Lutenist Dominic Shaner and Soprano Amy White

AN INTIMATE EUPHORIC EXPERIENCE AT CREATIVE ARTS SERIES CONCERT

A handful of early music lovers heard a unique concert of rare Renaissance gems from Spain, presented by the Euphora Duo Feb. 5 at Santa Rosa’s Resurrection Parish. To see and hear an unaffected and transparent performance of early music is a memorable experience, and to combine such a musical delight with the type of nuanced and intelligent program that was offered provided a memorable afternoon.

Produced by the Creative Arts Series, the program was titled Avila: Musicians and Mystics of Sixteenth Century Spain, and drew together the music of Alonso Mudarra, Francesco Canova da Milano, Enriquez de Valderrabano and other composers, with short selections of poetry by John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. The result was a rich and intimate musical experience that provided a bridge into another world, one in which both the beauty and the poignancy of the 16th century was brought vividly to life.

Musical ornaments flowed easily from soprano Any White, and her emotional range in the music expressed beautifully the many faces and facets of love: the haunting melancholy of the loss of King David for his dead son Absalom in Mudarra’s Triste estava el rey David, the flirtatious desire for beautiful girls in Donde son estas serranas, and the pious face of devotion of O que’n la cumber es ya el pecado. Throughout the program the audience was called to an inward place of contemplation and reflection through the purity and transparency of both her sung and spoken performance. Ms. White’s voice is remarkably lovely and natural. Soaring effortlessly in the clear upper register, she also dipped down into her lower range to reveal a dark honeyed tone in the final romance, Ya cavalga Calaynos, where her dynamic and expressive versatility was noteworthy.

Dominic Schaner was a superbly sensitive partner in his accompaniment on both the lute and viheula. Together their collaboration was one of those rare duos where each phrase and ritard seemed inseparably yoked, the balance exactly right and the interpretation precisely aligned and complimentary. The performance of Mudarra’s exquisite Soneto Por asperos caminos was breathtaking.

Mr. Schaner also offered several solo pieces, including his own variations on O guardame las vacas which showcased his exemplary understanding of early music performance practice and revealed a supple and nuanced phrasing, elegant ornamentation and rhythmic flexibility.

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