The Gloriana Ensemble performs "Though Amaryllis Dance in Green" at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem

“Though Amaryllis Dance in Green”, the Gloriana Ensemble’s recent concert, took place on December 20th 2014 at St. Andrews Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem. Established in 2010, the group today, consisting of five singers – Lucie Bloch-soprano, Noar Lee Naggan-countertenor, Hillel Sherman-tenor, Yoram Bar Akiva-baritone and Joel Sivan-bass - specializes in performing sacred and secular polyphonic music from the Renaissance and Baroque.

Apart from one Spanish- and two French pieces, the ensemble’s new program is made up of a-cappella works from England and Italy, the connection between the two briefly outlined by Hillel Sherman, who introduced works on the program, providing some background about each. When King Henry VIII sent his agents to Venice to engage for his court the best wind and viol players Europe had to offer, the stage was set for English music to be transformed. The music at Queen Elizabeth I’s court took Italian music to its heart, blending it with the inherited glories of earlier English music to produce one of the richest and most evocative repertoires in musical history.

Showing the genre’s sometime connection with Italy, the concert opened with the paradigm of the Renaissance English madrigal, Thomas Morley’s ebullient and effervescent ballett of 1596 “Now Is the Month of Maying” (based on a canzonet of Orazio Vecchi), the English spring freshness and humor of its words only marginally masking its risqué text. The Gloriana Ensemble’s flexible, bright and engaging singing of it promised an evening of pleasurable listening. In William Byrd’s “Is Love a Boy?” (1589), the text’s enigmatic and troubling questions came thick and fast from each voice, emerging with individuality and a sense of urgency, highlighted by Byrd’s sophisticated writing and a play of dynamics. The singers presented the dense contrapuntal texture of Byrd’s “Though Amaryllis Dance in Green”, from which the Gloriana Ensemble’s program takes its name, making incisive use of consonants Then, to one of the many vivid early English market-place street-sellers’ songs: to play out all the levels of meaning in John Dowland’s “Fine Knacks for Ladies” (1600), with its descriptive detail, its teasing syncopations and courtly puns, the singers gave much attention to each word, to timbral colors, to detached phrases as against more legato moments, finally leading to the song’s message – that love remains true in the heart more so than any pretty trinkets for sale. Performing these pieces depends greatly on fine diction and the flavor of British English; the Gloriana singers did not disappoint.

Still in the realm of secular music, but leaving England, we heard three light-hearted songs. In “Le Chant des Oiseaux” by Clement Janequin (c.1485-1568), one of Paris’s foremost chanson composers, the four men dealt admirably with the song’s tricky, onomatopoeic text, its comical patter and descriptive calls of thrushes, robins, nightingales and cuckoos. The singers then delivered an upbeat, witty reading of 16th century Spanish composer Juan del Encina’s “Cucu,cucu”, a song more about adultery than ornithology. In Pierre Passereau’s “Il est bel et bon”, in which two country women brag about their husbands, the singers combined the chanson’s grace and lightness with its hints of rustic directness and double entendres.


The young man singing to his lady-love in Orlando di Lasso’s “Matona mia cara” is a German, probably a soldier; the song, a parody of how Germans spoke in broken Italian, With much animation, the singers conveyed the young man’s infatuation and the lack of subtlety of his intentions! Even more curious is “Allala pia calia”, one of six “moresches” composed by Lasso in a dialect influenced by Moors living in Renaissance Italy. Enjoying the theatrical antics of this flamboyant, unabashedly bawdy villanella, the Gloriana singers took on board its rhythmic and syllabic effects, allowing for an imaginative and richly dynamic performance.
The program presented a number of sacred works. In Orlando di Lasso’s luminous motet “Justorum Animae”, the singers presented the piece’s rich texture, its unique tenderness and hope. Lasso’s curious motet “Super Flumina Babylonis” Psalm 136 (137), speaking of the Hebrews in captivity in Babylon, saw the singers lending whimsy to the game Lasso plays with syllables and the comical spelling out of letters and words in his strange form of humor. A pivotal work in sacred section of the program was (some of) Venetian composer Giovanni Croce’s “Nove Lamentatione”, a lofty, spiritual piece sung to texts from the Book of Lamentations. In the program notes, Dr. Alon Schab (Haifa University) wrote about this mysteriously unknown work, whose original parts are in the Münster Regional Ecumenical Library (Germany). With Hillel Sherman reading the text of each section, the male singers, conducted by Joel Sivan, took listeners into the pious and mournful mood of Lamentations, allowing time to place phrases strategically, these phrase endings carefully shaped. On a lighter note, the quintet performed Mantuan Jewish violinist and composer Salamone Rossi’s “Hallelujah” (Psalm 146) from the composer’s 1622 groundbreaking collection of Hebrew motets, always a crowd-pleaser and for good reasons!

