Margaret Arnold

The near capacity audience was enthusiastic in its response to the Australian National Academy of Music’s performance of the complete version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s great Mass in B minor at the Melbourne Recital Centre, calling back conductor Benjamin Bayl and the ten singers (British octet VOCES8 and guests Susannah Lawergren and Amy Moore) several times and cheering the contribution of ANAM’s outstanding young instrumentalists.

Revered by Bach lovers and choral singers, his Mass was not conceived as a complete work by Bach at the outset, and it is possible that he never heard a complete performance of the work, which at a bit under two hours of music is too long for liturgical performance. Bach’s own Lutheran church used the Kyrie and Gloria in their liturgy, and although substantial, these two movements were performed in the context of an Ascension Day Vespers at the Lutheran St John’s Southgate only a couple of weeks ago. Bach submitted these two movements, which drew heavily on many of his own works, reworked to accommodate the text, to the Catholic Saxony Court in Dresden in 1733, asking to be considered for the position of Court Composer. Much later in his life, Bach completed the remaining parts of the Ordinary of the Mass – Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei – perhaps to stand alongside his Passions as landmark works. For these he also heavily plagiarised his own work, with just one completely new musical section.

Over the past forty years, much academic debate has surrounded the question of Bach’s intended forces for his works with instruments and voices. Adopted as ‘choral’ works, we hear them now most often with a Baroque Orchestra and a choir of several voices per part whereas a century ago it would have been more often large choral societies and full orchestras. Joshua Rifkin released a recording in 1982 attempting to be as close as possible to Bach’s original intentions. This would seem to have been generally one instrumentalist per written part, including the strings, and most often one singer per part, “concertists”, who would also sing the solos. Occasionally for specific sections there might also be “ripienists”, who joined for larger effect. As Bach was not specific in his scores, the historical evidence is generated from records of the forces available at the various times and places of performance. Andrew Parrott has also written extensively with similar views, while Ton Koopman has railed against this very small-scale performance practice.

ANAM’s approach was to have their string list divided so that the players changed at interval, allowing for a more intimate group, still significantly outnumbering the singers.

Before the interval we heard what Bach called the Missa – the Kyrie and Gloria – divided into 12 “movements”. With conductor Benjamin Bayl standing with his score on the chamber organ in front of him, the singers and orchestra opened with the four bar Kyrie introduction. The singers seemed to disappear amongst the instruments. After the heavily articulated orchestral Largo, the voices emerged in the first of many fugues, and with ten singers, there was the opportunity in this five-part vocal section for some doubling. The lower voices often did not cut through once the texture thickened, and this was an issue throughout the first half of the concert. To my ears, the orchestral sound was a little bass-heavy in the first half, and the singers were what Richard Gill used to describe as “vegetarian” – lacking a bit of substance. In the Kyrie, the singers, particularly tenors and basses also had that slightly soupy English Cathedral style of attack and phrasing too, in which the sound takes a while to emerge and establish a firm tone. The exception was the wonderful first soprano Andrea Haines, whose bell-like top notes possessed a resonance of great beauty.

The Gloria, with its joyful brass opening, led to a more immediately present sound from the singers, although still the balance between the forces was not clearly in the singers’ favour. Bach’s vocal lines are written like instrumental lines, and perhaps we should be listening to them as part of the overall texture, and not expecting the voices to be “accompanied” by the instruments. The trumpet playing throughout was a joy to hear.

The solo arias were satisfying, with some excellent playing of the instrumental solo obbligato lines adding to the enjoyment. These exposed solos are technically demanding for all parties, and to hear them delivered musically is a treat! In the Gloria we heard a virtuoso violin solo with soprano in the Laudamus te, soprano and tenor Domine Deus duet with flutes (not the baroque flute I’m used to hearing, but stylistically managed superbly on modern instruments), the countertenor’s Qui sedes with a long and beautiful oboe solo, and the bass soloist’s Quoniam tu solus sanctus with spectacular horn soloist and bassoons. The singers gave more of their projection and edge to their voices in the solos, and I found myself wishing that they would bring that same vocal energy to the ensemble singing too, rather than shrinking back into a more blended sound.

The culmination of the Gloria, Cum Sancto Spiritu, is marked vivace, and it was indeed very lively! In fact, it was so fast that the semiquavers sometimes occurring in multiple instrumental and vocal lines became rather unstable. It never quite went off the rails however, and ended triumphantly with conductor throwing the anchor out a few bars from the end, providing a very satisfying conclusion to the first part of the concert.

After interval, string and keyboard players were swapped over, presumably to give more players the opportunity to participate, and it was a good reminder that the opportunity to perform in a large-scale Bach work is a very worthwhile exercise for a young musician in a professional performance training situation.

Bach entitled Part II of the work Symbolum Nicenum. Beginning with the Credo in nine separate movements, matching the text, Bach turns the solo tenor announcement of the traditional mixolydian Gregorian chant into the subject of a seven-voice fugue, with five vocal parts and two violin voices, over a stepwise moving bass line. The confident opening tenor solo line heralded what felt like a much more confident vocal ensemble. In this second part, the singers were not lost in the more richly orchestrated sections. Again, Bach draws on his own Cantatas, sacred and secular for much of the musical material.

