Oratorio worth the wait

NEXT week’s Argyle Orchestra and Choir Christmas concert will feature the Australian premiere of Reinhard Keiser’s recently discovered, 300-year-old German Baroque oratorio Dialogus von der Geburt Christi.

Conductor Jonathan Wallis said the oratorio was composed in 1707 and predated Bach’s Christmas Oratorio by 25 years.

“The music was subsequently lost and entirely forgotten until its rediscovery in 2001, and our performance will almost certainly be the first in Australia,” he said.

“In some ways it anticipates the Bach oratorio, but on a far smaller scale, and is much simpler and more immediate.

“It is a delightful piece and features a number of dialogues between soloists, and between the soloists and chorus. Each of the three sections is based on a German Christmas chorale.

“It features an extremely festive orchestra of strings, three oboes, three bassoons, timpani and three trumpets.”

The soloists will be soprano Emily Lanham, mezzosoprano Alexandra Mathew, tenor Tom Buckmaster and bass Raphael Wong.

The concert will also include Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium, composed in 1994, and Tomas Luis de Victoria’s setting of the same text, written in 1572.

“It’s a great opportunity to hear these pieces side by side,” Wallis said.

“The words are a Christmas hymn about the wonder of the nativity. Each piece takes a very different approach to this, but they both evoke a sense of serenity and mystery.” Also on the program will be Concerto

for Two Trumpets, by Vivaldi, featuring Sean Priest and Orson Paine as soloists;

Christmas Concerto, by Torelli; plus O Little Town of Bethlehem, In Dulci Jubilo and other Christmas favourites.

The concert will be held at St David’s Cathedral in Hobart from 7.30pm on Wednesday. Tickets are $25 pre-sale from www.trybooking.com/SLSJ, or $30 at the door.