Camerata Nova blow dust off Renaissance

LOCAL choral chamber ensemble Camerata Nova blew the dust off the High Renaissance with its season opener, Misa Mexicana (Mexican Mass), brightening up a winter Sunday afternoon with a little south-of-the-border sunshine.

The program offered a variety of contrasting Spanish 16th- and 17th-century sacred and folk songs, with its central work, composer Jan Gutiérrez de Padilla’s evocative Misse ego flos campi interspersed throughout the program like five liturgical soundbites.

The 13-voice mixed choir is known for its esoteric exploration and performance of Renaissance music, which may not otherwise be heard in a live setting. Artistic director-conductor-composer Andrew Balfour has shaped the ensemble as a labour of love since founding the group in 1996, taking his turn singing with the ranks during the two weekend concerts. Guest conductor – and fellow chorister – Ross Brownlee led the choir with flair and infectious enthusiasm, breathing new life into the mostly unpublished scores.

The program also featured, notably, a performance of Phelipe Rogier’s Super flumina babilonis – dug up in Mexico’s Puebla Cathedral vaults by Montreal music historian Douglas Kirk – a piece that has not been heard since the 1750s.

One can only imagine the jokes that abound with unusual, early-period music instruments like the Renaissance sackbut. We had a chance to hear not one, but two guest sackbut players, Montreal musician Trevor Dix and local Jeff Boch, accompany the choir on the vintage brass instruments that resemble scaled-down trombones. Todd Martin’s cornetto debut on Juan del Encina’s Mas vale trocar was even stranger, as he played the forlorn, nasally horn like there was no tomorrow.

A program highlight was Joan Cererol’s gorgeous nativity song, Serafin, with soprano soloist Meagan Reimer’s effortless, natural voice soaring over Matthew Knight’s briskly paced guitar accompaniment.

It’s always a treat to hear Winnipeg’s salsa king, Rodrigo Muñoz (a.k.a. Papa Mambo), play it straight, with a lovely guitar solo of Luis de Milan’s Pavana No. 3. Muñoz also performed double duty, adding rhythmic life with his cajón – or boxed drum – and guitar accompaniment to a pair of livelier works.

Renaissance music is, arguably, a niche market that demands a certain sensibility and refinement of taste. This choir has so much heart – even offering this holiday concert as a freebie to its loyal fans – and enlivens antiquated scores with such missionary zeal that even the most die-hard, newer music lover would find it hard to resist.