The beautifully mysterious Et incarnatus est with its gently descending broken chords and the Crucifixus with its chromaticism and ground bass were highlights for me, and demonstrated the sensitivity of the musicians and the wonderful acoustic of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. The softest pianissimo immediately preceded the rousing Et resurrexit, which, while energetic, also had a tendency to become a little unsteady rhythmically.

In this section, we also heard the beautiful soprano and countertenor duet, Et in unum Dominum with superb oboe duet accompaniment, and Et in unum spiritum sanctum, a baritone solo, sung with great lyricism, in partnership with an outstanding oboe d’amore duet.

Confiteor unum baptisma demonstrated a lovely lightness of touch from the continuo instruments while the singers effectively delivered another five-part fugue, and after a spirited et vitam venturi saeculi, the movement came to a sudden finish with the shortest “amen”.

Sanctus produced some of the most successful ensemble singing of the evening, with the orchestra also contributing to the splendour of this majestic movement.

Osanna is written for two choirs and the orchestra as another “choir”, so the singers moved either side of the conductor to take up their places as two separate SATB choirs. With ten singers, this enabled a soprano or alto voice to be doubled where necessary, though the tenors and basses were one to a part. The clarity and balance worked well here, and it was a very convincing performance. A tenor solo Benedictus, with stylish flute and superb cello followed, then the repeat of Osanna, before the alto solo Agnus Dei, and finally Dona nobis pacem, repeating the music of Gratias agimus tibi from the Gloria. Bach sets texts very thoughtfully, here linking the concept of thanks with the notion of peace through sharing the musical material. Bach treats voices as instruments, and it is a challenge for the singer to phrase the music, make sense of the text, and manage to breathe.

Benjamin Bayl and the emerging ANAM musicians, together with the beautiful voices of VOCES8 and guests, delivered a satisfying version of this large Bach work. While there was a tendency to push the tempo in some of the exciting orchestral sections, resulting in a few untidy moments where semiquavers in multiple voices just didn’t line up, most of the orchestral work was wonderful. Although not using instruments of the period, attention to Baroque style was strong. The vocal ensemble grew in confidence and projection, and after a tentative beginning, emerged to hold their own. And the audience loved it!

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Margaret Arnold reviewed the performance by ANAM and VOCES8 of Bach’s B Minor Mass given at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on June 21, 2019.

Subtitled ‘The Eton Choirbook at the crossroads of the Renaissance’, The Song Company’s Treble Helix Unlocked promised an interesting evening for lovers of the glorious vocal polyphony of the early sixteenth century. The appeal was even greater knowing that the singers would group around the centrepiece – a facsimile of the Eton Choirbook – and perform from the original notation.

Before the concert in the intimate space of the Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre, the audience was invited to inspect the music on the centrally positioned music stand, and see that indeed the parts were not written as a full score in standard music notation with barlines, but rather with the individual parts on different sections of the large double-page spread, in diamond shaped black notation with black and sometimes red text. Choral singers will understand the different approach required of the singers when seeing one’s own line only, unable to see any alignment between the parts, either in pitch, or beat and rhythm.

Antony Pitts, the artistic director, introduced the program, explaining the significance of the Eton Choirbook as one of the greatest surviving musical treasures of pre-Reformation England. Eton College was founded in the early 1440s by Henry VI, and in that “haven of education, devotion, and charity” seven masses a day were said or sung in the College Chapel, which had provision for 16 choristers and 4 clerks, who were to have good voices and be skilled in reading, song and polyphony. Among the 25 composers whose work is found in the Eton Choirbook, several had strong links with the College, including Robert Wylkynson, who became master of the choristers in 1500.

Beginning with a short plainchant by Walter Lambe, hummed at first as the ensemble entered the Salon, the program launched into polyphony with the Magnificat of William, Monk of Stratford. A section of Richard Davy’s St Matthew Passion, and a superb Stabat mater dolorosa by John Browne followed, with Robert Wylkynson himself represented by a substantial canon Jesum autem transiens/Credo in Deum.

While the proximity of the voices in the performance space of the Salon allows for opportunity to hear the musical qualities of individual voice parts, it also permits more examination of balance and tuning than in the acoustic of a capacious cathedral. The many chords with prominent intervals of a third that feature in English polyphony of this period require particular attention to tuning, and it took the ensemble a little time to establish these securely. With the approach to authenticity in performance, the singers not only performed from their individual musical lines in old notation, but also decided as they sang whether or not to sharpen or flatten notes approaching cadences, exercising the practices of musica ficta. These sharps and flats were not indicated by the composer in the written score, but rather interpreted by the singers in accordance with standard practice of the period.

The ten singers of The Song Company indicated with hand signals if they were sharpening or flattening a note in their own part, so that others could adjust accordingly. This didn’t always happen, and we had several instances of ‘false relations’, when we heard the spicy sound of two notes a semitone apart sounding together. Just how much Renaissance ensembles prepared such ficta in advance, or allowed them to occur more organically or experimentally, is not known. In this concert, the effect was interesting and instructive, though not always completely musically satisfying.

