Tafelmusik’s fine toast to royal occasions
Four Weddings, a Funeral, and a Coronation (out of 4) Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chamber Choir, led by Elisa Citterio and Ivars Taurins. Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St Paul’s Centre, to Dec. 3. tafelmusik.org or 416-964-6337
What a happy coincidence that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement the same week as the Tafelmusik Orchestra and Tafelmusik Chamber Choir are presenting a program of fine Baroque-era instrumental and choral music for regal occasions.
The rich selection of pieces from the French and English courts is a great tribute to royal weddings of all eras. At Wednesday night’s opening performance at Jeanne Lamon Hall, the period-instrument orchestra was in excellent form and the choir — one of this country’s finest — was also at its best.
Usually, Tafelmusik turns over its Chamber Choir concerts to founding music director Ivars Taurins, but in this program, titled Four Weddings, a Funeral, and a Coronation, Taurins shared leadership duties with violinist Elisa Citterio, who is in her first season of leading the orchestra.
Citterio’s instrumental-only contributions included ballet music Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote in1660 for the marriage festivities of young King Louis XIV, instrumental portions of a work Henry Purcell composed for the marriage of Princess (later Queen) Anne in 1683 and an- other that George Frideric Handel created for another Princess Anne’s wedding in 1734.
The orchestra’s new music director also included a wedding-ceremony favourite that endures to this day: Johann Pachelbel’s famous “Canon,” along with the usually forgotten “Gigue” that goes along with it. That work dates back to the early 1670s.
Citterio led light, lively, meticulously articulated interpretations of all the pieces, fully conveying the atmosphere of celebration from so many centuries ago.
Taurins stepped onstage to lead the orchestra and choir in a complex verse anthem by John Blow commissioned for the coronation of King James II in 1685, a chorus from the same wedding piece of Handel’s and, on a more sombre note, a funeral mass written for an esteemed, aristocratic French general by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in 1695.
It may seem odd to include a requiem in this sort of concert program, but Charpentier had a very light touch with the music, gently sending the dead off to their next life with smoothly interweaving counterpoints of instrument and voice. Taurins shaped the music expertly, adding a further note of grace to an already noble score. So many of the choir’s individual voices are so good that Taurins has no need to hire guest soloists and it gives our local talent a chance to shine.
Much of the music on this program isn’t heard very often and all of it is worth savouring, especially when it is performed this well. And why not raise a toast to the prince and his bride-to-be in the process? Classical music writer John Terauds is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.