Piffaro's holiday concert, Mediterranean Holiday

The music came from Naples, so much of it reflected a Spanish Catholic view of Christianity, Naples being a Spanish fiefdom after 1442. But it also showed the influence of Italy, Flanders (another Spanish territory), and Sicily (which shared a joint kingdom with Naples before the Spanish takeover). The result of all that history was a program that could begin with Joan Kimball playing a quiet Neapolitan peasant dance on the bagpipe and end with the audience joining in a hymn to the Virgin Mary sung by Sicilian sailors. The 25 pieces in between included religious works, folky holiday songs, and a pair of galliards notable for the bounce Piffaro’s musicians bestowed on the skip that characterizes the dance.

A wonderful gift

Any concert that includes a cornetto should be considered a special event. This was the third year in a row that guest artist Kiri Tollaksen added the unique sound of her instrument to the festivities.

The cornetto is a wooden instrument with holes like a recorder, but it’s actually a trumpet, with a trumpet mouthpiece. It combines the sweetness of the recorder with some of the brilliance of the trumpet. Its revival is one of the best gifts the period instrument movement has given us. When Tollaksen played it during vocal pieces, there were times when it sounded like another singer had joined the group. Two pieces on the program combined the cornetto with an accompaniment by lute and sackbut (the older version of the trombone), which gave the audience a taste of its virtues as a solo instrument.

The other guest, soprano Laura Heimes, has been a Christmas regular ever since Piffaro recruited her about 20 years ago, when she was still a student at Temple. She once again proved that this music sounds best when it’s sung by a vocalist who understands Renaissance performance practice and commands the resources of a classically trained voice. The vocal numbers ranged from a gently majestic O magnum mysterium by Palestrina to a group of traditional songs that included a beautifully touching Spanish lullaby and a lively retelling of the Nativity story, Riu, riu, chiu.

Grant Herreid once again contributed his expressive tenor to the pieces that required a male voice. His wife, Priscilla Herreid, added body to pieces that gained from an extra soprano. She started playing wind instruments with Piffaro when she was still in high school, and she’s developing into a major talent. Piffaro has always been noted for the quality of its recorder ensembles, but she’s been taking on more special moments, such as the recorder obbligato that enhanced the gaiety of one of Laura Heimes’s songs.

Piffaro’s programs always rotate between the serious and the lively with a good sense of showmanship. Their longtime fans treasure memories of big climaxes, with bagpipes, reeds, and percussion blasting out peasant dances. In this concert, they created the lively moments with tempo and rhythm rather than volume. The overall effect was a haunting sojourn with the softer moods associated with our end of the year festival.