"Magnificat in Two" - two branches of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir perform Magnificats of Vivaldi and Rutter

Courtesy the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir

“Magnificat in Two” was one of the events of the 2017 Jerusalem Festival of Arts (March 28^th-April 4^th). The concert, taking place on April 1^st in the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship of the Jerusalem International YMCA, was a joint performance of two branches of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir – the Capellate Choir (conductor: Naama Nazrathy Gordon) and the Oratorio Chamber Choir (conductor: Kate Belshé). Soloists were soprano Shira Cohen and mezzo-soprano Noa Hope. Marina Shaevich accompanied on the piano. Belshé and Nazrathy Gordon alternated in conducting throughout the concert.

The event opened with both choirs proceeding into the hall to the singing of Hanacpachap (1630), an anonymous processional hymn from Cuzco (Peru) in the Quechua language and considered to be the first polyphonic work of the ‘New World’. It was accompanied by drum and ankle bells.

Antonio Vivaldi composed his “Magnificat” around 1715, with later versions penned in the 1720s. Enigmatically designated for two choirs, Vivaldi’s setting of the text is decidedly mono-choral. The Oratorio choirs opened with articulate and festive singing of the “Magnificat anima mea” (My soul glorifies the Lord), as they leaned into the music’s dissonances. In the “Et exultavit” (My spirit rejoices in God), Shira Cohen’s fresh, bright timbre was joined by the rich, smooth singing of mezzo-soprano Noa Hope. This was followed by a velvety- and well-delineated choral reading of the “Et Misericordia” (His mercy is from age to age), its anguished utterance a little understated, with the singers then engaged in the forthright gestures of the “Fecit Potentiam” (He puts forth his arm in strength) finely depicting the mighty as being destroyed and the humble exalted. Addressing details and well-rehearsed, the choir’s singing of Vivaldi’s “Magnificat” reflected the differing moods of the work.  Although Marina Shaevich’s accompaniment was attentive and sensitive, the performance was missing the timbres of the Baroque instrumental ensemble in obbligato passages and, in particular, the plangent timbre of the two oboes.

The Jerusalem event offered a fine opportunity for the audience to familiarize itself with the music of London-born John Rutter (b.1945), one of today’s most prominent and frequently performed composers of sacred vocal music. The work is very upbeat, with some sections popular in style and appeal and others meditative, reflective and exultant.  Rutter uses the traditional text, interpolating some other material. In the opening movement, a vivid mix of vocal colour and influenced by the attractive asymmetrical Latin American Huapango rhythm, the Oratorio singers’ performance was secure, bright and rich, their diction well-defined. In the second movement, Rutter’s more traditionally English, folk-like setting of “Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose”, a 15^th century religious poem, the image of the rose, its blossom and branches serve as metaphors for Mary, Jesus and the message of Christmas. The singers presented its word-painting and transparency of texture with pleasing lightness.
‘Of a rose, a lovely rose
Of a rose is all my song.
Hearken to me both olde and younge,
How this rose began to spring;
A fairer rose to mine liking,
In all this world ne know I none…’
 

In the “Quia fecit mihi magna” (The Almighty works marvels for me), Rutter now interpolates a Sanctus and introduces the use of plainsong to the work. Then the atmosphere totally changes for the “Et misericordia” (His mercy is from age to age), with Shira Cohen’s expressive, fluid and soothing singing soaring above the choir’s smooth and constantly modulating agenda. With the “Fecit potentiam”, Rutter turns to a terse, intense style, a merging of fugal- and atonal elements, all well-crafted and crisply presented by the singers, then to be contrasted by the tranquil, sweetly sentimental “Esurientes” (He fills the starving with good things), with Cohen’s communicative reflective solo set above delicate choral sounds. Rutter’s final addition to the text occurs in the final movement, as Cohen performs the “Sancta Maria” to a minimal accompaniment, with the work spiralling to a volley of joyful Amens. Taking on a substantial and challenging role, Shira Cohen dealt it with natural musicality and poise. Rutter’s highly-coloured instrumental scorings are either for full orchestra or chamber orchestra. Many trumpet fanfares highlight the work’s festive spirit. Performing it with piano accompaniment is a poor substitute for what the composer had in mind; consider the percussion instruments in his score: timpani, glockenspiel, snare drum, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tambourine and bongos!

 

 

 

Photo:Marina Vengerov

The Jerusalem Oratorio Choir presents "Viva la musica!"

The Jerusalem Oratorio Choir’s annual gala concert took place on May 28th 2014 in the Henry Crown Symphony Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre. “Viva la musica!” was the title given to the program music of Italian composers, or music in the Italian language, stretching from the Renaissance to 19th century choral pieces from Italian opera.

