The stillness of a church is often associated with whispered conversations; off-hand comments that can float from one pew to its opposite amidst the reverence of a religious service. On Sunday afternoon in Magdalen College Chapel, this sort of dialogue was not hushed to the side but rather honoured with undivided attention. It was not a conversation between people, but a conversation between musical instruments.
Magdalen’s resident viol consort “Phantasm” performed a selection of secular baroque pieces on Sunday in Magdalen Chapel in participation with the undergraduate-organized arts week. The concert featured works by William Byrd, William Lawes, John Ward, and Orlando Gibbons, sometimes accompanied by organ played by Magdalen music director Daniel Hyde. The organ provided a consistent bass for the string instruments but never presumed to rival the star voices of the concert, the viols.
A majority of the pieces performed were in the fantasia, or fantasy, form. The fantasy is well known for incorporating numerous voices that diverge and come together, thus creating an analogy of conversation. This analogy was even more apparent in Phantasm’s rendition of the genre. The six viol performers were seated in the middle of the church aisle in circular formation, as if huddled around a bonfire. They engaged with one another not only musically but also physically, through shared smiles in moments of musical resolution and the succinct choreography of their bows at the end of each piece. Laurence Dreyfus, the director of Phantasm, was the most animated in his interaction with the group. Even so, his gestures were outstandingly subtle. With as little as a glance or even a breath Dreyfus was able to guide the ensemble through each beginning, ending, and emotional swell with remarkable precision.
Phantasm’s rendition of the fantasy emphasizes communication and collaboration over counterpoint and discord. This is not surprising for a group that has been together for over a decade, relishing mutual passion for an instrument that has largely been out of fashion since the Renaissance. The sound of their instruments registers their familiarity. The way in which the ensemble lingers on concluding harmonies transcends mere compositional resolution.
Phantasm in concert offers a rare, almost voyeuristic, glimpse of musical intimacy. This emphasis on intimacy is at once reinforced and thwarted by the venue. The stone chapel and lofty stain glass windows hardly evoke the comfort and familiarity that the group generates. However, the location of the concert helped to recognize the strong tradition of religious sacred music while claiming a space for humanity in the realm of the sacred. The performers did not take the traditional place of the clergy at the head of the chapel but nevertheless assumed a position of importance at the centre of the aisle. This organization had the fortunate effect of incorporating the audience as a broader shell of the musicians’ circle, strengthening the symbolic connection between the voice of the instrument and the human voice. Audience members were never more than thirty feet away from the performers.
Despite the unexpected intimacy of alley seating, the audience still had to deal with the uncomfortable and unwieldy chapel pews. At best, the audience had unimpeded front row views of the consort. At worst, the audience had to stand to see the performers over the tall, secluding podiums used for worship services. While this situation created clear inequalities of seating, it reaffirmed the eminence of sound over sight. Audience members in these secluded seats were privy to the most intimate experience of all, devoid of any pretence to performance and entirely reliant on their ability to ‘eavesdrop’ on the musical conversation.
In or outside of the chapel setting, the music of Phantasm confounds divisions of the secular and the sacred through its internal harmonies and expressivity. Each musical voice in the consort assumes an anthropomorphism that elevates humanity itself to the level of the sacred.
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