In this acoustic, the sounds of individual voices were more apparent than in a resonant space where the sound is already blended before it reaches the audience. The beautiful strong and true soprano sound sometimes overwhelmed the inner voices, whose projection at a lower pitch felt more restrained, although the entire ensemble was kept firmly underpinned by an effective and solid bass.

Davy’s St Matthew Passion, apparently the first musical setting of the text by a named composer, was fluently narrated by tenor Dan Walker, who occasionally slipped almost into speech. The choral sections were rhythmically precise but without the dramatic colour that could potentially have been realised in this section of the text – the Trial before Pilate, and the Crucifixion. Whether this was intentional, or a result of the tension and added difficulties of singing from the facsimile, dynamic and tonal colour variation was not a feature of this work, or indeed of the evening’s performance. An exception was the heart-rending phrase Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?), set by Davy at the high extreme of the bass vocal range, and sung superbly.

Singing polyphony for a solid hour or more requires incredible vocal stamina, and a great amount of concentration. It is relentless – there are very few gaps! The Song Company had more demands than this placed upon them too as they performed from the original score in a revealing acoustic.

When we reached the final Wylkynson Canon, the vocal tone relaxed, and the tension was gone. The singers at last looked as though they were enjoying themselves, and their singing.

This concert was a very worthy exercise in presenting Renaissance polyphony in a brave authentic manner and the audience responded enthusiastically, but it felt more a didactic experience than one of the enjoyment of fine music – a performance to be admired rather than loved.

This concert was only the third performance in the Song Company’s ten-concert national tour of Treble Helix Unlocked.

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Margaret Arnold attended The Song Company’s performance of “Treble Helix Unlocked” in the Primrose Potter Salon of the Melbourne Recital on February 13, 2019.

Australian Haydn Ensemble

St John’s Church, King Street, Flinders was the charming venue set for the concert from the Australian Haydn Ensemble, a Sydney-based group which specialises in orchestral and chamber music of the Classical era on original instruments. For this performance, we heard a string quartet and a flautist in an all-Mozart program.

The beautiful Flute Quartet in D major, K. 285 was first, with Melissa Farrow playing flute, Skye McIntosh, the ensemble’s artistic director playing violin, James Eccles viola, and New Zealander James Bush cello.

This delightful work, composed in 1777, is one of three quartets that Mozart composed for a ‘gentleman of means’ (and amateur flute player). In chamber concerto style, the flute sparkles with most of the melodic lines and opportunities to demonstrate virtuosity, while the strings provide the accompanying figures. Farrow’s flute playing (on a sweet-sounding boxwood copy of a 1780 instrument) was indeed artful, and at times virtuosic but unlike the effect with a modern flute, not dominant in the ensemble. And the strings shaped the ‘accompanying’ passages with classical style and restraint.

Mozart’s String Quartet in G major No 14, K.387, sometimes called the ‘Spring’ quartet is one of the six quartets that Mozart dedicated to Haydn. For this, violinist Simone Slattery joined the other three string players. To hear it performed in the intimate atmosphere of this small church packed with 100 people, this work was entrancing.

The clarity of the playing enabled the structure of the work to be quite transparent. The effective interplay between the voices, the wonderful passagework in the cello, contrasting with the violin melodies, the shaping of every phrase to the point that the final note almost disappeared. With repeats played, the construction of the work could easily be followed, and the music itself appreciated in a particularly ‘classical’ way. Clearly there is some feeling, some emotion, but it is restrained, and the delight is often in the symmetry, and the surprise when it strays from the expected. The second movement, a minuet and trio, teased with its accents displacing the minuet rhythm for a few bars. The slightly less taut classical bow, together with the gut strings allowed the players to dig in a little further and highlight these sorts of phrase shapes in a way that you do not hear with modern instruments. The vigorous final movement’s fugal style passages were realised with clarity, and the syncopated and sometimes paired voices acted with satisfying precision.

It’s probably only at a festival that you find yourself at midday in a little church with birds singing outside listening to Mozart with spellbound capacity audience, and not so much as a rustling program or a stifled cough. A wonderful experience.

An Evening with Sara Macliver and the Australian Haydn Ensemble

A large marquee beside St John’s Church in Flinders was the picturesque situation for an evening concert. This enabled a much larger audience to enjoy the Australian Haydn Ensemble, this time with Aria Award-winning Sara Macliver, West Australia born and one of Australia’s favourite pure-voice sopranos, well-known for her expert baroque performance.

The rectangular marquee was only partly enclosed, the stage set inside centrally on the long wall. Patrons could sit ringing the stage on the picnic rugs, or low chairs inside the marquee, with several more rows still under or nearly under cover. A further couple of rows was accommodated on a walkway adjoining the hall. I was situated there, with a view directly into the marquee, but also seeing the blue sky, with just a couple of wispy white clouds, and the adjacent towering cypress and pine trees. Some fairly basic lighting enhances the natural light, which with the sun low in the sky projecting deep into the performance area and onto individual musicians at times. The sound is all completely natural – no amplification.

It is a lovely picnic atmosphere, and sitting with a glass of local wine (sold by the glass or bottle), I was keen to enjoy the evening. And many aspects of it were charming. Opening with Boccherini’s Flute Quintet in G minor, Op 19, No 2, the classical flute didn’t project beyond the performance area as well as the accompanying string quartet, although the general effect of the outdoor atmosphere was most agreeable.

