Concert: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (12/06/2013) (Solomon in London)

12/06/2013

San Francisco Jazz Center, San Francisco

Solomon in London

CROFT The Burial Service
STANLEY Concerto for Strings in B minor Op.2 No.2
BOYCE  Solomon, a serenata

Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
Yulia van Doren, Soprano
Thomas Cooley, Tenor
Philharmonia Chorale - Bruce Lamott, Director

有時候一場音樂會你印象深不深刻可能和音樂好不好聽，音樂家表演生不生動無關，而是音樂會中間發生林林總總的事情。純粹論音樂，PBO這場音樂會的曲目其實算挺新奇的，因為一整晚的英國巴洛克曲子算是罕見的。上次有幸去聽這樣的音樂會是Richard Egarr客座指揮PBO的事了。

為什麼這場音樂會難忘就可有得講了。首先，這天是禮拜五，音樂會場地是舊金山新建好的爵士表演廳。基本上，若同時提到「週五」和「舊金山」二詞，就知道「塞車」一詞多半也是跑不掉的。為了預留塞車的時間，我和朋友Michael提早在音樂會兩個多小時前就從我南灣的家開上去了。 

只不過，這晚突然下起雨來，而且有些地方雨勢還不小呢。週五晚上舊金山的大批車潮，這時速度放得更慢，有時甚至完全靜止。一路上，看著GPS不斷重新調整抵達目的地時間，從會提早到，到剛好準時，然後進入遲到的時間～～原本心裡想著，反正第一首Stanley的協奏曲和Croft的Burial Service沒聽到，應該還是趕得上主要的重頭戲，Boyce的Solomon。

不料，好不容易到了舊金山，到了目的地，又出現了另一個嚴重的問題：找停車位。週五舊金山晚上原本就活動很多。在SF Jazz Center附近繞了兩三圈，就發現要在有限時間內，運氣好找到免費停車位已不大可能了。這時就決定去收費停車場吧。結果～～這晚舊金山的活動還不是普通的多。附近的收費停車場早已全滿了，要花錢停車還沒有地方讓你花咧。繞到遠一點的地方，好不容易在街上找到不用錢的停車位了。這時，舊金山還是繼續飄著綿綿細雨，赫然發現車上沒放傘。於是，兩人只好狼狽地淋著雨，穿梭在街上，一步步往SF Jazz Center邁進。

終於，我和Michael到了表演廳，與另一位好友Candice會合。可憐的Candice，她其實比我們早到許久，只是票在我的名義下買的，無奈她也不能領票進去。當我們三張票都拿到，上半場其實也差不多要結束了，Boyce的Solomon已經表演三分之一了，即將要進入中場休息了。

幾經波折之後，想說下半場可以好好聽音樂會了。可是，進去音樂廳才發現～～SF Jazz Center是個專門計設給爵士室內樂的場地，空間無比吸音！這和一般教堂殘響時間(reverberation time)長，可以將古樂團音色變得飽滿剛好恰恰相反。我們坐在最上面，PBO樂團的聲音根本是乾癟癟的，真的是失望至極。在這麼多慘況中唯一的可取之處，應該是兩位聲樂家的聲音相當充沛，絲毫沒有受到場地的影響。儘管我們坐的位置離樂團那麼遠，但van Doren和Cooley的聲音我們仍聽得相當清楚。

唉，講了那麼多，還是來談談音樂吧。這天因為音樂會曲目有更動，所以Stanley那首絃樂協奏曲換到了下半場第一首，而Croft的Burial Service則是音樂會開場曲。William Croft是巴洛克晚期的英國作曲家，以宗教音樂聞名。當初他為什麼場合寫Burial Service今天已不可考（學者有諸多猜測），但今天英國所有的國葬(state funeral)以及許多禮葬(ceremonial funeral)都是用他這首，包括近代耳熟能詳的邱吉爾首相，黛安娜王妃，以及最近的柴契爾夫人。雖然我們錯過了這首的現場演出，但從自己的CD錄音中得知這首大部份的時間為齊唱(unison)音樂，氣氛極度莊嚴。音樂所唱的文字選自聖經新約以及公禱書(Book of Common Prayer)，中間有一段Croft直接拿了Purcell為Anne女王葬禮寫的音樂。為什麼這段詩節Croft不親自作曲，他的回答是：「理由很明顯吧。」他對前輩Purcell的敬仰，他甚至說其餘的Burial Service也是「盡全力試圖仿效這位大師」。

Stanley那首協奏曲，則是受義大利大協奏曲影響的曲型英國絃樂協奏曲。他的作品二協奏曲是於1749年出版的。這時的歐洲大陸漸漸已進入了古典時期，但英國仍停留在巴洛克晚期的曲風。這首B小調的協奏曲在有幾個樂章分別有大提琴和小提琴的獨奏，這天晚上由William Skeen和Lisa Weiss擔任起這個角色。雖然場地音效很差，但他們犀利的演出仍可感受到一些；樂曲反覆時加的即興裝飾，也非常清新。

