cited: New York Times

New York has always been known as a trend-setting capital of the world. Now, the newest thing in the Village is old-time music- think the 18th century and before. It’s a repertory, comprising music that celebrated the philosophy of performances that blossomed throughout the 20th century. It has taken the form a smourgasbourg of era-sampling that has been the hallmark of American music since region-sampling went passé.

Now, at least in New York, early music has also become a scene. The two-year-old Gotham Early Music Scene lived up to its name this week with the GEMS Project, a series of three programs at Le Poisson Rouge, the trendy Greenwich Village club that is taking the classical music world by storm.

By any definition, early music is wildly diverse. The project’s format, developed in previous concerts, presented three groups per evening, and the first program, on Wednesday, was diverse perhaps to a fault.

Uncommon Temperament, a group of young Baroque performers, opened with works of Handel: a trio sonata and a soprano version of the cantata “Mi Palpita il Cor,” sung by Ariadne Greif.

The performances were accomplished and winning, and Ms. Greif made a game attempt to turn the cantata, a young man’s expression of coronary twitter in the face of budding love, into something mildly dramatic. Reclining in a chair, she enacted the work as a psychiatric session: alas, a one-line joke that without real character development wore thin long before she scribbled the check at the end.

East of the River, another group led by the recorder virtuosos Nina Stern and Daphna Mor, brought a spirit from east of East River, Brooklyn, to music more or less east of the Danube, as Ms. Stern suggested in preperformance remarks. The listing of Armenian, Macedonian, Italian, Bulgarian and Greek tunes suggested greater variety than emerged from the stage, where an air of modern-day klezmer seemed an insistent presence.

The Clarion Music Society looked to be an alien presence in this setting, taking the stage in concert garb to present music from the court of Catherine the Great. This is a theme, mixing Western European influences and indigenous composition in St. Petersburg, that could barely be suggested in a third of a concert. Ilya Poletaev gave a charming performance of a harpsichord sonata by Baldassare Galuppi. A two-movement string quartet by Anton Ferdinand Titz and arias from operas by Yevstigney Fomin and Bortniansky made little impression, bereft of context.

Except that provided in an overlong spoken introduction by Clarion’s music director, Steven Fox. In general, the talk, guided by Gotham’s executive director, Gene Murrow, proved awkward, finding little middle ground between forced banter and scholarly disquisition.

Director Murrow claimed “the perfect place” to listen to and play early music was there- with “friends eating and drinking”, among the clanking of dishes and tables. The noise from the inferior sound system and obstructive ventilation system were a worse complement to the performances.

Hopefully, if these buffet-style shows continue, the organizers will find a way to make each disparate dish go together as opposed to making a stomach-churning mix.

My Take: While young Americans appropriate fashion, art, and food from all across the world, it was only a matter of time until they stretched through time for inspiration. This is the temporal equivalent of the Chinese/Mexican restaurant, or the liberal gathering of Tibetan prayer beads, African prints, and mate tea.

A question almost as old as being impressed with another’s culture: at what point does admiration become an almost mockery, as the admirer goes further to imitate the original?

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