SPOLETO BUZZ BLOG

I was a little bit late to Monday’s installment of Piccolo’s early Music Series at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, featuring Charleston Pro Musica in a program entitled “Greatest Hits of the Renaissance,” so I missed the introduction of all the players. And, unfortunately, there was no printed program. But the lineup included seven musicians — Steve Rosenberg on a variety of small guitars, a percussionist, a violin, and cello, and a trio who played a variety of the fun, unusual-looking woodwinds that are particular to that era. There were also two vocalists, one of whom I believe was Jose Lemos, but don’t hold me to it. The crowd was a good one, and I once I’d taken my seat I remembered immediately why it was I used to so enjoy catching Steve Rosenberg’s troupe at the CofC’s Monday Night Concert Series as often as I could. Early Music, of course, is stuff that predates “classical” music as we know it — generally dating from the beginning of the Baroque preiod back to the onset of human history, though there was no rock banging at yesterday’s concert). They played Renaissance-era folk music from all over the world, though my own favorites were weighted toward the British Isles and the Middle East. The sizeable crowd were clearly no strangers to this music, and they had a great time with songs like “The Raggle Haggle Gypsy” and “Alas, I Lie Alone.”