Henry VIII & Jordi Savall too

Go medieval on your ears: Early music heavyweights headed to Houston

The city exercises its musical acumen this upcoming fall and spring with the 2010-2011 season of Houston Early Music, an organization specializing in music from the Middle Ages through the 18th century.

Obscure? Yes.

A hotbed of talent? Indeed.

Witness the synergy of seasoned musicians and historical instruments in this medley of mesmerizing melodies:

Jordi Savall could steal a show in The Route to the New World: Spain to Mexico, a collaboration with Da Camera of Houston. An icon in early music pedagogy, research and performance, Savall is the star viol player, conductor and composer of contemporary Catalonia, and will be importing his own renowned Hespèrion XXI with soprano Montserrat Figueras and La Capella Reial de Catalunya.

"Jordi Savall is a huge name in early music and known worldwide," says Bettie Anderson, a past president of HEM and continuing board member. "He's a real heavyweight in the genre and should be extraordinary."

The baroque compositions of Old Spain will be buttressed by references to the Mexican Baroque and living huasteca and jarocho traditions by Mexico's Ensemble Tembembe in commemoration of the 200th year of Mexican independence. The Hispanic celebration comes together on Oct. 2 at the Cullen Theater at Wortham Center.

HEM honors the holiday spirit with "A Piper's Nöel" on Monday, Dec. 13, when Christ Church Cathedral will resound with a robust blending of voice, shawn, sackbut, recorder and bagpipes. Audiences can revel in the range of Renaissance polyphony and modest piper's tunes produced by the award-winning mixed ensemble.

With director Adam Gilbert's pre-concert lecture, spectators may brush up on the medieval carols of England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany and clue in to the present-day celebrations in Rome's Piazza Navona.

Salute the spring with "The Harmony of Nations" on March 28 at the Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, featuring English violinist and conductor Monica Huggett.

"Huggett is the most enchanting baroque violinist and an adventure to watch — a little show within a show," Anderson explains. "She's a dumpling of a woman, so you'd never guess she were so lightening fast. Her music is just riveting — even if you didn't know anything about the Baroque and violin, you'll be able to appreciate it."

Huggett brings a dynamic program from the United Kingdom, including Biber's "Mystery Sonatas" for virtuoso violin, exquisitely refined French music for the viola da gamba, sprightly tunes from Jacobean England and a sonata for violin and harpsichord by J.S. Bach. She'll be bringing her Trio Sonnerie group, considered one of the most imaginative, flexible and dynamic period instrumental ensembles, boasting the versatility to expand from a trio of violin, viola da gamba and keyboard into a full chamber orchestra.

Supplement the performance with a pre-concert lecture by the song-savvy Gregory Barnett of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.

"The Six Wives of Henry VIII" represents HEM's season finale with the return of the internationally acclaimed Flanders Recorder Quartet. A guest appearance by soprano Cecile Kempenaers will give homage to the sheets of contemporary music by award-winning Belgian composer Piet Swert. Recorder quartet, voice and narrator will coalesce in this compilation of medieval and improvised music, a scene from Shakespeare, letters from King Henry and Anne Bolyen and original verse written specifically for the project.

Henry VIII may be a familiar story — but think of this rendition as a 21st-century remix being spun at Trinity Episcopal Church on May 2, 2011.

Little known fact: The king was an accomplished musician himself. Get the full scoop before the performance at a talk delivered by Thomas Crowe of the University of St. Thomas.

"Our concerts are really choice," Bettie Anderson says.

The eclecticism of the season, combined with the appealing tariff, places Houston Early Music's lineup among the not-to-be-missed music events of the months ahead.

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Movie Review

Offbeat drama Pillion features command performance by Alexander Skarsgård

Photo courtesy of A24

Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling in Pillion.

Describing the new movie Pillion is almost an act of futility. It contains a variety of seemingly disparate parts that coalesce into a whole to make it utterly fascinating. Few other recent films have been able to walk the line between filthy and wholesome in quite the way this one does, and that’s only because few other filmmakers would actually dare to try.

It centers on Colin (Harry Melling), a meek man in his mid-thirties who still lives at home with his parents, Pete (Douglas Hodge) and Peggy (Lesley Sharp), while working a dead-end job giving out parking tickets. While performing in a barbershop quartet at his local pub, Colin catches the eye of biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who summons him for a clandestine hook-up the following day (which just so happens to be Christmas Day).

With barely a word exchanged between them, Ray establishes a dominance over Colin that quickly leads to them starting a relationship in which Colin does anything Ray asks. And that means more than just sex: Colin, whether desperate for any kind of affection or unlocking a side of himself he hadn’t known, readily agrees to cook, clean, shop, and basically do whatever else Ray wants him to do.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Harry Lighton, the film is astonishing in the way it’s able to mine humor from Colin and Ray’s atypical bond. To call Ray “unfeeling” might not be totally accurate, but the way he treats Colin borders on cruel. However, the way Lighton structures the film, it’s easy to understand why someone like Colin would be willing to go along with the situation. It’s both hilarious and heartbreaking to see Colin debase himself in a variety of ways.

On the flip side is Colin’s heartfelt arc with his parents. It’s established right away that Peggy, who is sick with cancer, is a bit too involved with Colin’s love life, with the opening scene featuring her setting him up on a blind date. But their easy acceptance of his queerness and desire to see him find love is as heartwarming as it gets. The juxtaposition between the wholesomeness of their family and Colin’s new life is also the source of a good amount of comedy.

Lighton does not shy away from the sexual side of Colin and Ray’s relationship, and the scenes he depicts are as graphic as you are likely to see in an R-rated film. Some go up to and a little past what might be expected in a mainstream movie (including the use of a certain fake appendage). Other times they play out in a comical way to illustrate just how far Colin has progressed from the person he was when the film started.

Skarsgård, who stole the show in the Charli XCX movie The Moment, is the attraction in more ways than one in this film. The part calls for someone who’s not only impossibly handsome, but also a person who can stop dissent with just a glance, and he lives up to both qualities equally well. Melling, best known for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies, also embodies his role perfectly. He plays Colin as weak enough to be run roughshod over by Ray, but not so hopeless as to not be worth rooting for.

Pillion (which is the name of the secondary seat on a motorcycle on which Colin rides multiple times in the film) operates at a storytelling level that is difficult to achieve. Many people will not fully understand the film’s central relationship, but the way it is showcased by Lighton makes it compelling, gut-wrenching, and sexy.

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Pillion is now playing in theaters.

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