Sara Macliver made the long walk to the stage to sing two movements from Boccherini’s Stabat Mater. For this, the string quartet was joined by their double bass player, Jacqueline Dosser. Vivaldi’s In furore iustissimae irae, a three-aria cantata, followed. The Boccherini was an unusual choice, though the music was charming. It was introduced by the Ensemble’s Musical Director, but without a microphone, her voice could not be heard from where I sat.  The Vivaldi was stylishly performed, with Macliver delivering a virtuosic Alleluia to end the first half. The ensemble lacked the tightness and impeccable tuning that we had heard earlier in the day. Gut strings are very sensitive to temperature and humidity, and the evening was becoming quite cool, with breezes affecting different instruments from different directions. And my guess is that on the marquee stage they were not able to hear each other nearly as well.

After interval, it was 8.15pm and sunset was approaching. Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 in D major (‘London’), in Salomon’s arrangement for the small ensemble, was accompanied by much birdsong. Lorikeets flew across the skies, chirping loudly, then we had the more raucous galahs, some charming magpies and then cawing crows. Sitting beyond the marquee, Haydn was just part of the total soundscape, so it was easier to forgive the intonation difficulties.

Sara Macliver introduced the four Mozart arias herself, and her vocal projection allowed us to hear every word of her speaking. Two of Zerlina’s arias from Don Giovanni were sung, then Pamina’s Ach, ich fühl’s from Die Zauberflöte, and finally  Laetari iocari, from Apollo and Hyacinth, written when Mozart was only eleven. These were accompanied in versions for the string quintet, flute and harpsichord, played by Tom Foster, and arranged by Lim. The coloratura of this final bravura aria allowed Macliver to thrill the audience with her celebratory vocal fireworks. The enthusiastic reception led to the much-loved Handel aria Lascia ch’io pianga as an encore, completely contrasting in character.

This outdoor event is very popular, but perhaps it requires instruments with better projection and more stability of tuning, if it is to remain completely acoustic.

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Reviewer Margaret Arnold attended select Peninsula Summer Music Festival performances for Classic Melbourne.  The full festival schedule can be found here.

Melbourne Recital Centre Great Romantics Winner
Miles Johnston, classical guitar

At St John’s, Flinders, on Sunday morning, a sizable audience was treated to an exceptionally fine guitar performance from Miles Johnston. This charming Sunday morning concert is a great example of the way Peninsula Summer Music Festival has forged partnerships with other entities, to the benefit of all. Miles won the Melbourne Recital Centre Great Romantics competition in 2018, and with both the Festival and the Recital Centre being committed to recognising and nurturing young artists, he was given this performance opportunity.

This was not just additional experience for a young performer, but a recital of excellence.

JS Bach’s first violin sonata in a wonderful arrangement for guitar was breathtaking. From the improvisatory opening we were in expert hands, as chords were spread in the slow first movement, to the fugal entries of the second movement, where the entries of each successive voice were so clearly articulated; the gentle and lyrical third movement, and the fast semiquavers of the final movement cascading in the upper strings while the bass effectively underpinned the harmonies. I feel confident that JS Bach would have approved!

Giulio Regondi, a Swiss-born nineteenth century guitarist and composer, was new to me, and his Introduction and Caprice was the work with which Johnston won the Great Romantics competition. The sensitively played Introduction with tastefully romantic ornamentation gave way to the strongly rhythmic Caprice, Johnston orchestrating the melody and accompaniment by way of his variety of tone colours, and with skilful rubato he appeared at one with his instrument. The virtuosic and dramatic finish left us in no doubt about his technical and musical skill.

It was good to hear an Australian work – Richard Charlton’s challenging Threnody for Chernobyl, and a fascinating Introduction and Vivace by Russian composer Nikita Koshkin. A gently romantic Brazilian piece provided the encore which was demanded by the enthusiastic crowd!

Throughout the entirely memorized concert Miles Johnston introduced his items informatively with confidence and poise.

We will hear a lot more from this fine young classical guitarist.

Schubert Songs
Australian Haydn Ensemble and David Greco

A short lunch break permitted a leisurely walk to the Flinders Market, before returning for the final time this weekend to St John’s Church. By 2pm the church was full to overflowing, with extra chairs and people squeezing into their pews to fit in an extra body. There was a buzz of excitement. And with good reason!

The quintet of string players was arranged in a semi-circle with the double bass in the centre, cello then violin 1 to her right, and viola and violin 2 to her left.  The program of Schubert songs, arranged for string accompaniment, was interspersed with four string quintets taken from Felicien David’s Les Quatres Saisons, a collection of 24 miniature string quintets. These works all had something to offer musically, without detracting from the Schubert songs. And they were performed with precision of ensemble, impeccable intonation, musicality, and sense of style.

