ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS: THE GEELONG CHORALE – May 5th, 2024

St Paul’s Anglican Church, Geelong

For their first concert of 2024, The Geelong Chorale, conducted and introduced by Musical Director, Allister Cox, treated their appreciative audience to a train trip on the famous Orient Express, from Constantinople (Istanbul) to Paris, with whistle stops in Varna (Bulgaria), Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria) and Munich (Germany) before finally disembarking in Paris. 

In each city, the audience listened to local choral music – performed in the local languages as well as pieces with English, Italian and Latin texts. 

Before settling into first class, passengers wished Istanbul farewell, listening two pieces by modern contemporary composers.   The first was a setting of the Turkish folk song Çamdan Sakiz Akiyor by Ismail Yersiz.  This began with the basses in unison singing the melody, and then being joined in canon with the altos, before a complex setting for mixed chorus.  This set the scene for a wonderful concert – with the Chorale in best form in the stunning acoustics of St Pauls Geelong.  With the men of the choir towards the front, the balance of the four parts was good – and the blend excellent. 

After Gemlis Dünyanin Dőrt Bir, by modern female composer Melike, the train set off for Varna, for two songs by the Romanian composers.  The Marian text, Of a Rose we Sing, has been set in English and Latin by Dobrinka Tabakova.  Having much of her training in the English choral tradition, the work showed the influence of composers like Rutter and Whittaker, with a lovely piano part in the higher register, played sensitively by the choir’s long-time accompanist, Christine Mellens.   Gabriela Hristova and Joshua DeVries had collaborated on a setting of the traditional song Dilmano, Dilbera.  The setting expanded the traditional setting of melody and drone with complex harmonies and a very effective key change.  Despite the difficult setting, the choir shone in this unaccompanied performance. 

Travelling through Romania, the music moved back to the 19^th century, with works by Gheorghe Cucu and George Enescu.  Domnuleţ Şi Domn din Cer is a setting of a Christmas song, and showed off the excellent unison of the soprano line, with the deeper voices in the bass line enhanced by this a cappella performance.  Enescu’s Waldgesang is a celebration of nature – and, in particular, the Rhine River.   

From Romania, the Orient Expresses crosses the Danube into Hungary to make its next stop in  Budapest. 

Composer and musicologist Zoltán Kodály set the Italian poem Fuor De La Bella Caiba for women’s voices.  This work, about an escaping nightingale, lost to sing freely in the forest, was most ably introduced and conducted by the Chorale’s deputy conductor, Anne Pilgrim.  She postulated that the newly caged bird was owned by a young woman, who wished that the bird would come back to sing in her garden. 

Kodály’s output of choral music is immense.  It would be good to hear more of it from this excellent choir. 

The second Hungarian work was for men’s voices – Wir Sing Nicht Mumien, by Franz Liszt.  The piano doubled the voice parts, and was over-loud – at least partly caused by its prominent position in front of the choir.  I note here that the bulky upright piano’s position also masked a large proportion of the choir from the audience. 

Vienna was represented by the music of Josef Haydn – Alles Hat Seine Zeit, and Anton Bruckner – Os Justi.  The motet Os Justi was most moving in this lovely setting – with its big crescendos to high fortissimo climaxes and falls to serene pianissimos. 

Germany is huge in the choral repertoire, and was represented by works by three composers.  The works of Clara Schumann, belittled for many years by a perception of gender-superiority,  is once again taking her place in western music.  Her partsong Gondoliera deserves a place in any choir’s repertoire.   Josef Rheinberger’s beautiful setting of Abenlied was next, followed by a setting of Goethe’s Auf dem See by Felix Mendelssohn.  This was the last piece in a set of six partsongs, composed to be performed out of doors.   

After a journey of multiple days, passengers on the Orient Express finally disembark in Paris.  For the first class passenger, having settled into a  luxury hotel, the experience is topped off by a night at the Paris opera.   Bizet’s Carmen is playing a gala performance to an audience dripping champagne and diamonds. 

The Geelong Chorale ended this more satisfying concert with the scene from the opera – Les Voici! March of the Tordadors, a crowdwhich describes the procession of bull fighters and culminates in the famous Todeadors Song.  The choir sang their hearts out in this rousing concert performance, with Kristine Mellens giving a hearty piano rendition of the orchestra part. 

It was a most satisfying musical journey for a Sunday afternoon, performed in a venue that has possibly the best acoustics for choirs in the region.  Bravo!

The Geelong Chorale will present two more concerts in 2024. 

