AbsoLUTEly Gorgeous

The lute is an elusive instrument that pours out sweetly delicate, intricate music. But, like a vintage Dom Pérignon that loses its sparkle in a Styrofoam cup, lute music can’t decant just anywhere.

“There are very few places besides old churches that work [for playing lute music], because the lute is the seed of the sound, but the room is the body,” explains local lute legend Phil Rukavina. “If someone offered us a gig at Orchestra Hall, we’d turn it down. We’d just sound all plinkety-plink.”

Happily, Rukavina and Twin Cities Lute Cooperative colleagues Paul Berget, Rick Griffith, and Tom Walker found an ideal spot to reincarnate their informal Lute Café: Messiah Episcopal Church, where the tall and narrow brick walls offer an appropriately echoey acoustic. Though it will take on a less regular and “more concerty” approach than its original monthly iteration at Hillcrest Recreational Center, Rukavina assures there will still be treats. His ensemble, Terzetti, kicks things off this month.

Terzetti began life as a trio (Rocky Mjos, one of the original members, has since moved on to other things), but Rukavina and Walker now focus on the substantial body of lute duets from the late medieval to late rococo periods, roughly the time between Columbus sailing to the New World and the American Revolution. The group gets its name from fifteenth-century composer Giovanni Antonio Terzi, described by Rukavina as “a monster of a virtuoso” who wrote incredibly beautiful but devilishly difficult music for the instrument.

“People who hear this music for the first time often say it’s peaceful, which is at once nice and grating,” Walker says. “It’s not just a melody on top of a soothing ooze of music. There’s a holistic aspect to it.” Rukavina describes it this way: “If Baroque music is a trip around the world where you see major sites like the Sphinx, Renaissance music is like a trip around the block, where you see smaller details. It’s like noticing how fabulously a flower is built when you take the time to see it up close.”

Oct. 4. Messiah Episcopal Church, 1631 Ford Pkwy., St. Paul, 612-865-5954