Established in 1987, the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir is the largest of its kind in Israel, its 150-or-so members consisting of amateur- and semi-professional singers coming from many sections of Jerusalem's local- and foreign communities. Having become an independent, member-based association, the choir today continues to receive funding from the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Jerusalem Municipality. The Jerusalem Oratorio Choir actually comprises five choirs, each working independently, with some joint annual collaboration. In total, they perform some 20 concerts a year. The five ensembles are as follows: The Oratorio Singers, directed by Ms. Naama Nazrathy Gordon, Bel Canto, directed by Ms. Noa Burstein, Cantabile (a women's choir), directed by Ms. Flora Vinokurov, Capellatte, directed by Ms. Shelley Berlinsky (absent from the concert due to imminent childbirth) and The Jerusalem Oratorio Chamber Choir, directed by Mr. Ofer dal Lal. Ms. Tania Schupak is the choir’s piano accompanist. The Oratorio Choir was joined by the Israel Chamber Orchestra, by Tania Schupak and Natalie Povolotsky (piano, organ) and soloists soprano Svetlana Kosyatova and mezzo-soprano Ella Wilhelm. Veteran radio announcer Hayuta Dvir emceed the event.

Throughout the evening, each choir sang separately, with several works performed by two or more of the choirs. In singing that was both majestic and transparent, the program opened with “Barekhu” (Bless the Lord, Songs of Solomon) and “Halleluja” (Psalm 146) works of the Jewish Italian composer Salomone Rossi (1570-1630), the first non-cantorial composer to use Hebrew texts. Continuing with two witty villanellas of Franco-Flemish composer Orlando di Lasso (1530-1594), “O La, O Che Buon Eccho” (The Echo Song) was sung by heart by Capellatte and Bel Canto, making for much eye contact between singers and finely crafted, natural echo effects. In “Matona Mia Cara”, a bawdy song mocking the efforts of a German soldier to clumsily woo an Italian lady, Bel Canto and the Chamber Choir blended well, shaping phrases delicately…perhaps too delicately for such a text! Reacting sensitively to Nazrathy Gordon’s conducting, the Oratorio Singers and Chamber Choir created the sacred, reverent mood of the Kyrie from G.Rossini’s (1792-1868) “Petite Messe Solenelle”, with its musical references to the “stile antico” style and the unconventional but highly effective piano and organ accompaniment. (This scoring arose from the fact that the work was premiered in the private chapel of Countess Louise Pillet-Will, in which there were both piano and harmonium.) Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) “Magnificat”, performed by the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and conducted by Nazrathy Gordon, brought the first half of the concert to a close. Here, the choir displayed a well-trained choral sound and clear understanding of the verbal text, with the movements well contrasted, their singing of the gorgeous and plangent “Et misericordia” (And His mercy is on them) bathed in poignancy and anguish, the “Fecit potentiam” (He hath showed strength) deisplaying the text’s spirit of strength. Svetlana Kosyatova and Ella Wilhelm gave impressive, pleasing performances, both as soloists and in duo.

With Ofer dal Lal conducting, we heard the Chamber Choir and Bel Canto in one of the many settings (they range from four- to ten voices) of the “Crucifixus” text by Antonio Lotti (1667-1740). Their singing presented the work’s awe and mystery and highlighted its compelling dissonances, dal Lal’s use of dynamic color moving from fragile piano to a scintillating, silvery and exciting choral sound. One of the evening’s high points was the Chamber Choir’s performance of the “Plorate Filii Israel” (Weep, you children of Israel) the expressive lament ending Giacomo Carissimi’s (1605-1674) most famous oratorio “Jepthe”. Against an effective organ (Schupak) and ‘cello (Gregory Yanovsky) setting, the sopranos floated their melodic strands with weightless ease over and through Carissimi’s well-crafted imitative polyphony, the piece’s tragedy, grief and suffering heightened via the work’s multiple suspensions.

Moving away from sacred music, Cantabile and the Chamber Choir, conducted by Vinokurov, took the audience into the world of secular song of an Italian flavor with D.Bollati’s “La Mammoletta” (Shrinking Violet). The presence of two mandolins (Yulia Sinievsky, Sarah Taylor) added charm and delicacy to this friendly, sweetly sentimental song. With Umberto Giordano’s (1867-1948) “O Pastorelle, Addio” (Now is the time for parting) we had launched into the genre of operatic choruses, this section concluding the concert. In this graceful song, from “Andrea Chénier”, an opera focusing on the life of the poet Andrea Chénier, the wealthy Countess di Coigny is hosting a ball, the entertainment being an 18th century pastorale. Cantabile and the Chamber Choir, some of their women members hiding behind Venetian masks, created the piece’s mood, the harp (Sara Shemesh) adding magic and sparkle to the singers’ velvety choral timbre. Sung by the collective Oratorio Choir under the baton of Ofer dal Lal and accompanied by players of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, we then heard a selection of well-known opera choruses, the majority by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Performed with verve and spirit, these pieces provided hearty choral fare and much orchestral say, from the devil-may-care “Tarantella” from “The Force of Destiny” and “La Vergine degli Angeli” (The virgin of the angels), its solo sung exquisitely by Kosyatova, to the expressive, sweeping- yet disturbingly underlying melancholy of the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” (Nabucco). Two poignant choruses from Pietro Mascagni’s (1863-1945) “Cavalleria Rusticana” (Rustic Chivalry) completed the bill.

A great deal of serious and painstaking musical work had clearly been invested into the preparation of this concert, the result of which was pleasing amateur choral singing of a high standard. Singers were confident, expressive and articulate, their collective choral sound well shaped and clean, at the same time, both rich and transparent. The concert, providing hearty enjoyment to those attending, was a credit to Oratorio’s conductors and singers alike.