Karl Jenkins  Requiem

Sunday, August 18, 2.30, Wesley Uniting Church, Yarra Street, Geelong

Ave Maria

A recital of choral music in anticipation of Christmas

Saturday November 30, 5pm, All Saints’ Anglican Church, Noble Street, Newtown

Easter Concert: Windfire Choir – Sunday 24th March, 2024

Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong

Frank De Rosso, Musical Director of Music at the Basilica, once again showed his mastery in weaving a concert program to mark a special time of the liturgical year,  and his flair for using the spaces of the Basilica to great advantage.  I also complement Frank on his choice of instrumental and vocal soloists for this exacting program.  

The concert on Palm Sunday, marked the Passion of Christ.  The music reflected this sacred theme, beginning with Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ for violin (Philip Healey) and organ (Frank De Rosso), interspersed with sections of the poem The Seven Last Words of Christ, by Canadian/American poet Mark Strand.  Healey and De Rosso presented the music from the organ loft, with the reader standing at the front of the chancel.  The alternation of music and spoken word was most moving.  The poem’s text is a reflection on Christ’s passion and was read with great meaning by Helen Seymour. 

Two preludes for solo harp followed, played by Laura Tanata.  Titled The Angel of Death Dances at Golgotha and The Sorrow of Mary, Mother of Jesus, are by contemporary American composer, James Scaler. 

The final work before interval was an exquisite performance of César Franck’s Panis Angelicus, with soprano soloist, Zinaida Campigli, Miranda Brockman (cello), Laura Tanata (harp) and Frank De Rosso (organ).  Zinaida Campigli is who is a Choral Scholar with the Windfire Choir. 

The main works on to program were the ever-popular Fauré Requiem conducted by Joseph Hie, performed by Windfire Choir, a chamber orchestra and soloists, interpolated with Requiem for solo cello by Peter Sculthorpe. 

Fauré’s Requiem was originally for scored a chamber orchestra of lower strings, harp, organ with a violin soloist used only in the Sanctus, played most beautifully in this performance by Philip Healey.  The instrumentation for this performance was close to that of the original performance with the addition of horns, and no timpani.  The use of lower pitched instruments gives a gentle calm effect, with the higher melodic lines provided by the solo violin, solo soprano in Pie Jesu and tenors and sopranos of the choir.   The soloists were Phillipa McQuinn (soprano), who sang Pie Jesu with a clear fluid line, and Manfred Pohlenz (bass) whose rich baritone was especially moving in Libera me.  The final chorus, In Paradisum, which features the harp and a soaring unison soprano line, was a most fitting end to this concert.  The sopranos of Windfire Choir had a lovely warmth of tone. 

Sculthorpe’s Requiem for solo cello is a most demanding piece.  Miranda Brockman’s playing was superb – peerless technique supporting her maturity of musical understanding.  I hope to hear her play Requiem again, as a continuous work, without interruption. 

The concert was a most fitting reflection on the Passion at the start of Holy Week. 

Image: Music at the Basilica

SONGS OF THE MOVIES: The Colac Chorale – Sunday, March 10th, 2024

Movie music was the theme for the first concert of 2024 for the Colac Chorale. Playing to a packed Church on a heatwave afternoon did not seem to phase the musicians of Colac.

The Colac Chorale was conducted by their Musical Director, Johanna Latham, and accompanied by Pamela Radcliffe. Kelly Kerr (flute) and Seth Latham (violin) were guests artists.

Wild Mountain Thyme (from the movie of the same name) began the program, with a haunting flute line setting the atmosphere evoking a cold mountainside in Ireland. A scat introduction set the beat for Singing in the Rain – from the 1952 film.

In 1926, George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Oh, Kay! starring Gertrude Lawrence in the title role. The song Someone to Watch Over Me was the hit from this show, and has been recorded many times.

Blue Moon was commissioned from Rogers and Hart for the film Hollywood Party but was not included. However, it has been sung and recorded by many well-known singers, and even became a No. 1 hit in 1965. The Chorale’s arrangement featured a heavy rock style accompaniment from the piano, supporting a walking bass line in the choir.

For her solo items, Kelly Kerr chose La Mer, You Light up My LIfe and The Greatest Love of All. These pieces were a delight. Kerr has a wonderful warm tone and a fine sense of musical style.

