MUSIC REVIEWS : EARLY MUSIC GROUP

Many concerts entertain; others uplift; still others enlighten. Particularly gratifying is a program that does all three, as was the case Saturday evening at First Congregational Church in Pasadena, where the Early Music Ensemble of Los Angeles performed music from colonial Latin America.

Gaspar Fernandes and Tomas Pascual do not even appear in Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, but their works, as well as the compositions of 12 others represented, show remarkable skills. From the florid polyphony of Pascual’s “Si tanta gloria se da” to the wit and charm of Tomas de Torrejon y Velasco’s “La Purpura de la rosa” (the earliest New World opera) conductor Edward Cansino unearthed a trove of works by New World composers.

Although the European masters had a profound influence on these composers, their works exhibit much originality. One is immediately stuck, for example, by the piquant cross-relations found in Juan de Araujo’s “Dixit Dominus,” or the highly charged Afro-American rhythms in “Sa aqui turo zente pleta,” by an anonymous Brazilian.

Several excellent soloists contributed handsomely; one should single out the silver-toned soprano of Diane Thomas, and the rich baritone of Norman Goss. The Early Music Ensemble and the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra performed with style, sensitivity and unflagging polish.