrinitybaroque.org.
CONCERT REVIEW
When violinist John Holloway and New Trinity Baroque are going full fury, no music ensemble in Atlanta creates so much excitement. No group seems as vital.
In “Candlelight Christmas,” Saturday at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, they delivered the most satisfying concert of this classical holiday season — a model for how to do it — and were joined by organist Brad Hughley and St. Bartholomew’s a capella Schola.
Their program covered about a dozen short vocal and instrumental works of 17th century German composers, including Buxtehude, Biber, Pachelbel — the generations before Bach and Handel.
An eloquent speaker, Holloway explained that music of Christmas is often in the warm, lulling 6/8 meter of cradle songs and often pastoral in character: naïve and rustic, of shepherds celebrating the season. When you combine that mood with the contrapuntal elegance and harmonic gravitas typical of the German school, you get Christmas music of uncommon sincerity and substance — the perfect antidote to an overdose of “Jingle Bell Rock.”
The evening began with carillon bells pealing outside the sanctuary, the first of many touches that helped create an air of ceremony and, at times, a sense of musical holiness.
The evening’s highlights can when New Trinity were on their own — pared down for this concert to just two violinists, Holloway and Mirna Ogrizovic, with continuo provided by Predrag Gosta on chamber organ and Christina Babich on cello.
In Biber’s Sonata “Pastorella” Holloway’s fiddle sang, stomped and swayed, rhythmically sturdy and viscerally thrilling. They emphasized the bizarre chromaticism of Johann Joseph Fux’s “Sonata Pastorale,” making this music from the early 1700s anticipate Viennese classicism or, alternatively, experimental modern music.
Soprano Julia Matthews, based in Reading, Pa., joined them for several brief cantatas. She was most convincing in Christoph Bernhard’s “Fear you not” (“Weihnachtskonzert”), where she summoned a choir boy’s chaste “white” tone but also let loose a few moments of operatic opulence.
Hughley, playing St. Bart’s great Rosales pipe organ, was at his best in Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in D minor, in thick swaths of glorious, lucid sound. Near concert’s end, the Schola — a group of enthusiastic amateurs — sang Michael Praetorius’ “A Rose Sprang Up” an ancient Christmas chorale that seemed to sum up the mood of the season.
New Trinity’s next performance, Feb. 11, continues to explored this rich era in a program titled “Baroque Before Bach.”
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By KBW
December 23, 2005 11:04 AM | Link to this
This is all well and good, but what Atlanta REALLY needs is a resident Early Music group that is not glorified, “musico-social” climbers. …with players to match. Something that’s actually about the music…please?
By Catherine E.
December 26, 2005 1:43 PM | Link to this
The comment from KBW leaves me wondering whether KBW went to the concert at all, or whether this person has ever listened to a New Trinity Baroque concert? The last comment implies that New Trinity Baroque is not “about the music” — how so, I ask? I go to many concerts in Atlanta, and rarely do I get to hear (and see!) such passion and love of music. How does a music ensemble end up not being about the music? What is glorified about New Trinity Baroque? Why does a good review imply glorification?
What does KBW mean by “musico-social” climbers? Is it because this group of relatively young musicians has been recently joined by a reputable player? Since when is it wrong to combine forces in talent, skill, love, and passion of the music?
Lastly, if KBW is from Atlanta (and certainly KBW must be since he/she appears invested in this matter), KBW should by now know that New Trinity Baroque IS a resident ensemble here. For the last couple of years I have been coming to New Trinity Baroque’s concerts. NTB has a regular concert season in this city, and from the brochure I learn that it has two ensemble-in-residence appointments at two of Atlanta’s universities (Emory and Georgia State University). Which part of this is not “resident”?
In my book, Atlanta has what it REALLY needs. Mr Ruhe has written a review that reflects exactly how I felt at their Christmas concert. My family and I enjoyed the music and the concert was all about the music and holiday spirit.