Three more romantic love songs continued the Chorale’s program – Stormy Weather (written for the Cotton Club in New York), At Last (from the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade) and An Affair to Remember (the title song from the 1957 film, which starred Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant). The opening of that song featured unison men, demonstrating the excellent blend of the Chorale’s male voices. (In some songs the male voices were somewhat drowned by the sopranos and altos. It’s so difficult to find men willing to sing choral music.)

The young violinist Seth Latham was next. Despite only taking the violin up 6 years ago, Seth has developed and excellent technique. As well as playing in youth orchestras, he now plays with the Geelong Symphony Orchestra and is concert master for Orchestra Geelong. Seth played Stardust (from the 2007 film) and the upbeat Rhinestone Cowboy and Arthur’s Theme (from the 1984 movie).

Continuing the upbeat rhythm, the Chorale continued the program with the Beatles Yellow Submarine (from the animated film), New York New York and Fame.

The guests artists appeared together in duet arrangements of Amazing Grace, Autumn Leaves and Beauty and the Beast. These were clever arrangements, with the two instruments alternating the theme and melodic accompaniment.

The choir concluded the concert with a choral selection from Schindler’s List, with Seth Latham featuring on the violin.

It was a most enjoyable concert to start the year.

TRANSPORTS of DELIGHT: Australian Chamber Choir, 3rd March, 2024

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Middle Park

Director Douglas Lawrence founded the Australian Chamber choir in 2007 and it has taken a firm place as one of Australia’s premier chamber choirs. 

This was the first concert in the Australian Chamber Choir’s 2024 season.   The title Transports of Delight is a play on words.  First, the aim was to transport the audience to delight by listening exquisite music, performed in the wonderful acoustics of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Middle Park. 

Secondly, the concert was in itself a travelogue.  The musical itinerary was a tour of seven European cities, and return to Melbourne.  This was in anticipation of the choir’s actual European tour later in 2024 – the eighth such tour. 

TRANSPORTS of DELIGHT‘s began in 17^th Century London, with settings of two or Purcell’s most popular songs – If Music be the Food of Love and Dido’s Lament.  19^th Century Vienna was the next stop, featuring what is possibly Bruckner’s best know motet – Locus Iste.  Then it was back to the 16^th century to Rome for a motets by Palestrina and Allegri.  A jump in time brought the audience to more modern times.   After the clashing harmonies of Olivier Messian’s O sacrum convivium the listeners were lulled by the more traditional romanticism of Cesar Franck’s Panis angelicus, arranged for a cappella by Elizabeth Anderson, who also arranged the one of the  songs for the next stop-over – to Beethoven’s Bonn.  The change was in more than place and time.  After pieces set in Church Latin, the Australian Chamber Choir demonstrated their skill with German language.  Elizabeth Anderson’s arranged Beethoven’s Memorial Song (Elegischer Gesang) for unaccompanied mixed choir. Beethoven’s Farewell Song is set in three parts for male voices. 

In the last few years, there has been an acknowledgement that throughout history there have been many female composers, rarely acknowledged in the past.  The ACC’s next destination was Berlin with a visit to the Mendelssohn siblings.  Fanny Mendelssohn’s Abenlich shon rauscht der Wald demonstrated that she deserves a firm place in the musical repertoire.  Felix Mendelssohn’s more well-known Denn er hat seinen Engelm befohlen uber dir for two four part choirs – a high-voice choir, and a low-voice choir – was followed by Lift thine eyes – for three part women’s voices. 

The Australian Chamber Choir then returned to Melbourne with I had a dream, a contemporary work by Brenton Broadstock, composed to honour the memory of Melbourne musician Michael Easton, who died in 2004 at the age of forty-nine. 

The tour almost complete, it was time  for a quick visit to Bach’s Leipzig with the motet Der Geist hilft unser Schwachleit auf for double choir. 

I, for one, was transported to delight by the music of the Australian Chamber Choir.   

The Australian Chamber Choir will travel to Europe in July, with return invitations to sing in  the cathedrals of Bonn and Berlin, and as special guests at the Festivals of Flanders and Darmstadt.  The 16-day tour commences in Bruges and ends in Venice.  The choir will bring the music of Agata della Pietà, a student at the orphan school in Vienna in, and unheard for 300 years,  back to the place where it was written.   The research and realisation of Agatha’s cantata Ecce nunc is by the choir’s own Elizabeth Anderson, and was first presented to Victorian audiences in 2022. 

