Altramar Review from the Schnectady Daily Gazette

"Soothing music of Altramar takes audience back several centuries"

TROY--The medieval music group Altramar presented a mostly secular song mix Sunday evening at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.

Early music is sometimes difficult for modern listeners because they need to settle their concentration and emotions down to this music's sensibility, which is so much calmer and more serene. If music reflects its society, then it must have been a simpler place during the Middle Ages.

The four-member group, founded in 1991, took its name from what the ancient troubadors called those Near Eastern lands "over the sea" where all the knights went on Crusade.

Altramar specializes in music of the 10th through 12th centuires. For this concert, the quartet focused on songs of Jewish, Christian and Muslim influences in Spain. Detailed histories and some translations for the songs were provided, although the singers sang in colloquial and pure [sic] Arabic, Hebrew and Ladino, a combination of Hebrew and Spanish.

The players did not dress the part, appearing in comfortable modern attire, but they created a definite medieval feel with their staged tableaux and with the period instruments. For every song, the musicians would regroup in different postures, which broke up the visual continuity. This was especially effective, because many songs were done one into another without a break.

And the instruments, all made for them by luthier Timothy Johnson, were a fascinating group just to look at and hear.

What was especially interesting about this concert's music was the very apparent Moorish flavor to all the songs. Although they were grouped either into laments or gentle dances, that influence was everywhere.

Music of this period has a very specific style. Rhythm, harmony and melody were simple with no vibrato used by the singers. Because they all use the modal scale, the songs all sound as if they're in the same key, if one actually use that word. Phrases last as long as a singer's breath, with final notes often dropped off quickly at the end, like a sigh. Accompaniments to solo voice never interfere, but weave about the singer's lines.

But with the Arabic influence, sections of everything were repeated over and over within a song, some for quite a while. A listener could fall into a semitrance state in the dance tunes until suddenly the music would end. Or, in the solo laments, they might be lulled into a peaceful space just relishing the purity of the sound, especially if it's David Stattelman's clear tenor voice.

Jann Cosart, playing on stringed instruments that resembled the violin family, and Chris Smith, on various lutes, excelled in the seemingly extemporaneous accompaniments. Soprano Angela Mariani acted and sang her parts with elan, often doubling on harp.

Everything was done smoothly. Much planning went into each piece, but everyone seemed very much at ease.

But music is supposed to evolve over time. Amazingly, travelers walking down any street in Cairo today would hear the same style dance tunes as those sung by Altramar. Only the addition of trumpets and the Near Eastern equivalent of oboes has changed the overall sound. And if they awoke at dawn to hear the muezzin call the faithful to pray, they would hear the same kind of vocal lines.

The concert was the first in a series of five that Dorian Recordings is sponsoring at the Music Hall, each spotlighting a Dorian artist, which will be recorded live and rebroadcast over National Public Radio's "Performance Today." This concert will also be rebroadcast later in the fall over WHMT.

Go here for an "Iberian Garden" program description.
Go here to visit Dorian's web site.