Love-Song Performers Make a Good Match

Somehow, some way, the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College’s Chamber Music in Historic Sites found yet another splendidly unlikely space for a concert Sunday afternoon.

This time, it was a breathtaking, predominantly Spanish-style, 1923-vintage Pasadena estate that had just reverted to its original name, the William Henry Peters house, after a recent sale.

Though not much more than a stone’s throw from the 134 Freeway, the estate, with a marvelous duck pond dominating the garden, was a tranquil co-star to soprano Ellen Hargis and lutenist Paul O’Dette in a program of 17th century music geared toward Valentine’s Day.

Obviously matters of love don’t change much over the centuries, for the range of sentiments, whether set to the often-unpredictable rhythmic and harmonic turns of John Dowland or the fiery melodies of Luigi Rossi, could have been at home in a 19th century German lieder recital.

Hargis’ attractive spinto voice handled everything comfortably, with superb diction and especially potent dramatic power in the Rossi arias.

Yet this is a true team at work, not just a singer backed by an instrumentalist, for O’Dette has a whimsical musical personality of his own.

They seemed to have fun performing together, particularly when O’Dette irreverently grooved on the rhythms in the closing selection by Virgilio Mazzochi.

Also, there were frequent solo showcases for O’Dette interwoven among the vocal selections. From the Rossi pieces onward, O’Dette switched from the lute to its unwieldy larger relative, the chitarrone, which the skilled instrumentalist had a devil of a time keeping in tune on this occasion.