Tour Europe with the ACC in July

The ACC invites Australian audiences to travel with them on this tour of Europe.  On 3^rd March, when I attended the concert, there was still room for one or two lucky travellers to share the tour.  Visitors will be able to attend three programs over 6 concerts and two church services along with with meals, post-concert celebrations with the choir, and guided sight-seeing.  There is also a Friendly choir (just for fun) for those who like to sing.  Find out more at auschoir.org/2024-european-tour. 

A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS – Australian Chamber Choir – December 3rd, 2023

Basilica of Mary of the Angels, Geelong

This concert was presented by ACC8, an octet from the choir, and conducted by Douglas Lawrence.

While the title suggests the program was baroque, several traditional carols, in new and older settings, were included.  A highlight was also the contemporary Australian work Two Carols of Australian Birds, with texts by Mark Tredinnick, and music by Alan Holley. 

The concert began with two harmonisations of the tune In Dulci Jubilo.  JS Bach’s harmonisation of verses 1 and 4 was complemented by Johann Walter’s earlier setting of verses 2 and 3.  Four more works from the German repertoire followed.  In Michael Praetorius’s Ein kind geborn zu Bethlehem (A child is born in Bethlehem) alternated both Praetorius’s arrangement for mixed voices with Bartholomaus Gesius’s harmonisation for upper and lower voice quartets of singers.  Singt and klingt (Sing and ring) includes a bell-like opening, and once again contrasts the male and female voices singing antiphonally.  Two motets by Heinrich Schutz, Das wort ward Fleisch and O susser Jesu Christ. 

Three French Noëls were next.  Ding Dong Merrily on High (in the well-known Charles Wood arrangement) followed by two arrangements by the Australian Chamber Choir’s Elizabeth Anderson.  Quand Dieu naquit a Noël: Noël No 10 composed for organ by Louis Claude Daquin was arranged for choir and Angels we have heard on high, to which Anderson has added a soaring descant.  This is clearly a favourite arrangement of the ensemble and was repeated as an encore with audience participation at the end of the concert. 

Travelling across the English Channel, ACC8 then sang the Magnificat from the Second Service by Thomas Tomkins, set in English.  Tomkins was organist at Worcester Cathedral from 1596, and remained in that position until the cathedral was locked up and the choir disbanded during the Civil War by the Parliamentary Army in 1642.   

Two harmonisations of the tune Josef Leiber (Resonet in Laudibus)/(Josef Lieber Josef mein) were set by Johannes Eccard (1553-1611) and Leonhard Schroeter (1533-1601). 

Two traditional English carols were next, the hauntingly tragic Coventry Carol and There is no Rose in a setting featuring various quartets of voices from the ensemble. 

Time-travelling to 21^st Century Australia, the audience was treated to two carols by Mark Tredinnick (poet) and Alan Holley (composer).  The Carol of the Two Crows was premiered presented in 2022 I think.  This is a humorous tale of two crows, playing a game of clattering a purloined bone down the tin roof of an amused (and astonished) resident.  The Carol of the Butcherbird has a deeper story – contrasting the pure birdsong of the butcherbird, its merciless method of killing its prey, with the enigma of the purity of man’s music juxtaposed with man’s cruelty.  This second work was an Australian Premiere for this concert.  Both carols were commissioned by the Australian Chamber Choir. 

Two settings of the text A Spotless Rose formed the penultimate bracket – A spotless rose by Herbert Howells, and the traditional Es ist ein Ros esprungen by Michael Praetorius.   The concert concluded with JS Bach’s motet Lobet den Herrn and enthusiastic applause. 

It was an excellent opportunity to listen to this small ensemble from one of Australia’s foremost chamber choirs, here in Geelong. 

The Australian Chamber Choir will present two of their 2024 season concerts in Geelong.   For more details of this season go to the ACC website.    

If you missed BAROQUE CHRISTMAS, it will be presented again on Saturday 9^th December in Terang and Sunday 10^th December in Middle Park (this performance will be live-streamed and available On Demand).  Tickets and details here. 

The End of Time: Closing Gala, Port Fairy Spring Festival – Sunday, October 15th, 2023

The Digital Concert Hall (concert available till Sunday 22^nd October) https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/114348

I watched the performance via the Australian Digital Concert Hall. The live concert was presented to a sell-out crowd at the Reardon Theatre, Port Fairy.  It was the final concert of the Port Fairy Spring Festival, 2023. 

The concert was presented by Plexus, a chamber ensemble of violin, cello, bass, clarinet and piano, and Port Fairy Ring of Bells, vocal soloists and the vocal groups Vox Plexus, Cantori, U3A Port Fairy Choir, SW VIC choristers, SW VIC children’s chorus.  Peter Luff was the conductor. 

