Liberty Tree. Early American Music, 1776-1861

Boston Camerata & Joel Cohen

Released on 18/08/1998 by Warner Classics
Main artists: Joël Cohen Boston Camerata
Genre: Classical

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The Boston Camerata, led by Joel Cohen, has made dozens of excellent recordings of music from a variety of European and American early music and folk traditions, which makes it all the more surprising that this album of music from the time of the American Revolution and the years following is less than satisfying. The group is from Boston, after all, so this music is about as close to home as it's likely to find! The choice of repertoire is not the problem; it is intriguing and should interest anyone who wants to hear the kind of music early Americans were likely to hear and sing and play. Some of the pieces come from British or American folk traditions but the performances are all based on scores that were written down during this era. Uncharacteristically for Cohen and the group, the notes for the album are so lackadaisical that only titles are listed, not even the names of composers, when they are known; most obviously, there are several pieces by William Billings, the most important American composer of the Revolutionary era, that have no attribution. Of greater concern is the quality of the performances themselves: they are just too good. These songs, even the Billings anthems, were the popular music of the day, the kind of music people would sing to themselves at home or on the streets or in churches or in various public gatherings. The performances here, though, are so polished, crisply precise, and blamelessly pristine that they would be more at home in the most elegant European concert halls than in the everyday settings in which they were most certainly sung. There is considerable scholarly debate as to what exactly constitutes informed performance practice of American music of this era, but given the folk origins of many of these tunes and the raunchiness of some of the lyrics, this level of refinement and vocal purity cannot have been the norm. It's easier to enjoy the album if the expectation of realism is relinquished, and much of the repertoire is delightful: the tune "God Save the King," with a text that begins "God save each female's right"; a loopy version of "Yankee Doodle" with naughty lyrics and a tune for the chorus that sounds like it's from some nearly parallel universe; and "Greensleeves" set as an ode to Thomas Jefferson. The performing forces are nicely varied, with unaccompanied chorus, instrumentals, small vocal groups, and solos both accompanied and a cappella. The Boston Camerata is joined on some tracks by members of the Harvard University Choir. Erato's sound is clean and natural.

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Liberty Tree. Early American Music, 1776-1861

Joël Cohen

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