Baroque Fest Puts Purcell in the Spotlight

The fact that Henry Purcell’s music is so underappreciated has nothing to do with the quality of his compositions and everything to do with his nationality, according to Burton Karson, director of the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival.

“The 17th Century in England has not been made as interesting to the general public as, say, the 18th Century in Austria,” Karson said.

“London is not considered as musical as Vienna, which has the reputation as the capital of Western music, and it’s wrong. Americans very erroneously and very sadly don’t appreciate the intense musicality of the English, which is peculiar, since we speak English.”

Perhaps it’s because we speak English? “That’s it,” Karson said. “It’s not exotic enough, which in the strict sense of the word means foreign.”

There’s also, of course, a large, inescapable historical component known as the Revolutionary War behind Americans’ love-hate relationship with England.

History notwithstanding, Karson is doing his modest best on behalf of Purcell, who died 300 years ago. In honor of that anniversary, Purcell’s works are being featured at each concert of the weeklong festival that opened Sunday at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church.

Tonight’s program, at the Sherman Library & Gardens, is devoted solely to music by Purcell, including “Hark, how the wild musicians sing,” and, in what could be the festival’s highlight, the amusing “The Masque in Timon of Athens” (1678), minimally staged using backdrops of London and Athens painted by Corona del Mar resident Robert Jackson.

“This isn’t an opera,” Karson said. “It’s a little scene about Cupid and love and dalliance, and the birds . . . the pursuit of fun and pleasure, all quite meaningless. It ends with Bacchus, and the joys of love and wine.”

Speaking of which, after every festival performance, wine is poured for the audience at an outdoor reception. (The concerts take place indoors.) Tickets for concerts tonight and Friday at the Sherman Library include admission to the gardens for half an hour before the performances and alfresco music by a brass ensemble.

Friday, flutist Louise Di Tullio, violinist Clayton Haslop and cellist Timothy Landauer play unaccompanied Bach sonatas and, with harpsichordist Gabriel Arregui, Purcell and Bach chamber works.

Sunday’s finale at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church features vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra under the direction of Karson and includes a motet and cantata by Bach, Durante’s Magnificat and Purcell’s “Come Ye Sons of Art.”

The festival shows signs of growth, artistic and otherwise: All concerts except Friday’s chamber music program are being performed on period instruments, introduced to the festival last year. And last year’s four-concert format has expanded to five.

But, Karson said, “I don’t get paid after 15 years, still. We’re always worried [about finances]. And it’s difficult for the volunteer board of directors to handle the logistics of so many concerts.

“The marvelous thing about this board is that it’s a working board. Not only do they have meetings, they work; they sell tickets; they do mailings; they usher; they pour wine, they host the after-concert patrons’ supper. And this year they actually commissioned a lute concerto.” Michael Eagan played the premiere of his own neo-baroque concerto for archlute on Sunday.

“Audience response to period instruments has been positive,” Karson continued. “Part of the reaction was surprise that, No. 1, they could hear the difference, and No. 2, that it didn’t seem to be a step backward to the academic in any way. They didn’t miss any warmth or vitality.”

Karson says audiences will find warmth and vitality in the music of Purcell and discover that it actually is exotic in most senses of the word.

“Purcell’s music is exciting music, but it’s also peculiar music,” Karson said. “Unlike Handel, it can be extraordinarily chromatic and have many cross relations, sharps and flats too close for diatonic comfort. It often sounds a bit strange, at once modern and ancient.”

Strange . . . yet accessible. “Purcell is obvious fun, extraordinarily entertaining, [and he writes] very beautiful tunes full of joy and bounce, colorful words set in a colorful musical way, and puts emotions right out there where everyone can understand them,” Karson said. “One walks out humming the tunes, Broadway musical fashion.”

As for the aforementioned cultural bias, the sun may be rising on the British empire, Karson pointed out, as evidenced by the popularity here of recent films such as “The Madness of King George” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

But musically speaking, another revolution may be in order.

“I lived in London for a period of months, and the number of concerts there using period instruments--it’s like a candy store,” Karson said. “There are Purcell concerts in the best venues; they produce many fine recordings.

“American aficionados are only aware of Purcell because of [recordings]. Not enough is performed in public spaces here to capture the concert-going public--and certainly not the non-concert-going public.”

* Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival continues with music by Purcell tonight, and by Bach and Purcell on Friday, both at 8 p.m. at Sherman Library & Gardens, 2645 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. The festival concludes Sunday at 4 p.m. at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 3233 Pacific View Drive, Corona del Mar. Concerts at the gardens, $30, at the church, $25. (714) 760-7887.