The concert opened with Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, with instrumentation for Plexus by Stefan Cassomenos (who is the ensemble’s pianist).  The choir for this work was Vox Plexus, an octet of professional singers.  Despite the slender instrumentation, it was a most satisfying performance of what is possibly Stravinsky’s most spiritual work.  Symphony of Psalms was originally written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Stravinsky’s instrumentation being for 27 wind instruments, timpani, bass drum, harp and two pianos, but with a string section devoid of violins and violas.  The voices take up these parts – and become equal partners with the orchestra.  With this new instrumentation by Cossomenos, one can only hope that Symphony of Palms is performed more frequently. 

Requiem for the End of Time was a most fitting closing work for the festival.  Written by Stefan Cossomenos, it was premiered in 2015 at Deakin Edge, Federation Square. 

Cossomenos’s program note states:

“Requiem for the End of Time” is a setting of the Latin text of the requiem mass, which is a Christian service to commemorate a recent death. Several composers throughout the centuries have composed music to this text, most notably Mozart, Verdi, Faure, Brahms, and Britten, amongst many others.

My piece features the choir and female soloists delivering the requiem text, alongside the bass-baritone delivering several passages from the Book of Revelation, the final book in the New Testament of the Bible, which is attributed to a Christian prophet who lived at the end of the 1st Century AD, on the Greek island of Patmos. His name was Yiannis, or John.

https://portfairyspringfest.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Closing-Gala-The-End-Of-Time-2023.pdf

The bass soloist (Christian Smith) intones (and sometimes speaks) the biblical text, as John of Patmos.  The choir and female soloists (Merlyn Quaife) and (Liane Keegan) embody the angels from the Book of Revelation, whose words give rise to the end of time.

The work comprises four movements, performed without a break.  In the final movement, Plexus and the adult choirs are supplemented by handbells and children’s chorus. 

The work is moving in the extreme.  Although I wasn’t able to attend live, the Australian Digital Concert Hall’s stream still had immense impact.  The three vocal soloists sang with richness and nuance.  Christian Smith delivered the text with clarity and conviction.  The combined choir was excellent – full-voiced and accurate, with a lovely tone and excellent blend.  The handbells added impact to the final movement – ringing out the end of time…  Cossomenos, composer and pianist, was outstanding, delivering his complex score with nuance and feeling. 

The work closes with St John announcing the end of time, unaccompanied, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Amen”

Even in this streamed performance, the emotional impact of Cossomenos’s Requiem is immense. 

There are still a few days in which to view this live-streamed performance.  I thoroughly recommend it.  https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/114348

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A Fabulous Afternoon with Geelong Harmony: Sunday, October 15, 2023

Springtime green and sparkles ushered in Geelong Harmony’s annual concert at the Potato Shed in Drysdale.  With no introduction, the audience were invited to “step outside your comfort zone and try something new.”  The song was Brand new shoes.    

Michelle Roy, Harmony’s Musical Director, welcomed the audience and announced the next items – Can’t Help Falling in Love and Home Among the Gum Trees – complete with kookaburra calls.  The arrangements were by Emily Moriarty, an ex-member of Geelong Harmony and talented musician.  Emily is also a member of with both quartets who performed later in the concert.

Geelong Harmony Chorus is a member of Sweet Adeline’s International – a world-wide network of women’s choirs singing in 4-part harmony in barbershop style. 

The next two songs showcased the choir’s high level of skills, especially honed each year when the group attends the annual Australasian Sweet Adelines Symposium, where groups from all over Australia and NZ  perform and compete.  The first of these was a poignant ballad – I’ll be easy to find, followed by the more light-hearted Nobody does it Like Me!

Michelle talked a little about how important it is to nurture individual singers’ skills and confidence.  One technique for this is small group singing.  During the concert, two small groups performed – with one or two voices per part.  First, a septet performed Billy Joel’s And So It Goes.  After interval, nine singers sang Sweet Dreams…

The popular quartet Three Docs and a Diva tutored the audience in singing.  In less than 10 minutes the whole Potato Shed resounded with 4-part harmony.  Dressed for springtime with garlands of yellow daisies, the Docs (Deb, Emily and Emily) were the “backing group” for the Diva (Michelle – dressed as the sun in sparkly gold headdress and cape).  (From the Docs point of view, Michelle was a mere assistant.)  Despite the fun, the close harmony was faultless.  The group were awarded a First Place at the Sweet Adeline’s Adelaide Symposium.  Today’s songs were sun-themed – Let the Sun Shine in, Good Day Sunshine and You are the Sunshine of my Life (another of Emily Moriarty’s arrangements).