這晚的重頭戲，當然是Boyce的Solomon。這首被歸類為一首serenata(短歌劇)，界於清唱劇與歌劇之間的一種形式。Boyce的Solomon的題材，和Handel有名的同名神劇大有不同，不是在敘述所羅門王的聖經故事，而是以舊約聖經裡的Songs of Solomon(所羅門之歌，又稱「雅歌」)為基礎。雅歌和舊約聖經其他章節裡的內容不大一樣，講的是男女之間的愛情，雖然很有詩意，不過有些地方也還挺露骨的～～

而將雅歌改編成短歌劇歌詞的是愛爾蘭生意人及業餘作家Edward Moore。因為Boyce長期都在倫敦而且沒去過愛爾蘭的紀錄，因此二人的合作似乎是靠著書信往返的。Solomon中的兩個角色僅以「他」和「她」稱呼，不論是獨自一人思念對方，見面相擁，或是親密的行房，都不斷歌頌對互相的愛。當然，Moore的歌詞寫得很有意境，不會有粗俗的感覺。

而Solomon是十八世紀英國的galant風格，旋律甜美，是一般人接受度高的音樂。樂曲中就算有對位的成份在，也沒有巴哈及其他稍早的作曲家那麼嚴謹。音樂中也沒有過度花俏的聲樂部份，所以Solomon不僅適合當時的英國聽眾，也考慮到了音樂家的能力，畢竟英國音樂家的程度仍屬於落後歐洲大陸的。另外，Boyce的音樂也有多處配合Moore的歌詞，如在形容鳥語花香時加入長笛（可惜Stephen Schultz吹的部份，我們坐的地方完全聽不到～～)，或是在男主角在冬天室外發抖時，音樂的斷奏呈現的幽默效果。讓我印象最深刻的一段，是「Softly rise, O southern breeze!」一曲，絃樂的溫和音色，加上低音管的獨奏，讓人感覺暖風真的徐徐吹了過來。（Danny Bond這段吹得極優美，雖僅聽得見一點而已。)

Boyce的Solomon在十八世紀下半還挺受歡迎，經常被演出，成功地提高了Boyce在英國音樂圈的聲望。可惜，進入十九世紀，保守的民風讓Solomon因為題材的關係而漸漸淡出音樂廳。就算今天，因為不是典型的神劇／歌劇／清唱劇，加上合唱的部分不多（只有四首），要找到合適的團體和場合來表演還真的是不容易。所以，憑良心講，McGegan和PBO的這場演出，真的是顯得格外地特別了。

後記：音樂會結束後，大廳有免費的茶會，是舊金山LGBT團體舉辦的，感謝PBO多年來的支持。PBO的指揮McGegan以及合唱團指揮Bruce Lamott本身都是同性戀者，而且他們的伴侶也都是灣區的音樂人，自然非常歡迎LGBT的參與。想到這晚為了來聽這場音樂會而發生的悲慘遭遇，毫不客氣地以糕點和飲料來慰勞彌補一下受委曲的心靈～～　 到SF Jazz Center機會難得，不過未來應該會堅持不再來這兒聽古樂的音樂會了～～ 

Sometimes an unforgettable concert you attended wasn't because the music or performance was unforgettable, but the miscellaneous things that happened during or the day of the concert. Purely in terms of the music, this program offered by PBO was actually quite interesting, featuring a whole night of English Baroque music. Last time this happened was the concert in which Richard Egarr guest-conducted the PBO.

So why was this concert unforgettable for me? For starters, this concert took place Friday night at San Francisco's newly completed SF Jazz Center. Anytime the words "Friday night" and "San Francisco" are mentioned in the same sentence can mean only one thing: traffic. To plan for a congested trip up to the city, my friend Michael and I left my place in the South Bay two hours prior to the start of the concert.

Of course, it had to start raining that night, and I don't mean just a drizzle here and there. Certain places had rain pouring down quite heavily, and the cars came to a complete halt. You know things are taking a turn for the worst when your GPS estimate time of arrival starts out as arriving earlier, recalculating to being on time, and then going into the "late territory". And then my hopes were that we'll probably just miss the first two pieces of the program, Stanley's concerto and Croft's Burial Service. We'll still have plenty of time to catch Boyce's Solomon, the main piece of the evening, or so I thought....      

Once we got to our destination in SF, we had to deal with the other big task of finding  parking. Parking Friday night in SF is always bad, but it got especially appalling this evening. For some reason, multiple events were taking place, and not only was nearby  street parking out of the question, paid parking lots were completely full in all the nearby blocks as well. Eventually, after circling around one too many times, we found free street parking several blocks away. Without the foresight of bringing an umbrella, the two of us had to further trod in the rain and make our way to the Jazz Center.     

