While I've no talent at betting on odds, I hope that this auspicious
beginning results in the long-term presence of a new, vibrant ensemble
on the HIP music scene in the Washington DC area.

The O17, led by Director Michael Holmes, had its debut concert yesterday
afternoon in the small circular sanctuary of the Paint Branch Unitarian
Church in Adelphi, Maryland.  For this concert, they were joined by the
vocal group Carmina (dir.  Vera Kochanowsky).

Perhaps taking its name from the cue given by Frans Brueggen's Orchestra
of the 18th Century, the O17's intended concentration on works from the
1600s has the added attraction of re-creating music from a time when the
"orchestra" was in the process of evolving to become what we know it as
today.  After all, in the early 1600s a large "orchestra" might have been
similar to the ensemble Monteverdi specified in "L'Orfeo", whereas by
century's end the basic foundation of today's orchestras was being set in
place to play Purcell, Lully, Charpentier, and Corelli.  In between, the
'idea' of the orchestra (in both size and instrumentation) was probably
in a much greater state of flux than afterwards, so the promise of the
O17 lies in its future efforts to show us how that evolution took place.

The program was devoted to music from Louis XIV's France, not exactly
the easiest repertoire to do in terms of instrumentation and especially
the more elaborate ornamentation that French Baroque music demands.
Certainly, it is not music that I would expect a modern-trained symphony
orchestra to handle well by simply plunking a harpsichord in the middle
of the string section and carrying on business as usual.  So all the
HIP-styled instruments were there in force.  My 10 year old son (starting
his 3rd year of violin lessons) immediately noticed that the string players
used different bows, and held them farther up, not down by the frogs.  He
also noticed that the 6 violinists had no chin rests on their instruments,
and most of the strings had no shoulder rests, save a handkerchief or
towel.  The 3 cellos had no floor pegs, and were augmented by a viola
da gamba.  Of course, the strings were all gut, all the time.

Added to this were a full continuo ensemble (harpsichord and organ, two
theorboes with nearly 2 meter long necks, a Baroque guitar, a bassoon and
the bowed bass instruments); Baroque oboes and recorders; three Baroque
trumpets with a sackbut for the bass part, and a pair of small timpani
played with wooden mallets rather than felt covered ones favored for modern
drums.

O17 Director Holmes began with Lully's 'Marche pour les ceremonie des
Turcs', from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," a piece familiar to anyone who saw
the film "Tous les matins du monde", the (largely fictious) story centered
around the composer Marin Marais.  An overture by Elizabeth- Claude Jacquet
de la Guerre was based on the Lullian form, but with some added twists and
concertante playing that bespoke a woman composer whose output would reward
further investigation.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Deux Airs de Trompettes" gave the first chance
for the brass to show their stuff.  Although they acquitted themselves well
(with only the occasional cracked note), there were actually more problems
in the woodwinds, with some pretty sour intonation out of the oboes.
However, this sort of work in a live performance does show one thing--with
HIP ensembles the balance problems between the brass, strings and winds
that might bedevil such performances on modern instruments simply don't
occur, or at least to the same extent.  The trumpets and drums could play
with gusto, but not necessarily overpower the softer sounds of period
strings and winds.

Perhaps in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season, a little known gem,
the "Cantique de la Vierge" (Magnificat) by Henry du Mont closed the first
half of the program.  More intimate in scale than Magnificats written even
in the following century, the work allowed the 16-voice Carmina to show
their abilities.  Besides lovely singing by the soloists and the full
group, they used French pronunciation of the Latin texts to keep to the
spirit of the performance.

A Christmas theme was carried over to the second half by a series of
instrumental Noels by Charpentier, played by strings and recorders.
Most of these were unfamiliar to this listener, but they displayed a less
extroverted side of Charpentier's output.  Although differing in moods
and tempi, the overall feeling was relaxed, and they were a definite balm
against the anticipated onslaught of shopping-mall carols to which we will
soon be subjected.

The Big Stuff was saved for last, of course--the familiar "Te Deum"
of Charpentier, with its famous Prelude (no doubt written for the
"Louisvision" channel back in the 1600s:-).  If I sensed any slight
reticence in the ensemble's playing in the first half of the program,
that was neatly blown away in this performance, which gave the orchestra
and the vocal ensemble a chance to fully display their talents.  Bass
soloist Brian Ming Chu's work deserves special mention.  The one glitch
in the performance was that during some of the fanfare like instrumental
passages, Holmes drove the tempi so hard that the brass players sometimes
had difficulty articulating the notes cleanly--in this case I suspect that
modern trumpets with valves would NOT have made things any better.  But
again, I was struck by the relatively natural balance achieved between the
instruments and voices, seemingly without either the need to overreach or
to hold back.  Certainly the venue of the small church helped to create a
sound world that was full-bodied without straining (I'm not so sure that
the impact would have been as memorable in a large concert hall).  While
not noted, I would assume that a lowered concert pitch would also add to a
less-strained performance, especially for the singers.  Indeed, with the
ambience one could have imagined transporting oneself to some small chapel
at Versailles or Paris in the 1600s, and not heard a much
differently-scaled performance.

Throughout the concert, the O17 displayed what sounded to me a well-
grounded ability to handle French Baroque style and ornamentation.
Certainly, there were instances of ragged entrances, and missed or off-tune
notes--after all, this is not a group that has played together for years on
end (some of the members seemed barely young enough to belong in a school
rock band, let alone a HIP ensemble).  But for their first concert, the
O17's efforts paid off handsomely, even with (as their manager admitted)
only a couple of rehearsals beforehand.

I also enjoyed the concert's informal atmosphere, which allowed the
vocalists and instrumentalists not playing in a particular piece to sit
among the audience, and the way the latter could approach and talk with
the players and singers during the breaks and after the concert.  One hopes
that this friendly approachability will continue in future.  But if word of
mouth gets around, the O17 may have to move to larger quarters before too
long.  Their next concert is s cheduled for February 4, 2001.

Bill H.