David Greco entered and took his place in the centre, in front of the double bass, surrounded by the other instrumentalists. Smartly dressed in dark trousers, white shirt and a burgundy vest, he had bare feet. Was that because he’d ‘brought two left shoes to the Peninsula’? He left that possibility unresolved, but otherwise provided excellent introductions to the mostly rather dark songs. Over the course of the concert, he also described the way that using instruments of the period with gut strings, and late classical bows allows for more contrast, as the bow can dig deep into the gut strings. Together with flexibility of rhythm, and use of portamento in the playing and singing, Greco described this as ‘an arsenal of expressivity’. This was certainly apparent with his range of tone colours and shaping of phrases, and singing into the consonants, just as the bows press into the gut strings.

I had thought that I would find the absence of piano too difficult, but in fact I have found a new way to hear these Schubert songs. Hearing other instruments sharing the accompanying lines brings them out for attention in a different way, and I found I was actually hearing more of the music.

We had a good selection from Greco and the Ensemble – Die Götter Griechenlands, Der Jüngling und der Tod, three songs from Winterreise, Der Tod und das Mädchen, and Der Erlkönig.

Greco’s smooth well-centred and supported vocal tone was thoroughly in control of all he sang, and he and the Ensemble worked together superbly. Musicianship of the highest quality and outstanding communication between players, singer and audience made for a memorable concert.

Greco recited The Erlking in English, giving it the full theatrical treatment. As soon as he finished, they launched into the music. It was a breathtaking performance, and the audience erupted in wild applause and shouts. Of course there had to be an encore. But what could possibly follow such a piece? There was only one possibility. An Die Musik proved to be a perfect ending to an excellent concert.

After a lovely walk and lunch in the vibrant little Flinders township, I was back at St John’s Church, part of an enthusiastic crowd to hear soprano Merlyn Quaife and pianist Andrea Katz present one of Songmakers Australia’s inspired programs. This one sandwiched works by Australians Roger Heagney, Johanna Selleck, Dermot Tutty and Margaret Sutherland between two German composers – Schubert and Eisler.

After the classical perfection of the previous concert, it was liberating to hear Schubert’s rich harmonic palette, and the romantic freedom to change emotional direction with one chord or nuance of the melodic line. Schubert’s Lieder der Mignon – Kennst du das Land, Heiss mich nicht reden, So last mich scheinen, and Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, opened the program, with Quaife’s richly-hued vocal colours and exemplary articulation finding the range of emotional intensity. Schubert’s musical interpretation is of Goethe’s tragic figure of a young girl rescued from the travelling circus, but tragically out of place in her new country, longing for her homeland, alone and dying of longing. Katz at the Bechstein piano was in every way a constant musical companion, supporting when required, but equally capable of taking charge at the moments when that was the preferable option.

The Heagney pieces, Three Songs on poems by Joan Katherine Webster followed. This was a world premiere, with the composer sitting in the front row. These pieces – Of Love, Life, and Moonlight were very satisfying musically, with sparkling piano parts and convincing vocal lines. In the last song in particular, the virtuosic piano part coloured a very singable melodic vocal line.

Two songs from Johanna Selleck’s The Prospect and Power of Bliss were performed. Her personal compositional style is reflected in these pieces, with themes of matters close to the heart creating a sense of immediacy, emotional depth and connection with nature. Fountains, and A Thousand Gloomy Walks were atmospheric, and challenging to listen to, particularly on first hearing. There was not much that a listener could hang on to in the way of repetition or easily heard variation. As a listener, when faced with the unknown, one surrenders to the performers, and in their artistry can be led on that journey. Quaife and Katz managed to make the music feel improvisatory and in that way also successfully lead us through those emotional depths.

The next group of songs, Dermot Tutty’s Breathe and Phantasm, are scored for voice, piano and oboe, and Margaret Sutherland’s The Orange Tree, originally with voice, piano and clarinet was transcribed for oboe by Katz. Who better to be oboist than Festival Director Ben Opie? Delicately delivered vocally, and with haunting oboe and piano, the Tutty pieces, with much repetition and variation in the vocal lines, were more accessible immediately.  Sutherland’s The Orange Tree, a setting of John Shaw Nielson’s beautiful poem, worked extremely well with oboe. The inherently vocal quality of the instrument sounded to me even more effective than the original clarinet, especially when played by such a fine musician.

The program concluded with what was described as ‘German decadence’. Hans Eisler, a contemporary of Brecht and Weill, was represented in the program by a set of seven songs using ads, snippets from newspapers, and fragments of Heine and Goethe. Sieben Lieder über die Liebe were performed by Quaife in a Berlin cabaret style, in which she excelled. The characterisations of worldliness, worldweariness, and humour were characterised in a manner which encouraged the audience to join the journey into the seedier side of life. Musically spiced up with the odd blue note of jazz origins, Quaife and Katz relieved the audience of all the earlier angst, and were rewarded with a vigorously positive response!

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Reviewer Margaret Arnold reviewed selections from the 12th Peninsula Summer Music Festival for Classic Melbourne.  SONGMAKERS AUSTRALIA’s “Of Love” was offered on Saturday, 5 December, at 3pm at St John’s Church.

Bathed in the warm glow of sunshine through the golden windows of St Patrick’s Cathedral, a good-sized crowd gathered to experience the Hamer Singers’ fourth concert since their establishment in December 2017.

