Golden's OLDies
Justina Golden brings her rich voice to
Medieval and Renaissance music
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By John Stifler An extraordinarily rich singing voice meets a deeply challenging body of music, as Justina Golden sings songs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance on her brand new CD Flos Regalis. This CD is the latest and probably the largest step yet taken by Golden, long known in the Valley as both singer and voice teacher, now directing her efforts particularly toward music with profound spiritual significance. The result is one of the most beautiful a cappella recordings you can find today in New England, and you are hereby urged to go to the North Hadley Congregational Church this evening to hear Golden and a number of other women produce these rare sounds. Flos Regalis ("Royal Flower") covers five centuries, from nine works by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) through pieces by the well-known 16th-century composers Thomas Morley, Orlando Gibbons, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Thomas Wilbye and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Most of the contents are obviously Christian, but the lyrics are more poetic than liturgical. "Only one piece on the record is from the liturgy," said Golden last Friday. "Everything else is poetry. I feel poetry is 'way more open to a more ecumenical approach than the liturgy is." Too much cannot be said about the ecumenical quality. While these works are from a time when the Catholic church was the only church, interest in medieval music cuts a wide cultural swath, and its religious contents are broad enough to appeal to Golden, herself a member of the progressive church known familiarly as Unity. In Unity, which dates from the 19th century in America, Golden observed, "The most important thing is your own relationship with God. It's based on the power of good thought, the idea that our connection with God comes from thinking the right way. And that's about as much dogma as I can give you." Golden is quick to point out that this very spiritual music requires a physical, embodied understanding. "I was looking for a particular sense of the human body in the sound. I think a lot of folks will sing this music in a way that seems like it transcends the body, but to me that is missing the point. The more you are in your body, the more you are connected to the spirit — and to everyone, ultimately." Joining Golden on the recording, sometimes in chorus and sometimes alternating solos, are a number of local and nationally known singers, among them Dar Williams, Cindy Kallet and Rani Arbo. "I picked folk artists, who wouldn't be tempted to do this music at too much a distance from the body. I told them in practice, 'I want this record to be soccer players in early music.' Something elemental, physical." Professing herself easily bored by songs constructed inside the relatively small forms of much modern music, Golden commented, "There are two challenges in early music. It's unaccompanied, so you have to do everything with your voice, and the phrases are incredibly long," so that strong breath control is crucial. "Most of our rehearsals for the recording," she continued, "included a discussion of who's going to breathe where. Any interruptions in the sound have to be very intentional. At the technical level, that's why medieval music scares the crap out of everybody." If there's anyone around here who's not scared, it must be Five College Professor Robert Eisenstein, who performs with several early music ensembles and whose medieval violin, usually playing a soft drone or minimal accompaniment, is the only non-vocal instrument on the recording. He also lent his considerable expertise to Golden's project, helping to find source materials and verify the differences between classical and medieval Latin pronunciation. "We're not striving for complete historical accuracy, but it's fun to feel how language has morphed over time," said Golden. "Knowing more about how the lyrics would have been pronounced in Hildegard's lifetime makes you feel as though you're in her shoes." Eisenstein will join the singers in tonight's performance. Besides Golden, Arbo and Kallet, they include Jan Frazier, Jocelyn Forbush, Pamela Getnick and the Dessert Singers, an octet Golden conducts at the Northampton Community Music Center. "Flos Regalis" was recorded live, in Helen Hills Hills Chapel in Northampton, with thanks to veteran engineer Norman Blain and to Golden's determination to avoid studio tricks. "I want to figure out how the colors in my voice can bring a piece to life," said Golden. "I am outraged by what these machines can do to people's voices. You can sing into a pitch changer that can change your pitch right while you're singing. I mean, why bother? I wanted people to hear the music on the CD as if, if I were sitting in a room and listening, what would I have heard?" If the clean, clear, broad and deep sound of the CD matches the sound in the North Hadley Congregational Church, this evening's concert will be an extraordinary musical event. Furthermore, it is designed for families, not just for trained aficionados, and that's why it starts at 6:45 p.m. ("It's a school night," Golden pointed out.) The performance helps inaugurate a three-year project called Faith, Feminismand Philanthropy, conducted by the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts. Admission is by a suggested donation of $15 to $50, but no one will be turned away. Have a question or comment? Write to us! |