William Byrd’s wonderfully contemplative and stately “Confirma Hoc Deus” boasts two superb soprano magical parts, here, not entirely matched in timbre by Noar Lee Naggan’s reedy countertenor sound and Lucie Bloch’s delicate, slimmer soprano voice. This was followed by Thomas Tallis’ small anthem “O Nata Lux”, suitably bathed in “light”, its homophonic texture colored with cross-rhythms harmonic dicords to evoke the suffering conveyed in its text.

With a new line-up of singers, Ensemble Gloriana has much to offer its audience in the way of polished, well-informed performance, fine intonation, excellent diction and interesting repertoire. Some singers are more communicative with the audience than others. Pieces conducted by Joel Sivan fared better than those not; his warm, blending voice provides the ideal bass line for Renaissance and Baroque music. Noar Lee Naggan's sturdy countertenor voice adds body to the general sound Lucie Bloch’s creamy, delicate voice and Noar Lee Naggan’s pithy vocal timbre do not always find a meeting point. But the group's performance is stylish, delving into the profound and spiritual mood of scacred music and reaching out generously to the insouciance inherent in secular vocal repertoire of the time.

The Jerusalem Oratorio Chamber Choir in "Wake Up Sleeping Hearts"

The Jerusalem Oratorio Chamber Choir, conducted by Ronen Borshevsky (deputy conductor Ofer Dalal), performed “Wake Up, Sleeping Hearts” a concert of music from the 16th- to the 21st century, most of it sacred music, most of it a cappella. This writer attended a concert on January 14th 2012, at St. Andrews Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem.

Several of the works sung were to texts from Psalms, the earliest being motet settings of Psalms 96 “Cantate Dominum” (Sing to the Lord a New Song) and 81 “Exultate Deo” (Sing Aloud to God Our Strength) of Hans Leo Hassler (c.1564-1612). The singers gave the highly polyphonic style an articulate, joyful and dynamic reading. Characteristic of Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni’s (1657-1743) later style, his “Laudate Dominum” (Praise the Lord) Psalm 150 was largely homophonic, its simpler harmonies and clear word rhythms dictating a well-orchestrated sound.

Danish composer Niels La Cour’s (b.1944) oeuvre includes much instrumental music, but he is best known for his choral music. The choir performed two of the three noteworthy Mottetti Latini (1982) based on Gregorian themes. In his arrangement of the 13th century monophonic chant “Hodie Christus Natus Est” (Today Christ is Born), the composer adds meter and harmony to the chant, the changing metrical structure preserving the early character of the melody. La Cour’s music is neo-Classical in approach, with harmonies evocative of those of Maurice Duruflé, evident in his setting of Psalm 117 “Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes” (Praise the Lord, all ye Nations). György Orbán’s (b. 1947 Rumania) tranquil “Ave Maria”, using a lush, sophisticated and basically tonal harmonic and melodic musical language, was introspective. And back to Psalm texts - we heard the “Hallelujah” (Psalm 150) from Israeli composer Tzvi Avni’s (b.1927, Germany) “Mizmorei T’hilim” (Psalm Songs), a work commissioned for the 1967 Zimriyah International Choral Festival in Israel. The Oratorio Chamber Choir’s performance, bristling with energy, joy, dance-type rhythms and Avni’s uncompromising use of strongly-profiled Mediterranean modes, was carefully shaped and nuanced, the singers’ full sound never falling into the pitfall of roughness.