Each concert has provided an interesting selection of choral works from the Renaissance to the present day, and the three programs this year have been curated around a central theme. Remembrance, sparked by World War One and embracing music inspired as a reaction to loss and grief, provided the framework for twelve varied choral works. Artistic director and conductor Jonathan Grieves-Smith introduced the program, and reminded the audience that there is “music in the silence”, so applause was held until the end of the hour-long program.

Opening with Orlando Gibbons’ simple and beautiful Drop, drop slow tears, the quality of the choral sound was immediately established, with excellent tuning of chords, and balance of voices. The same Phineas Fletcher text was set by William Walton, with a haunting falling soprano line illustrating the tears, over chromatic harmony, again maintaining balance, control and excellent intonation.

These attributes were maintained throughout a challenging program, which included three Australian premieres. Odi et Amo (I hate and I love) by Icelandic composer and Golden Globe Award winner Jóhann Jóhannsson, who died earlier this year, used a short text by Catullus (84-54BC) and in music of hypnotic simplicity, the text was chanted in Russian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Romanian, Korean, Turkish and Hindi. The sparse and repetitive musical ideas were brought to life with some superbly controlled singing. Likewise, in another premiere, vocal control in the much richer texture of David Bednall’s 1914 IV: The Dead, the text of Rupert Brooke articulated with clarity and beautifully shaped musical phrases in rich chords and mostly rhythmic unison. A short Nunc Dimitis, composed by Englishman Gerard McBurney for his mother’s funeral, was also a first Australian performance, and this more personal work was perhaps less effective as a concert piece, though in the context of the program of a range of responses to death, it certainly belonged.

John Taverner’s Funeral Ikos is repetitive in a mantra-like way, with a series of syllabically-set verses (Greek Orthodox funeral sentences) each ending with a chorus of Alleluia, while James MacMillan’s Data est mihi omnes potestas provided a huge choral contrast, with a powerful opening, and very different choruses of Alleluia, with melismas cascading from on high first in the soprano voices, and then with the male voices tossing the florid sequence down to the depths.

Three works, written to commemorate tragic deaths made further demands on the choir. Mauersberger’s Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, was written five weeks after the bombing of Dresden, in which eleven boys from his renowned Dresden Kreuzchor were among the 25,000 casualties. Using selected verses from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the composition moves slowly, the text at the forefront, the pain and loss demonstrated in chromatic chords, and contrasting dynamics. The basses of the Hamer Choir shone here, underpinning the chords with great security. James Mac Millan’s A Child’s Prayer was a response to the killing of 16 children and a teacher in a horrifying school shooting in Dunblane, Scotland in 1996. This small motet, dedicated to those who died was full of joy and love, even when faced with violence and pain. The two soprano soloists, Iris Ferwerda and Camilla Gorman, soared with pinpoint accuracy above the chorus with the most beautifully appropriate ethereal treble quality. Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem Domine written two days after the 2004 Madrid train bombings is a meditative call for peace, and encourages the listeners to become immersed in the sound as the pitches slowly change around them. The Hamer Singers’ control of tone colour and great tuning of chords allowed the Cathedral space to provide that bath of sound.

The final piece on this demanding program was Clytus Gottwald’s arrangement for 16 voices of Gustav Mahler’s Ich bin der welt adhanden gekommen, originally an orchestral song. There were moments of exquisite beauty here. The whole orchestral range was covered, from the soaring high sopranos to a rich alto sound and down to the low basses. The Hamer Singers have always had a strong soprano line-up, with fewer voices in the lower parts. In this concert the balance was excellent, with the bass line more present, and providing a solid foundation.

Throughout the concert Jonathan Grieves-Smith, conducting with what looked to be a pencil, played his choir as if it were a glorious instrument. The well-prepared choir responded with great control, stamina and concentration, providing all the required colours, and excellent intonation. The very attentive and quiet audience was pleased to applaud vigorously once the last chord had faded away.

Walking to St Peter’s Eastern Hill on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon for The Falling of the Leaves, the Hamer Singers’ latest concert, it was not difficult to connect with the program title. The church was comfortably warm, with a near capacity audience, and Artistic Director Jonathan Grieves-Smith’s warm welcome also introduced the Hamer Singers’ new connection with the Anglicare Victoria’s Lazarus Centre Program, which provides nourishment, company and comfort to Melbourne CBD’s homeless. Grieves-Smith asked that applause be kept until the end of the program, as there was music in the silences between pieces.

This sixty-minute concert of a cappella works was cleverly programmed around Missa Rigensis by Latvian composer Ugis Praulins (b.1957). Composed for the Riga Dom Boys’ Choir, it was first performed in 2002. Praulins intended the work to be contemporary harmonically and rhythmically, but to be appreciated through the prism of the great Renaissance Masses. The five sections would be heard at different points throughout a service if sung liturgically.  In this concert performance, the Mass movements were interspersed with complementary works, some from the Renaissance and others contemporary.

