Music Reviews : Medieval Pleasures From Anonymous 4

Medieval music is not exactly the stuff of “Greatest Hits” CDs and marketing dreams--yet. But the joyful, stereotype-busting sounds of Anonymous 4 and the Medieval Strings, as heard Tuesday in the ravishing acoustic of St. Cecilia Church, could well make the breakthrough in these multi-cultural times.

The two quartets displayed intelligence and creative imagination in their Chamber Music in Historic Sites program, drawn from four Spanish sources. More important, perhaps, they produced glorious sounds of surprising variety, all integrated in remarkably supple, balanced ensemble.

Anonymous 4--Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Johanna Rose--take their name in pun from a medieval treatise. The New York-based singers applied themselves with equal devotion and skill to works as diverse as an eerie sequence, “Portum in ultimo,” from the Codex Calixtinus and the earthy narrative “Non e gran cousa” from the Cantigas de Santa Maria.

The Medieval Strings--vielle players Jeanne Coburn, Shira Kammen, Margriet Tindemans, plus harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton--are based in Seattle. They backed the singers in many numbers with fluid grace and on their own worked expressively in pieces created from vocal models, particularly a complex group from the Codex de las Huelgas.

The results proved immensely refreshing. In the warm, reverberant acoustical environment the music blossomed radiantly. The program provided opportunities for just about every possible combination of the eight musicians, realized with complete technical assurance and interpretive conviction in any configuration.

And in any style. Performers in this repertory all too often settle for a broadly generic approach, but Anonymous 4 and the Medieval Strings clearly defined the different eras and contexts of the music with subtle changes in performance practice.

This was most apparent in the Codex Calixtinus group, the earliest music on the agenda. Coming after intermission, the rhythmically bold and seductive “Vox nostra resonet” made a striking contrast with the previous material from the Llibre Vermell and the Las Huelgas manuscript. The whole set was a wonder of powerful, communicative music-making, which peaked in that astonishing “Portum in ultimo,” with its vocal drones and poignant dissonances suggesting Bulgarian folk music.