os Angeles is probably the only major U.S. metropolis that does not have a dedicated performance venue for recitals and chamber music.  For such events, we have to look elsewhere in the nearby environs of Pasadena (Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium), UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall and Royce Hall, Burbank’s Alex Theater, and various area churches.  While the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall is a worthy venue with decent comfort and acoustics, it cannot compare with San Francisco’s Herbst Theater or New York City’s Weill Recital Hall for their hallowed history.  Everything in L.A. is a big sprawl; collective tradition is all but non-existent.  There is probably more classical music being played in L.A. than in any other major U.S. city, but it’s so de-centralized over 88 different cities that you would never have guessed.

Be that as it may, judging from the packed auditorium last Saturday night at the Zipper Hall, word must have got out about Musica Angelica’s innovative holiday program, which consisted of Bach and Handel, as well as Telemann and the lesser-known Italian Baroque masters – Corelli, Caldara and Manfredini. 

The small ensemble of Musica Angelica, all virtuoso players of the first rank, played with their usual precision and brio, bringing out the ravishing harmonies and sprightly dance rhythms in the ‘Christmas’ Concerto Grosso by Corelli.  In the more introspective version by Manfredini, warm Italian lyricism embraced every phrase of the cantilena.  Martin Haselböck conducted from the organ console and contributed artfully to the bass line of these sacred concertos. 

Telemann, that most prolific of composers, wrote his Concerto in D for Violin and Trumpet  (technically a violin concerto with trumpet obbligato) that for once does not sound like it was composed on autopilot.  This little gem features an ‘Aria’ that showcased Ms. Elizabeth Blumenstock’s astonishing bow and fingerwork, almost devilish in its intensity.  Martin Patscheider is a splendid trumpeter, whose warm, mellow tones blended well with the bold, slightly tart timber of Ms. Blumenstock’s 1660 Guarneri. 

Canadian soprano Dominique Labelle’s bright, pure tone reminded me of Emma Kirby, but has more body and warmth than the English soprano.  It was splendidly accurate in the virtuoso vocal part of Bach’s popular Jauchzet Gott Cantana No. 51, receiving lively support from conductor Haselböck.  Bach’s instrumental, angular vocal writing contrasts sharply with the operatic, Italian style of Handel in his Gloria sacred cantata, written during Handel’s 1707 Italian trip.  Ms. Labelle’s gleaming soprano was powerful and brilliant in the abundant coloraturas, runs and roulades; it also sported a delicate, finely-spun trill in moments of lyrical pathos.  A prolific opera composer in Rome and Barcelona, Antonio Caldara’s sacred aria ‘Haec est regina virginum’ was well served by Labelle’s graceful and elegant singing. 

All told, this was music-making of the highest order.  Musica Angelica would do well to record all their concerts and release them commercially.  The world, as well as the rest of the L.A. sprawl, need to hear this fine ensemble.  Happy holidays indeed!
 

For tickets and concert information, visit www.musicaangelica.org