Review of Orpheus Choir “Venetian Splendour” concert, by Lindis Taylor, Dominion Post, 15 September 2006
In the 16th century the wealthy states of Italy, and especially Venice, developed music of great opulence and splendour. In Florence opera evolved, and in Venice it was brilliant church music, inspired by the configuration of the Basilica of St Mark which led to divided choruses and brass ensembles that lifted the liturgy to unprecedented heights.
The singers and brass players at St Paul’s, divided into two parts in front of the choir stalls, brought this music vividly to life. The performances, directed with precision and idiomatic sensitivity by Michael Fulcher, were aurally and visually exciting.
The principal names in 16th-century Venice were Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, whose legacies agve a special brilliance to Renaissance music. From Andrea we heard O Sacrum Convivium (unaccompanied) and the Magnificat for 12 Voices in which complex polychoral voices and soloists were joined by organist Michael Stewart and the eight players of New Zealand Brass in an imposing musical tapestry.
Giovanni’s music comprised Jubilate Deo, Omnes Gentes and In Ecclesiis, all of which exhibited remarkable expressive features and benefited greatly from the cathedral acoustic.
The balance of the choral pieces were not by a Venetian, but by Heinrich Schuetz, born in Saxony exactly 100 years before Bach (his life straddled the Thirty Years War in Germany) and whose music, to German texts, shows clear lineage to the great J S Bach.
When he was about 25, Schuetz studied with Giovanni Gabrieli for three years and was clearly influenced by the choral innovations at St Mark’s.
The choral works were separated were several brass fanfares and canzonas by Venetian contemporaries, as well as St Edmunsbury Fanfare, by Benjamen Britten.
The ensemble comprised trumpets, trombones, horn and tuba, played from various parts of the nave to achieve the most impressive effects.
Using brass in liturgical music was not widespread at this time.
A full cathedral brought deserved recognition to this magnificent concert.Â
