Early music ensembles perform works of classical composer

Auer Hall was near capacity Thursday night for its performance of medieval music sponsored by the music school. But this time, much of the audience might not have recognized the instruments or the lyrics.\nPro Arte Singers, Concentus and the Early Music Ensemble joined forces to perform the music of Guillaume de Machaut, a composer who lived during the 1300s. The show was secular and sacred, communicating across the barriers of familiarity and language.\nWhile many audiences are familiar with instruments such as violins, these instrumentalists played the hurdy-gurdy, lutes, recorders, vielles, shawms, harps and others. Pro Arte Singers and the Early Music Ensemble also kept in the spirit of diversity by singing in Latin, as well as French.\nAll three ensembles are part of the music school's Early Music Institute, which specializes in music from the 13th to 18th centuries. The music is representative of Renaissance, medieval and Baroque styles. \nBecause there are no recordings of this music, the musicians are forced to try to interpret the notes on the page without hearing how it was originally performed. The repertoire is investigative in nature, without guidance beyond what has been done by other modern representative ensembles.\n"Nobody can ever say they are doing an authentic thing," said graduate student Aaron Westman. "It's like a cover band."\nWestman played the vielle, a predecessor to the violin.\nEarly music does not differ only in its experimentation.\nWestman said he enjoys the freshness of the music, while Pro Arte Singer Sam Spade, a senior, said he appreciates the music's simple complexity.\n"It's a genre that isn't looked at in the music world at all," he said.\nThursday's show incorporated religious and secular pieces by Machaut. Mixing an operatic story of young lovers and selections from "Messe de Nostre Dame," the groups provided an overview of the diversity of Machaut's work.\nPro Arte Singers and the Early Music Ensemble provided a capella choral arrangements with layered harmonies and strong dynamics. Concentus supplied a look at the instruments of the medieval times by both accompanying the vocalists and performing alone.\nGraduate student Brandon Adams is in his first semester in the Early Music Institute. He has been pursuing his interest in early styles of music with the Early Music Ensemble.\n"(The) individuality about early music is that it makes music more touching and a bit more intimate," he said.