It’s freezing in San Gervasio, a 15th-century church outside Milan where we’re spending three days filming the singers of Ring Around Quartet. Today is devoted to Renaissance motets, so they’re wearing white gauze sheaths and trousers reminiscent of Pantelone from Commedia dell’arte. Their feet are bare.
How can they sound so luscious in this cold air? I’m wrapped in a coat, hat, scarf, and gloves, and I’m still shivering. But they stand graciously, singing like angels, with an ensemble so tight the ear cannot separate the parts.
Being here is a testament to modern technology and human trust. Technology? We arranged this adventure as complete strangers, relying on skype and email. And trust? Well, that’s the critical ingredient. There was an immediate willingness to trust each another’s enthusiasm. So now we find ourselves between the resonant walls of this Romanesque church, its pastel frescos smiling warmly at us.
I never have heard such luscious sounds except in dreams. It’s a sound I hope my imagination will never lose. Impeccable pitch, dissoluble ensemble, crisp diction. And did I mention their smiles? Their mischievous dark eyes, darting to and fro, enjoying the confidence of each other’s strengths.
When our new Sacred Music Course comes out, students will hear sacred chant sung by Ring Around Quartet several times. As we extend Discovering Music backwards in time, the motets we’re recording this weekend will be key in our discussion.
But perhaps the greatest thing, for me, is that each of you will get to know these lovely people. They are consummate professionals in technology, physics, music education, and administration. They met as fellow students in Genoa and formed “Ring Around Quartet” exactly 20 years ago. As their lives unfolded, moving them across Italy and abroad, into jobs and families, their music has kept them together.
This is a moment when I wish everyone, literally everyone, I know could be here with us. Here they stand, suspended in time, four singers in fragile white costumes, bare feet on ancient cold stones, burned by their passion for music.
Ring Around Quartet. Get ready. They’re coming to you soon.
