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For their third subscription series, the Australian Chamber Orchestra under director Richard Tognetti takes three Bach choral works and interleaves them with a grab-bag of 20th-century pieces, producing occasionally bracing results.
But you had to wonder what the opening Shostakovich Elegy and Polka had to do with the following G minor Mass BWV 235, which was interrupted by the slow-moving delights of Arvo Part's Summa and the Litanei from Schonberg's String Quartet No. 2, juxtaposing old and new expressions of faith even if neither seemed to offer much intellectual commentary on the other.
For the Mass, the motet Lobet den Herrn and the early cantata Wo gehest du hin?, Bach's taxing vocal lines were negotiated by individual singers: soprano Sara Macliver and mezzo Fiona Campbell with two British guests in tenor Andrew Staples and bass Matthew Brook. The Mass's choral sections fared pretty well with this attenuated personnel although Tognetti and his forces exercised careful dynamic restraint in both the Kyrie and Cum Sancto Spiritu movements. The cantata comprises solos except for a placid chorale, but Bach's rollicking motet was too refined and restrained to convey fully its essential joyful message.
Still, the vocal quartet made an excellent combination in terms of balance and precision, Macliver's sparkling timbre finding a shapely complement in Brook's agile bass, with Campbell holding her own in the choral mix as well as producing two resonant solos. Staples gave much pleasure with his unforced and agile tenor line, an effortless quantity in concerted movements.
The Age | Clive O'Connell | 14 Apr 2010
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