The Israeli Vocal Ensemble (director: Yuval Benozer) performs French sacred works of the 20th century at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem

 

The Israeli Vocal Ensemble (Niv Shimon, Craft7 Studio)

French 20th century sacred works were the bill for a morning concert at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, on May 31st 2024, in which the Israeli Vocal Ensemble performed Francis Poulenc's Mass in G major and Maurice Duruflé's Requiem Op.9. The works were conducted by IVE founder, conductor and musical director Yuval Benozer. Soloists were soprano Tom Ben Ishai and bass-baritone Alexei Knonikov. Boris Zobin played the organ for the Duruflé Requiem.

 

Dedicated to his father, who had died 20 years earlier, Poulenc's G major Mass, completed in 1937, is essentially a Missa Brevis (there being no Credo). The work, scored for soprano solo and mixed unaccompanied choir, reflects the composer's rekindled (Roman Catholic) faith that was now to spur him on to an important new phase in his creativity. Characterized by ethereally high soprano lines, dense harmonies and daring chromaticism, it includes a variety of styles and textures. As he enlists frequent appearances of solo voices to heighten the traditional text, Poulenc pays homage to chanted settings of the past, yet still creating a distinctively modern sound. A challenging work to perform, it stands as one of the most important a cappella works to have been written in the 20th century. From the impassioned opening Kyrie with its strong rhythmic gestures and startling, barbed harmonies (Poulenc referred the Kyrie as "savage"), through dramatic exchanges between groups of voices in the Gloria, to the tranquil carillon-associated overtones heard in the Sanctus, these followed by the strident harmonies of the homophonic Hosanna, the singers gave the Benedictus a hushed, intimate setting coloured in mysterious yet daring harmonies. As to the Agnus Dei, opening with a magical soprano solo, there was an otherworldly sense of infinity, presenting Poulenc at his purest and most mystical. Despite the overactive acoustic reaction of St. Andrew's Church (at times counterbalancing the work's reflection and serenity) Benozer and the eighteen IVE singers addressed the work's contrasts, both musically and in sentiment, exercising precise intonation and clarity of attack. 

 

His largest and most important work, Maurice Duruflé's Requiem Op.9 exists in three versions - with organ and large orchestra (1947); with organ (1948) and with organ and small orchestra (1961). Performing the 1948 version, the New Israeli Vocal Ensemble was joined by organist Boris Zobin, with soprano Tom Ben Ishai and bass-baritone Alexei Knonikov in the solo roles. Although a 20th-century work, it is largely based on Gregorian chant and the Gregorian Mass for the Dead.  As a child, Duruflé was educated at a choir school for Cathedral training, hence the strong influence of plainsong traditions (evoking holiness, lyricism, free-flowing meter and serenity) which he combines with modal harmonies. With his goal set at retaining the fluid, elastic approach to rhythm characteristic of the chant, the melodies emerged organically expanded and cushioned in Impressionistic harmonies. Indeed, from the start, with the ensemble's singing smooth and effortless in the flowing "Requiem aeternam", one became aware that the bar lines had indeed been banished. In his own program notes the composer explained that his Requiem was “not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries". This being so, we are led through the Requiem text's range of powerful human feelings - resignation and hope, fear and terror and the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end. The work concludes with Duruflé's sublime setting of "In Paradisum", the latter evoking a sense of time standing still. The IVE members' choral sound was clean, luminous and sincere. The vocal soloists added their own individual refinement. Although the baritone role is not  substantial, Alexei Knonikov's reading of it was expressive and profound. In the fervent but delicate Pie Jesu solo, Tom Ben Ishai responded eloquently to the text, maintaining the tension of its long phrases and spinning its glorious line with fervent understatement. An organist himself, the modest and elusive Duruflé is widely recognized today for having created some of the greatest works in organ repertoire. Zobin's interpretation of the challenging organ role created a devotional ambience for the work. His playing was emotional, imaginative, punctiliously detailed and subtle, supporting- and "commenting" on each gesture of the text, on each turn of mood. It conveyed the composer's rich composoyional palette and his spiritual world, reminding the listener that. Duruflé's new musical language articulates ideas that are ancient and mystical.

 

With Maestro Benozer at the helm, the prestigious Israeli Vocal Ensemble continues to hold its position as one of Israel's finest chamber choirs. The Jerusalem event concluded with the serenity and Romantic charm of Gabriel Fauré's much-loved "Cantique de Jean Racine" (1865). 

Maestro Yuval Benozer (courtesy YB)