Finally, we met up with another friend Candice at the lobby. I actually felt really bad for her, as she was already waiting for us since the beginning of the concert. Unfortunately, the tickets were purchased under my name, and she was stuck waiting for us (or maybe she was just really nice and elected to wait for us) . By the time we all got our tickets, the intermission was pretty much coming up, and Solomon was a third of the way through.

After all that had happened, I looked forward to the second half of the concert. It was only fitting that I was met with sheer disappointment....   SF Jazz Center was designed for an intimate chamber music setting, like... jazz. The space was highly non-reverberant, going against current period performance practices which perform in churches or spaces that have a longer reverberation time to achieve fuller sound. And our seats, which were at the very top, must have made the listening experience one of, if not the worst in the house. The orchestra sound was so dead it felt like we were sitting in a dry recording studio (in many regards it kind of was). The only saving grace was that vocalists Yulia van Doren and Thomas Cooley didn't seem to be deterred by the acoustics and still projected their sounds well even where we were sitting.

So now that I've gotten all that behind me, we can finally move onto the music. Turns out, there was a change to the order of the program, where Stanley's concerto was moved around to open the 2nd half, which was common practice back in the day. Croft's Burial Service then was the opening piece. William Croft (1678–1727) was an English late Baroque composer known for his religious vocal works. It's not entirely sure what occasion the Burial Service was composed for in the first place (although scholars keep making educated guesses), but today it is the music used in every state funeral and certain high-profile ceremonial funerals in England, including Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, and the latest, Margaret Thatcher. We missed the performance, but from my own recording, I know that for the majority of the time, the voices are sung in unison, creating an extremely solemn feel. The text for the music is selected from the New Testament and the Book of Common Prayer. Croft reuses in one of his sections, music by Purcell written for Queen Anne's funeral. The reason for not composing new music to the verse, Croft says, "is obvious to every Artist." He also states that the music he did compose for the Burial Service was written "as near as possible I could, to imitate that great Master." 

The Stanley concerto is one of the numerous 18th century English string concertos heavily influenced by the Italian concerto grosso. Stanley's op.2 concertos were published in 1749, a time when mainland Europe had gradually moved on to the early Classical style. This second B minor concerto has solo sections for the cello and violin, which was played tastefully by William Skeen and Lisa Weiss, despite the room acoustics shortcomings. Their added ornamentations on repeats were fresh and delightful.

But the star attraction was unquestionably Boyce's Solomon, categorized as a serenata, a musical piece falling somewhere between an opera and a cantata. The material for Boyce's Solomon is vastly different from Handel's more well-known oratorio of the same name. It is based on the Songs of Solomon, a rather peculiar book in the Old Testament. Unlike the rest of the Old Testament, the Songs of Solomon (also called Song of Songs) do not teach the law of God, but rather talks about sexual love in the form of dialogues between a man and woman. Certain sections are even quite explicit.  

The task of adapting the Songs of Solomon into the serenata libretto was taken up by Irish amateur poet and businessman Edward Moore. As there is no record of Boyce ever setting foot in Ireland, it is most likely that their collaboration was done through letter correspondence. Consisting of only two characters, titled "He" and "She", they continually sing about their undying love for one another, whether they are alone, embracing each other, or yes, having sex. Granted, Moore's sung texts are quite poetic and not vulgar (at least by today's standards).

Musically, Solomon is unmistakably 18th century English galant style with charming melodies. Even contrapuntal parts of the music are appealing and not as austere as Bach and other earlier composers. The vocal lines are also not overtly virtuosic, something in consideration of the abilities of English vocalists. In short, Boyce's music catered to both the audience and musicians of the time. In addition, Boyce sometimes adds colorful musical effects to match the texts, such as adding the flute on the mention of "birds" (too bad Stephen Schultz's playing was barely audible for us), or repeated staccato in scene where the guy is freezing outside ("shiv'ring with the cold") to good humorous effect. The most memorable section though, was the song "Softly rise, O southern breeze!", with a bassoon solo on top of the soft strings, making one really feeling warm and fuzzy (great playing by Danny Bond, despite only a small fraction carrying over).   

Boyce's Solomon went through a period of relative popularity, performed frequently in the second half of the 18th century, establishing Boyce as one of the most acclaimed English composers of his time. Going into the 18th century, the public's increasing conservative taste made Solomon unpopular. We most likely will have less issues with its nature and texts today, but because it doesn't nicely fall within the well-known genres of the oratorio/opera/cantata, and since there are only 5 choral pieces (many of them short) total, a complete production of Solomon has not been popular. In that sense, attending McGegan and PBO's Bay Area performance was truly something quite special.      

Epilogue: There was a free post-concert reception, hosted by SF's LGBT community, acknowledging PBO's continual support of them. In fact, PBO conductor Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Chorale director Bruce Lamott are both gay, and their long-time partners are also active in the classical music scene of the Bay Area. To make up for the bitter parts of the night that what I went through, I gladly munched on the pastries and cakes that were present at the reception. An even though this was a memorable and interesting concertgoing experience at the SF Jazz Center, I vow to never return for an early music concert at this venue.....