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Crypt Music Redux New York
Crypt, St. John the Divine Cathedral
10/16/2024 -
Hildegard Von Bingen: O vis æternitatis
Gelsey Bell: Nothing Lasts Forever
Caroline Shaw: Cant voi l’aube
Barbara Strozzi: Che si puo fare
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasie in G minor, BWV 572: “Gravement”
Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: Dido’s Lament
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Passacaglia
NOVUS Ensemble: Madeline Apple Healey (Soprano), Melissa Baker (Flute), Katie Hyun, Epongue Ekille (Violins), Kyle Miller (Viola), Coleman Itzkoff (Cello), Adam Cockerham (Lute 
NOVUS in the Crypt (© Samuel A. Dog)
“These harmonic notes are the language of the soul and instruments of the heart.”
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)
“Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside, you’ve got heaven and earth, and all of creation. You’re a world—everything is hidden in you. The music of Heaven is in all things.”
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Three nights ago, the Death of Classical introductory concert in the Cathedral Crypt of St. John the Divine was like a reflection of the Eucharist, with notes transubstantiated into mystical ideas. Tonight, the music from NOVUS in the same place, resembled the Book of Revelations.
Ancient illustrious composers, once only names, were resurrected into bodily poets, artists, singers. A 12th Century poem lacking its original music became clothed with Caroline Shaw’s 21st Century notes. The Passacaglia of Heinrich Biber introduced, in my research, Masses rivaling the finest from Thomas Tallis a century before.
And Dido’s Lament, set on the Carthaginian cliffs outside today’s Tunis, was revealed anew in this holy setting under the pavements of Manhattan.
Most illuminating of all was the figure of Hildegard of Bingen. I had thought of her as a Sister with a good sense of melody and a lot of prayers. I was totally wrong. Reading her poetry before the concert, I found a prolific poet whose nearest relation would have been William Blake, or Emily Dickinson. The sanctity, the humanity, the flames and coolness, and visions of an inner heaven could have equally come from Rumi or parts of the Talmud.
She needs a whole program to herself, including what the program here lacked: translations or even condensed descriptions.
Yet these two concerts (one at 7pm, the next at 8.30pm) had two more revelations. One was staging in the Crypt itself, reminiscent of a Medieval Mystery Play. The other was the soprano soloist, Madeline Apple Healey. (A name which could easily used for a Sister in a very sacred convent.)
The artists came from the same NOVUS ensemble here on Monday evening, but augmented with flute and lute. This sextet started the evening with a tranquil introduction, accented by the soft lute playing by Mr. Cockerham.
Yet, within the mysterious candlelit foreground, a figure came out of the darkness, lit only by the golden altar. That was a shadow, and the shadow became in the foreground Madeline Apple Healey. When she approached, from the darkness of the Crypt to the front of these six player, she started to sing.
And what a lovely voice. Not necessarily the voice which could approach Berio or Boulez. Yet within her apparent three octaves, the voice could be resounding or whisper-soft or even growl at times.
M. A. Healey (© Samuel A. Dog)
So beguiling were the instruments and Ms Healey’s voice coming through the Stygian shadows that one could barely make out the differences between Hildegard, Bell and the enigmatic Renaissance Strozzi. Though, true, one instinctively knew that that recitations and songs and gentle pizzicati that this had to be Caroline Shaw.
Vocals over, part of the group played the slow movement of a Bach organ partita. This was complex, well played and...broke the spell of the magical first songs.
The last two works made up for that. First, in a combination fugue and passacaglia, Ms Healey sung one of the most sheerly radiant operatic arias, Henry Purcell’s dirge from Dido. At the finale, each artist departed the stage.
Now the equivalent of a Mystery Play continued. Way in the background, a silhouette of violinist Katie Hyun played another passacaglia, this from Heinrich Biber. Save for her ravishing vocal figurations, all was silent and dark, only the golden Byzantine-designed Tiffany Altar giving light to the music.
K. Hyun (© Samuel A. Dog)
The choice was revelatory: Biber’s work was the last of his solo violin Mystery Sonatas. Ms Hyan was equally revelatory. And this quiet “Amen” to October’s Death of Classical series was both sanctification of the dramas and a hosanna for their singular productions.
Harry Rolnick
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