Gabriel Fauré’s (1845-1924) “Cantique de Jean Racine”, composed at age 19 in his final year at the École Niedermeyer, was the composer’s first significant work. Typical of the small-scale works the composer chose for personal and intimate expression, it was originally scored for 4-voiced choir and piano or organ, its text a devout expression of a large body of Jean Racine’s poetry:
‘Word equal to the most high, our only hope, eternal day of the earth and of the heavens,
We break the silence of the quiet night.
Divine Saviour, cast your glance upon us…’
The Oratorio singers managed well with the French text (often a problem in Israeli choirs); however, the work suffered from the inadequate, somewhat lifeless timbre of the electric piano (pianist: Tania Schupak).


American composer Morten Lauridsen’s (b.1943) “Sure on this Shining Night”, one of three songs making up “Nocturnes” (2005) is slow-moving, contemplative, declamatory, mannered and basic in harmonies, the latter colored with seconds and ninths. The many exposed single melodic lines challenge each voice to give meaning and interest to what may not innately have those qualities, save the fervent treatment of specific words, such as “shining”. Lauridsen’s choice of American author and poet James Agee’s (1909-1955) mystic poem has not produced a piece that is convincing, despite the Oratorio Ensemble’s sincere approach.
‘Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand’ring far alone
Of shadows on the stars.’

The opening text of Clément Janequin’s (1485-1558) “Le Chant des Oyseaux” (Song of the Birds) – “Reveillez vous, cueurs endormis” provided the title for this concert. Composed around 1520, this chanson remains one of Janequin’s most popular (also with instrumentalists). This complex 4-voiced piece, in five clear sections, its onomatopoeic bird call effects taking sound-sense correspondence to a programmatic extreme, makes great demands on singers. In the text, the god of love awakens dormant, wintry hearts by using birds as his messengers - the thrush, the robin, the starling, the cuckoo and the nightingale. The JOCC did not disappoint in conveying this, its polished performance entertaining the audience with light textures, well-articulated phrasing, humor and well-tuned twitterings of nature’s menagerie. I was not quite sure why this piece had found its way into a program of sacred- and mystical music, apart from the fact that Janequin himself held several church positions, composing much sacred music.

Of special interest were two works of American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre (b.1970). “Lux Aurumque” (2000) is a setting of a poem by (the enigmatic poet) Edward Esch, translated into Latin by Anthony Silvestri. The work was originally performed by a “virtual choir” – 185 (previously auditioned) singers from 12 different countries videoed themselves singing parts; Whitacre synchronized them all, producing a video film of the “choir”. The work itself is spiritual and introspective, steeped in tranquil, silken loaded chords and clusters to describe the stillness and wonder of the nativity; these are the hues of Whitacre’s palette. The Oratorio Chamber members’ performance of the piece was true to the work’s sense of wonder and humility, their choral timbre clean, silvery and well blended.
‘Light,
Warm and heavy as pure gold,
And the angels softly
To the newborn babe.’

Whitacre joins Weelkes, Tomkins, Robert Ramsey, Gombert and other composers in his choice of the text of David reacting to Absalom’s death – Samuel II, Chapter 18:33.
‘When David heard that Absalom was slain
He went up to his chamber above the gate and wept
My son, my son, O Absalom my son,
Would God I had died for thee.’
Whitacre sets the scene with the dark colors of the opening chords. He then takes his listeners ever deeper into the tragedy of a father’s loss, using sectional utterances, small solos, smooth segments, silences, devastating climaxes and much use of fragments, the latter mostly settings of “my son”. At times, the score calls on the singers to color the canvas with chords of 14-or-so notes. The general effect is that of time standing still, of incomparable tragedy and utter loneliness. The Oratorio members handled the work splendidly: its pitches, texture and togetherness are, indeed, a challenge to every singer. The audience was moved. A fine work with a powerful message, but perhaps overly extended – 15 minutes.

The concert ended with two energetic arrangements of Afro-American spirituals. In “I Been in De Storm” (Jewel Thompson) we heard Naomi Brill Engel singing the solo; she has a pleasant mix of vocal color, the piece, however, sitting a little too high for her natural range. We then heard Undine Smith Moore’s arrangement of “Daniel” (1952) with alto Ella Talbar Reznik as soloist. Moore (1904-1989), referred to as the “dean of black women composers” made transcriptions of songs her mother had sang, this being one of them.

The Jerusalem Oratorio Chamber Choir’s work is detailed and profound, addressing musical form and style. The dedication of its conductors and members is matched with musicality and good taste.