Slovenian-born Jacob Handl’s (1550-1591) motet “Ecce quomodo moritur justus”, a setting from Holy Saturday Responsories, is a solemn hymn-like setting, which demonstrated the Hamer Singers’ well-disciplined unanimity of chordal movement and balanced vocal parts. Palestrina’s (1525-1594) motet Sicut cervusis full of polyphonic contrasts, and Grieves-Smith’s direction shaped the phrases in a very fluid and flexible manner.  Eric Whitacre (b.1970) composed Sleep as a setting of a Robert Frost poem, but after completing the music and then being unable to secure the rights to the poem, Charles Silvestri wrote a new text for the already composed music.  The two elements work together very well, and the performance of this eight-part work was very effective. O vos omnes by Tomás Luis de Victoria (c 1548-1611) was taken at a very slow pace. With rich intensity in the tonal qualities demonstrating the heaviness of the Lamentations text, the very slow tempo did however reveal some less well-tuned chords, with the inner voices not always unanimous.

These works appeared between the movements of the program’s centrepiece, Missa Regensis.  The variety of meanings in the text immediately creates opportunities for the composer to create variety in choral texture and rhythm. Up to eight choral parts at times, and occasionally using solo voices accompanied by the rest of the choir, the work contains much for the listener to appreciate, particularly when these characteristics are so musically shaped by the conductor.

A massive wall of sound produced by the Hamer Singers began the concert and the Kyrie of the Mass, with some beautifully phrased and contrasting contributions from various sections of the choir. The highly articulated rhythmic patterns of the Gloria, with much interplay in the vocal parts, some solo voices, and chorally contrasting chordal sections again shaped with great attention to detail was also pleasing. Contrary motion and contrary articulation between upper and lower voices effectively opened the Credo.  This longest text of the mass creates much opportunity for variety in music, and includes short solo passages.  A very effective Crucifixus, with tricky rhythmic patterns and intervals for the choristers, was managed mostly very accurately.  Spoken and whispered sections generated excitement, and the contrast between the exuberance of Et vitam venturi and the whispered Amen was well-measured. Unusual chord progressions in the Sanctus and Benedictus were negotiated successfully, and the Agnus Dei opened with an effective solo from a young tenor and was brought to a most satisfying close with a spoken prayer over sustained choral chords before the final choral Amen.

A highlight of the afternoon for me was the closing piece, receiving its Australian premiere. Salutation by Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds (b.1977), to a section of Nobel Literature Prize-winning text of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and first performed in 2017.  For this, the Singers put aside their folders of music, and heads held high they sang from memory. It was incredibly powerful from the audience perspective, and quite liberating for their voices too.

The audience honoured the request for silence between the pieces, which indeed did contribute to the overall effectiveness of the program, so the opportunity to applaud at the end was treated with an explosive expression of appreciation! Grieves-Smith continues to create interesting and effective programs, and conducts very musically, shaping phrases effectively, and attending to musical detail while still allowing the music to live and grow.

Margaret Arnold reviewed this program Sunday 29 July 2018.

*Note from Margaret Arnold: My husband is a freelance bass, and was called in at the last minute as a substitute for this concert.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) is well-known for his large-scale works – many choristers have had the opportunity to hear or perhaps sing a performance of the mighty Requiem (1837) and Te Deum (1849). His sacred trilogy L’Enfance du Christ is less often heard, and lovers of the other works wonder why this is so. Thanks to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing it for the first time since 1969, we have an opportunity to investigate.

L’Enfance du Christ came into being as a patchwork composition. Berlioz’ friend Joseph-Louis Duc had asked him to write something for his album, while other friends played cards, which Berlioz detested. He came up with a little organ piece with an archaic flavour, which turned into a chorus of shepherds farewelling the Holy Family from Bethlehem. He passed it off at his next concert as a work by an imaginary 17^th century composer, Ducré, supposedly discovered in renovations at Sainte Chapelle. Continuing his work in the style of earlier music, adding an overture and a tenor Narrator, it became The Flight into Egypt. Only when this was performed three years later did Berlioz decide to expand the work further, adding the last part of the story, The Arrival at Saïs, and finally the beginning, Herod’s Dream. Four years after the card game, the whole work was performed to critical acclaim.

Based loosely on Matthew’s Gospel, soothsayers tell King Herod that a child has been born who will become the great ruler. Herod desperately decrees that all newborn children in Judaea – Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem – should be killed. In a stable in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph are told by Angels that they must flee to Egypt to save the baby Jesus. They are farewelled by Shepherds and, after a difficult journey, they arrive in Saïs, an Egyptian town on the Nile Delta. Eventually the “children of Israel” are welcomed as the brothers of a Syrian Ishmaelite family. Finding much in common despite their religious differences, the Holy Family stays with the them in a nurturing and loving environment for ten years before returning to Judaea and the fulfilment of Jesus’ destiny.

The Hamer Hall stage was set, and it wasn’t your typical Berlioz line-up of thousands – just a moderate sized orchestra with one row of brass (the four trumpets appearing only seconds before the orchestra tuned) and one timpanist, and the 40 men of the MSO Chorus. Although the work was to involve six solo singers, none could be seen.

Le Songe du Hérod (Herod’s Dream) opens the work. Le Récitant (Narrator) tenor Andrew Staples walked on stage with the opening orchestral bars to set the scene. From his first note, it was clear that Staples’ voice was ideal for this role. It’s a voice-type that I associate very much with baroque music, French song, and the Britten tenor roles – effortlessly placed with pinpoint pitch accuracy, wonderful diction, clarity of tone colour, and ability to rapidly repeat or hold a note exactly in tune for a long time!

