New Trinity Baroque Succeeds with Baroque Favorites
by John Mortison

The New Trinity Baroque presented their first concerts of the new year entitled "Pachelbel's Canon and other Baroque Favorites". The aptly name program was indeed a collection of some baroque favorites as well as some not so familiar pieces. It featured two new (to this group) players, James Gallagher of Dallas, TX on baroque violin and Mark Husey, music direcor of St. Jude the Apostle Church on harpsichord. New Trinity regulars Mirna Ogrizovic and Sinisa Ciric on baroque violins filled out the ensemble. Artistic Director Predrag Gosta lent his rich baritone voice to the vocal numbers.

The program was a well balanced collection of vocal and instrumental numbers of varying ensembles. It opened with Johann Pachelbel's (1653-1706) famous Canon and its less often heard companion Gigue. The group's sense of tempo and ensemble was spot on with each variation flowing seamlessly upon the prior one. Following was a cantata by Christoph Graupner (1683-1760), "Jesu, fuehre meine Seele". The mood of this cantata was quite happy and the group carried this across well. Mr' Gosta's clear diction and fine tone declaimed the text beautifully.

Next came some more old favorites. The Air from J.S. Bach's (1685-1750) Suite No. 3 for Orchestra, Claudio Monteverdi's (1567-1643) motet "Laudate Dominum", and the Aria "Ombra mai fu" from G.F. Handel's (1685-1759) 1738 opera "Serse". The latter two again displaying Mr. Gosta's voice to good advantage, and teh Handel certainly didn't suffer from being transposed down a couple of octaves from its normal countertenor range. The difficult ornaments in the Laudate were carried off beautifully.

After the Air from the F major Suite from Handel's "Water Music" and the motet "Musikalische Andachten" by Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611-1675), the program moved to J.S. Bach's Sonata #6 in G for Violin and Harpsichord. This was a fine vehicle for the two newest members of the group. Mr. Gallagher showed secure and accurate technique on the violin along with a fine interpretation of the material. Mr. Husey provided solid grounding as well as beautiful solo in the third movement.

A hymn "Now that the Sun Hath Veil'd his Light" and a Chaconne in g by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) then led to the final number, Johann Rosenmueller's (c1619-1684) Cantata "Von den Himmlischen Freuden". The entire ensemble participated in this festive closer bringing an end to a lovely concert.

Reprinted from February 2002 issue of the BROADSIDE - Newsletter of the Atlanta Early Music Alliance.