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Five hundred-year old music transports Rochester's Stephen Marcus into a "whole new world". He started a chorus called "Musica Spei" (Latin for 'Music of Hope') five years ago to see if other local music-lovers might feel the same. The 15-member chorus just received City Newspaper's Critics' Choice Award for "Best Musical Time-Travelers".
Not only does "Musica Spei" perform virtually forgotten Renaissance music, it does so without any musical accompaniment or a conductor. "Rather than reproducing the vision of one man..., I think of us much more as being a jazz ensemble," says Marcus. "When you're lined up like you normally are in a choir, you look at the backs of peoples' heads or you look at the conductor. We HAVE to look at each other, 'cause otherwise we're not gonna start together."
The singers are obviously moved by the gentle beauty of these centuries-old compositions, but they were still surprised when audiences felt the same. "I think people are touched emotionally in the same way they are by Brahams, by Beethoven, by Elton John," says Marcus. "I think it's just the power of music."
The musicians of the third annual Rochester Early Music Festival called for an early intermission Saturday at St. Anne Church, giving the audience a chance to walk out to the frigid parking lot and see a lunar eclipse. It was a good celestial omen. For much of the evening, the festival’s six participating ensembles performed with enough energy and conviction to dispel any misconception about early music being dry and unmoving.
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Musica Spei, an a cappella vocal group, gave perhaps the most memorable performances of the concert, singing a short program of seldom-heard pieces from eastern Europe. These were mostly sacred songs, but you would not have known that from the performance. Musica Spei sings everything with a gratifying warmth and effervescence, banishing any thoughts that this music may once have been sung by monks.
Advent Antiphons (PDF format)