Celebrated Baroque Music Trio A Rare Treat

If you want to hear great baroque music, go to the experts. That's exactly the recipe the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (MCO) followed on Wednesday night when it presented its special concert, an evening with English soprano Emma Kirkby and Canadian countertenor Daniel Taylor under the baton of famed British conductor Jane Glover.

The collaboration of such a celebrated trio is a rare happening for our city. And, in fact, it almost didn't happen. Just a few notes into the Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Pergolesi, Taylor put out his hand to halt the music. With a shake of his head, he approached the audience to ask for a few moments of repose. Orchestra members put down their instruments and Taylor and Kirkby returned to their seats on the stage. A few minutes later, Taylor announced that he would be right back and left the stage with Glover and Kirkby. Audience members murmured in bewilderment until MCO board president Ted Bock announced that Taylor had asked for two minutes and that the concert would resume shortly.

In fact, it was a half hour before it did. Apart from Taylor clutching a chair for support during some of his arias, nothing else seemed amiss. His glorious voice never failed him, and he completed the entire program with all the polish and spirit that have earned him success.

A pared-down orchestra accompanied the singers and came to life under Glover's precise direction. She uses some very sharp movements, alternated with big sweeps of the arms to get just the right flow and fervour. This was a much-renewed ensemble from their December concert.

Kirkby is fun to watch. She is so animated -- her face and mannerisms express everything so openly. One senses that she is being entirely candid with the audience, using her hands along with her voice to tell the story. Lascia ch'io pianga from Handel's Rinaldo was replete with palpable emotion, sorrowful without being morose. Kirkby's trills were like feather-light flutters, as delicate as can be. Each note is finely formed, without any hard sounds. This was a more ornamented version than some, but always smooth and flowing -- a most touching performance.

Taylor included the show-stealing Domero la tua fierezza from Giulio Cesare in Egito. He sang this with the MCO last year and audiences can't get enough of his passionate rendition of this fiery aria. With his most stern and threatening glare, he sings of domination and humiliation, summoning all his strength and shifting from his countertenor voice to his baritone register. It is quite an effect. Dramatic and exciting, it showed Taylor's great versatility -- and it reassured us that he was feeling better. The crowd literally erupted when he was finished.

The Stabat Mater was performed after intermission and moved along at quite a clip. Kirkby and Taylor, despite their very different voices, make a terrific duo. While Kirkby has a pure and simple delivery, matching timbre with the instruments, Taylor is more finely buffed, with notes so rounded and finished, they seem to be wrapped in the finest veil of silk. Put these together and you get a treat that won't likely be heard again in Winnipeg for quite some time. -- www.manitobachamberorchestra.org