TENET Presents the Music of Machaut and His World
by Robert Leeper
When musicians choose to focus their efforts on music of the long past, they are making the difficult choice to approach unrecorded, often vaguely documented music as accurately as possible. On Friday night at the Tenri Center, the joy which the fabulous early music choir TENET performed the 14th century music of Guillaume Machaut and his contemporaries felt nothing short of authentic. They were having obvious fun, presenting countermelodies and adding virtuosic ornaments.
It would appear that Machaut, the focus of this year's TENET series The Cycle of Invention, was somewhat vain thanks to his extensive self-documentation. From his music, to his poetry, to his regular correspondences, everyone knew what he was up to, whether they wanted to know or not. Whatever the purpose, his notes have proven to be a boon for music scholars, as he is the first composer in the western canon about which there is extensive biographical information - and, more importantly, documentation of his music and poetry. TENET's series seeks to contextualize Machaut's music with that which preceded and followed.
Friday’s program, entitled “The New Art,” focused on the theme of love. The inventive grouping allowed what otherwise might have have been a programmatic grab bag to showcase a variety composers on the first half, touching on the early 14th century French satire Roman de Fauvel and the work of Adam de la Halle. An intense plea for love, Jehannot de Lescurel’s “Dis Tans plus qu’il ne faudroit flours,” was given a gorgeous performance by tenor Owen McIntosh. Backing up the TENET vocalists were Charles Weaver on lute, Debra Nagy on recorder, and music director Scott Metcalfe on strings.
The second half of the evening focused on Machaut, as well as music by his less-well documented contemporary Philippe de Vitry. The clear standout was Machaut's "Aucune gent": a sorrowful motet with a dark serenity that, in TENET’s rendering, was both moving and luminous.
Overall, the performance showed obvious mastery and refinement, each voice injected with individual charm. Mr. Metcalfe demonstrated a deep knowledge of the music in his informal talks about the pieces, sharing his obvious enthusiasm with the audience. Most importantly, TENET presented this music as an audience might have heard it six centuries ago, with a healthy dose of theatricality and improvisatory flair.
This was TENET's first of three performances this season of the work of Machaut; future performances are January 13th and May 5th. Tickets and info here.