Renaissance music with lasting joy

The group's impeccably blended sound, the lightness and transparency of its ensemble work, and its warmly expressive approach to this repertoire were all notable from the outset. The 13 singers perform without a conductor but nonetheless manage to shape their lines with exceeding suppleness and grace. Polychoral settings by Vivanco and Francisco Guerrero were a particular pleasure, as was Victoria's elaborate motet "Vadam, et circuibo."

And yet for all of the regal beauty of Stile Antico's performance, and the sensuality of the texts at hand, there was a certain austerity and formality inherent in this program. It was therefore a welcome contrast when the remarkable Italian ensemble Micrologus picked up the baton at 11 p.m. with a program of comparatively diverse and freewheeling 14th-century ballads and madrigals as well as exuberant rustic dances known as salterellos.

You had to admire the freedom and whimsy in Micrologus's playing. Most of the selections were anonymous and appeared in the program with manuscript numbers from the British Library, and yet this performance dared you to forget the archival source work and simply imagine a medieval band cutting loose in the village square on a festival day. Patrizia Bovi and Mauro Borgioni sang labyrinthine madrigals with impressive virtuosity but also with a certain casual warmth as if they were ditties worth a listen from the street corner. At one point, two medieval trumpets were pulled out, stretching at least five feet in length. Bagpipes pierced the air. The dances whirred well past midnight. I don't recall an ancient music event with comparable quantities of contemporary joy.