Soprano charming in pieces for amateurs
In the days before technology allowed us to outsource all our entertainment to professionals, music was something people made for themselves in their own homes — which, in turn, meant a thriving economic market for music suitable for amateurs.
Sunday’s highly enjoyable concert by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Berkeley’s First Congregational Church — the opening salvo in the weeklong Berkeley Festival and Exhibition — offered a lively sampling of that repertoire, a collection of songs and chamber music written for domestic use. The fact that the performers were professionals may have cast doubt on any claims to historical authenticity, but diminished the evening’s musical charms not a whit.
Much of the program was devoted to Scottish folk-song arrangements by Haydn and Beethoven, beautifully sung by soprano Dominique Labelle with Nicholas McGegan accompanying her at the fortepiano. For their composers, these were almost exclusively mercenary arrangements — a way to make a quick ducat without too much mental effort — but the results are still musically rewarding.
The finest of the selections combine sentiment and charm in deft proportions, and Labelle and McGegan brought both qualities to their performances. Haydn’s setting of “Auld Robin Gray,” a heartbreaker about a young lass who marries for much-needed money when her sailor boy perishes at sea, got a haunting rendition, while “John Anderson, My Jo” offered a happier picture of love and marriage.
There were more elaborate selections on the program as well, including a beautiful romance (“Que le Soleil”) by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny for which violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and cellist Phoebe Carrai joined the party. Labelle’s singing, clear and vibrant throughout, was firstrate.
The instrumental selections were nearly as inviting, particularly Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 32 in A, which brought the first half of the evening to a vibrant close.