Thursday, May 19, 2022

"STARDUST" - VOCES8 (UK) performs sacred and secular a cappella works from the Renaissance to today at the Jerusalem International YMCA

VOCES8 (photo: Andy Staples)

 

 

 

It is eleven years since VOCES8's previous concert tour of Israel. It was time to hear the unique London a-cappella group of five male- and three female singers once again and take flight into "STARDUST" - choral music celebrating regeneration. This writer attended the event at the Jerusalem International YMCA on May 9th 2022.

 

 

 

Introduced by different ensemble members, the works performed at the Jerusalem concert ranged from Renaissance pieces to those of the 19th- and 20th centuries, to jazz standards and to contemporary pieces commissioned by the group...a huge, diverse assortment of pieces that seemed to come together as a cohesive whole. VOCES8's performance of sacred works is convincing, sincere and devotional. Following the "shooting stars" of William Byrd's jubilant, scintillating setting of Psalm 150 "Laudibus in Sanctus'' (Celebrate the Lord most high in holy praises), "O Sacrum Convivium" (O sacred banquet) by US composer Kevin Allen (b.1959), its Renaissance-type purity and vocal writing interwoven with just a few harmonic surprises, ensues with smooth spontaneity. Shifting fluidly and expressively through the contrasts of Heinrich Schütz' antiphonal "Selig sind die Toten" (Blessed are the Dead), the singers highlight its luminous timbres and its message of much-needed consolation. (The motet was written at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in European history.) In addition to the clean, open sounds of the ensemble's restrained yet exuberant singing of Palestrina's "Magnificat Primi Toni", the almost seamless flow of melodic lines of the Kyrie from Josef Rheinberger's Mass in E-flat (also for double choir, alluding to the late-Renaissance splendour of Venice’s cori spezzati), intuitive and subtle, offered small solos, these crowned by Andrea Haines' mellifluous forays into the upper soprano register. And then there were two homophonic hymns: "Be Still My Soul" from Jean Sibelius' "Finlandia", to a text of Katharina von Schlegel (a notable woman of the Pietism revival), in which Voces8's performance of the mystical piece emerged unmannered, lush and moving; and 20th century Icelandic composer Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's strophic, modal setting of the 13th-century hymn "Heyr himna smiður" (Hear, Smith of the Heavens) to words by chieftain/poet Kolbeinn Tumason, performed in a refined, devout and uncluttered manner, and with flawless vocal control.

 

 

 

As to the wonders of nature, the ensemble gave expression to the word-painting, tranquility and nocturnal mood  of "The Evening Primrose" (words: John Clare) from Benjamin Britten's "Five Flower Songs", this coupled with Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén's delicate arrangement of  "Aftonen" (Evening), evoking pastoral voices echoing in the mountains (he was also a watercolour painter). In contemporary British composer Jonathan Dove's heavily-anchored yet articulate setting of "Vertue" (words: George Herbert), its text and hues shifted between glimpses of fresh nature scenes and evocatively loaded autumnal harmonies, the latter reminding us that death is never far away, the piece finally rising to triumphant, bright tones representing "a sweet and virtuous soul". US composer Taylor Scott Davis (b.1980) has created a ravishing setting of Clairel Estevez's love poem "Stardust"; its fragility, sensuousness and waves of emotional energy cloaked in Davis's evocative palette of harmonies. "Stardust" was a commission for VOCES8 and it fits the ensemble like a silk glove!

 

 

 

One hallmark of VOCES8 is its enterprising programming, this challenging concert audiences to experience a huge variety of new and seldom-heard repertoire…Take, for example, "Timshel", the vivid and uplifting double-choir setting by the group's arranger-in-residence Jim Clements of a song of Mumford & Sons, the lyrics extolling the greatness and glory that lie in man’s free will and the ability to choose. Or the decidedly conventional writing of "Hope is the thing with feathers", (lyrics: Emily Dickinson) by American composer Christopher Tin (b.1976), a critical statement on man's impact on nature.

 

 

 

VOCES8 signed out with a number of favourites from way back - songs of Nat King Cole, Jerome Kern, Jimmy Van Heusen, Bart Howard and Harold Arlen…of memories of Frank Sinatra's greatest hits. Jim Clements' arrangements are as subtle and delightful as the singers' performances of them, the ensemble's  presentation of these evergreen songs abounding in good humour, the beauty of vocal timbres, jazzy rhythms, gentle percussive effects and some genial solos. Eight outstanding musicians, eight superb voices, Voces8 singers listen, blend, balance  and communicate, their polished performance never overstepping the bounds of good taste.

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