Concerts connect with the great choral music of the past
Cantata Singers and Chamber Choir perform at churches this month
High Renaissance: The Golden Age of Choral Music
Presented by the Vancouver Chamber Choir Oct. 17, 8 p. m. | Ryerson United Church, Vancouver Tickets: $ 32.25 to $ 36.75, ticketmaster. ca
Frank Martin Mass: Baroque Heritage & Modern Age
Presented by the Vancouver Cantata Singers Oct. 25, 8 p. m. | Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver Tickets: $ 25 to $ 30 ($ 10 student rush seats at the door), ticketmaster. ca
Choral music is a very distinct subset of the classical milieu.
Over recent years, most important new developments in choral singing have been showcased by Vancouver’s professional, semi- professional, amateur and educational ensembles.
One in particular seems to have cut across the spectrum: a concentration on newly composed works in various undemanding contemporary styles.
So a couple of choral events stand out within the announced 2014 fall season. Plenty of ensembles will continue to perform what I am tempted to call classical- lite, user- friendly music by the likes of Eric Whitacre and Ola Gjeilo.
But there seems to be a quiet reaction against this by the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Vancouver Cantata Singers in their respective programs later this month — concerts that hearken back to traditional choral writing and, in the case of the Chamber Choir, the great defining moment of Western choral composition 500 years ago.
Each ensemble has done its fair share of exploring over past seasons — the Chamber Choir brought in the ultra- popular Whitacre for a big Orpheum concert in 2012. But High Renaissance: The Golden Age of Choral Music on Oct. 17 is a program tightly focused on music from Palestrina to Byrd.
The same holds true for the Cantata Singers, who over the past decade have experimented with new venues, new repertoire and all sorts of choir-plus events. Last fall, artistic director Paula Kremer seemed to be signalling a back- to- basics direction with an inaugural program of British music, anchored by Vaughan Williams’ neo-Renaissance Mass. Sure enough, Kremer’s repertoire for this season’s launch concert, Baroque Heritage & Modern Age on Oct. 25, features motets by Bach and Frank Martin’s Mass, a work written in the 1920s by a composer who definitely intended to reflect old- school values.
Kremer is an unabashed fan of the baroque.
“I love the busyness and the craft of Bach,” she says, “the polyphonic lines and the innovative part- writing. I like the complexity and the overall energy of it. I love the drive of where the central line is going, and the challenge of achieving synchronicity in performance.”
A longtime member of her choir, Kremer knows her baroque masterworks from the inside out and argues that choral classics develop necessary skills as well as exhilarating audiences.
“For better or for worse, for this concert I’ve simply thought about what I like — though the Martin Mass is a request that has been floating around the choir for a number of years. And I’ve had lots of feedback about how much the singers are enjoying the repertoire,” she says.
Neo- classical composer Martin was the Swiss- born child of a Calvinist pastor, so it is no surprise that he deliberately adopted Bach’s choral legacy.
“As a young child, Martin was very inspired by Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, particularly the use of a double choir” Kremer says. “His own mass was written in the 1920s but wasn’t heard publicly until the early ’ 60s. His wife maintained that it was not intended for the public, nor for the concert hall, and Martin apparently kept it locked away in a drawer.”
Kremer argues that this work springs directly from baroque DNA.
“I’m finding more and more reasons why this piece works using baroque techniques,” she says. “The choir can now transfer what we have been doing with baroque pieces and use that in the Martin. It’s fantastic how the style of the music line and the rhythm are treated — a huge influence from Bach.”
Vancouver Chamber Choir director Jon Washburn goes back even further than the baroque, to explore ( mainly) Latin church music from the 16th century. He’s put together a High Renaissance sampler of works by Palestrina, Lotti, Victoria, Tallis and Byrd, with a lone secular piece by Monteverdi added as a written- in encore. This is back-to-basics in a big way, and one of the must- hear events of the fall season.
In the 1500s, the very best jobs for composers were in the service of various church organizations. And where there are the best jobs, you often find the best music. From the point of view of composerly craft, the idiom of the 16th- century masters has never been bested.
The prize- winning compositions of the very young, already very successful composer Matthew Emery, who recently graduated from the University of British Columbia, are as current as you can get in choral circles.
“Sixteenth- century choral composers were revolutionary in their use of dissonance and chromaticism to express the emotions of the sacred texts,” Emery says. “They laid the foundation and provided the model on perfect text setting. As a composer writing today, I am inspired by these innovative harmonies and textures, and often incorporate their expressive use of dissonance in my own writing.”
Like our own moment in history, the 16th century was a turbulent time of political, social and religious conflict. If we dismiss the music of composers as fundamentally different as Byrd, Victoria, Palestrina and Tallis as Latin church music of no contemporary relevance, we miss the point — and deprive ourselves of music of astonishing quality.
Kremer knows that some listeners find it difficult to connect with the remarkable choral music of the past.
“The question that faces me all the time is the strong connection between choral music and religion. But if we were to avoid all church- related music, what would we sing? It would be like not performing the symphonies of Beethoven,” she says.
Kremer’s advice for listeners who come to the great sacred choral works without sharing the religious traditions that shaped those compositions?
“Just be open- minded!” she says. “Let’s just say this music is about what Bach felt, about what Martin felt, what they wanted to express. Let’s do them the honour and present it.”