Dialogue is interspersed with orchestral sections, quite compelling in their evocation of different atmospheres and moods. The Marche Nocturne evokes an empty evening street, with its sparse pizzicato low strings first, then upper strings and precisely articulated woodwind over sustained horns, which become a light and airy march, interrupted by Roman soldiers on night-patrol. A Centurion (tenor) and Polydorus (bass) capably sung by Andrew Goodwin and Shane Lowrencev respectively, exchange words, including a very effective extended and totally unaccompanied passage discussing Herod’s sleepless night and then the march moves on, with the braying of the donkeys (Anna note: wait, what donkeys?) heard as they move into the distance.

Now we move to the palace, where Herod (bass Matthew Brook) ponders the difficulties of being a king. He has had a dream and doesn’t know how to respond. His brooding spirit is painted in the orchestral score, with a preponderance of bass instruments – trombones, bassoons and double basses.

Polydorus arrives to inform Herod that the Soothsayers he’s summoned for advice have now arrived. The MSO Chorus men are these “wise men of Judaea” and once made aware of the nature of Herod’s enquiry, they consult the spirits accompanied by a weird orchestral dance in 7/4 time. Emerging from this trance-like interlude they instruct Herod to kill the newborns. The MSO Chorus men, while perhaps not quite achieving the highest degree of menacing vocal tone, certainly were incisive and accurate in their approach.

The orchestral score transitions us from this shocking passage with its dominating bass instruments as we are ushered by flutes, oboes, clarinets and violins to the peaceful scene in the stable in Bethlehem. Mary (mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke) is singing to her baby son. Cooke used her chocolatey rich voice to calm effect, duetting with the superb oboe solo. Joined by Joseph, sung effectively by baritone Roderick Williams, the couple sing in duet until interrupted by a choir of Unseen Angels. The voices of the women of the MSO Chorus, positioned somewhere above the audience in the Upper Circle level of Hamer Hall, floated down accompanied by a harmonium, also sounding from on high. Telling Mary and Joseph to leave immediately for Egypt, they conclude with an unaccompanied Hosanna in several parts, in which the MSO women excelled. Just three closing chords from the orchestra on stage led us to the interval.

Part Two The Flight into Egypt opens with an Overture as the shepherds gather before the manger. The brass players were no longer needed after interval, as now the orchestral score was more modest. With pastoral instruments to the fore, the superb MSO woodwind section produced quality ensemble playing, leading to the famous Shepherds’ Farewell. The whole MSO Chorus was now on stage. Their simple and unaffected singing was nicely balanced in voice parts, and their phrasing and dynamics were shaped beautifully by the conductor. Andrew Staples again with an extended solo section narrated the journey, and the angels sang Alleluia.

As Part Three The Arrival at Saïs begins, the Holy Family has suffered a gruelling journey, described again by Narrator Staples, who continued to produce the fine voice we had heard from the outset. An exhausted and overwhelmed Mary falters, while Joseph continues to knock on doors seeking hospitality. All this can be heard in the orchestral score, with the Chorus men (Egyptian villagers) turning them away scornfully. Le maître de maison (Householder), sung by bass Matthew Brook (now doubling up as an Ishmaelite) takes pity on them and welcomes them into his household where he instructs his family to take care of them. As they scatter about in response, the music is more polyphonic. With many things happening simultaneously, the choir effectively conveys this in their interjections. Brook, earlier a very capable brooding Herod, sang this new role with a telling compassion in his vocal tone.

The kind Householder now tells his children to perform on their instruments, and Berlioz treats us to an extended trio with two flutes and harp. The virtuoso playing of Prudence Davis and Wendy Clarke (flutes) and Yinuo Mu (harp) was another treat. Soloists Brook, Cooke and Williams created exactly the right atmosphere to complete this scene of relief and peace.

The Epilogue is left to the Narrator and the choir. This was for me the musical highlight of the performance, as Brook concluded the narrative, and while the choir sang unaccompanied, crept up to join them at the rear of the stage, finally singing with them a final prayer “O my heart, be filled with the pure deep love which alone can open for us the kingdom of heaven.” This extended and unaccompanied chorus with its the chromaticism, key changes, and vocal part-writing provide challenges for any choir, and the 100 + voices of the MSO Chorus handled it superbly. Andrew Staples as Narrator could be heard beside them, and all was well with the world.

Sir Andrew held the following silence for a long while, until sustained applause led to several calls to the stage for conductor, soloists and chorus master Warren Trevelyan-Jones.a

Why is the work not performed often? Requiring an excellent orchestra and choir, and seven soloists (six in this performance with the Herod/Householder demanding double) it is demanding. And it feels like a film score – the music creates the soundtrack to the story rather than being a work on its own, perhaps because of its patchwork construction. Some of the most memorable sections work completely independently of the whole, rather than because of it. Nevertheless, it was a sheer delight to hear, and that had a great deal to do with the quality of the MSO musicians (particularly the woodwind on this occasion), MSO Chorus, the excellent soloists, all under the shaping hands of Sir Andrew Davis.

Reviewer Margaret Arnold heard the MSO performance of L’Enfance du Christ on Friday, June 15, 2018, at Hamer Hall.