After interval, the second guest quartet, Mixed Signals held the audience spellbound with a performance that could grace any stage in the world.  Emily Moriarty was joined by Luke, Lindsay and Andrew to perform This is your Lucky Day, a scat arrangement of Walking Down the Street, All of me, When all is said and done and Devil May Care.  Last month Mixed Signals competed at the Pan Pacific Barbershop Convention in Auckland, with great success, including two first places.  Emily became the first woman ever be awarded a gold medal. 

Geelong Harmony returned to the stage, now dressed in black and white, with red jewellery, to sing one of their signature pieces, Happy Together.  The next song was Sweet Adeline – probably the best-known song in traditional barbershop (and usually performed by male groups).  This piece was one of the newest songs in the group’s repertoire.  

Carol, Assistant Director, conducted Candle in the Wind with Michelle once again showing her vocal prowess to hold the tenor line. 

The concert concluded with the achingly sad Since you went away and the more upbeat Seasons of Love. 

It was a delightful afternoon of music. 

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS: Excelsis Choir – Saturday, October 14th, 2023

Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong

This concert was the second last performance in Windfire Festival 2023 presented by Music at the Basilica.

Excelsis Choir, a mixed-voice choir based in Melbourne, is conducted by Tom Buchanan, OAM, a well-known musician and conductor.  While the choir’s main focus is on Catholic liturgical music, much of the repertoire of their Geelong performance was of more contemporary compositions, both religious and secular. 

However, the concert began with music from the eighteenth century, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the first movement of Vivaldi’s well-known Gloria.  Although there was no orchestra, the accompaniment for this performance was ably supplied by pianist Simon Loveless, the choir’s talented accompanist.    

Excelsis Choir perform entirely from memory.  Their thorough grasp of the repertoire allowed for a full focus on interpretation and presentation.  Diction, pitch and precision in both unison and harmony marked this evening’s concert. 

A number of choir members are from the Philippines.  The repertoire chosen reflected this, with a number of works by Filipino composers, Anima Christi by Jandi Arboleda which in in English, Dahil So lyo composed by Miguel Velarde, Jr. (in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines), and Amani (in Llokano language). 

A lovely modern setting of Ave Verum, by English composer Philip W.J. Stopford, allowed Excelsis Choir to demonstrate a subtlety of dynamics.  The contemplative mood continued with a 2014 setting of Ubi Caritas, by Japanese composer Ko Matsushita.  

A rather sentimental setting of John Keats poem A Farewell by American composer Molly ljames was followed by some film music – May it Be, composed for the film Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring, sung in the movie by Enya, arranged for choir in this performance by Mark A Brymer. 

One of the choir’s favourite pieces was next – the rousing gospel song Praise his Holy Name, sung with in convincing gospel style, complete with clapping and finger clicking. 

Geelong audiences were the among first in Australia to hear the surprise guest artist for this concert – up and coming musical theatre singer Arielle Magno, from the Philippines, who sang three show songs – A Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid), No One Else (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812)and If I Loved You (Carousel). 

On the choir’s return, Tom Buchanan commented that the program’s two pieces by Australian composers were fitting for this day of the Voice Referendum – both telling stories of settlement and conflict.  The first, Pemulwuy, composed by Paul Jarman, recounts the story of indigenous warrior Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man of the Eora nation, who was one of the most famous Aboriginal resistance fighters in the colonial era.  The second, Hush: On the Death of a Bush Church was written by Iain Grandage as a response to coming across an abandoned Church in the Western Australian goldfields.  This challenging piece covers early British migration to Australia, the gold rushes and the desecration of traditional lands by mining past and present.  Both pieces include both English and First Nations language. 

The concert concluded with A Blessing composed for Excelsis Choir by it’s Musical Director, Tom Buchanan, and a rousing setting of the popular sacred song How Great Thou Art wish a spectacular Hollywood-style finish.

Enthusiastic applause was all that was needed for the choir to give a lively encore.   This was another Filipino folk song from the Visayan region, sung in yet another language, the story of a lovelorn young man being made fun of by village people as he pines for the beautiful Rosas Padan.   

The final concert of this year’s Windfire Festival is THROUGH THE GRILLE presented by Melbourne Womens Choir, conducted by Faye Dumont, on Sunday, 15^th October at 3pm at the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, Yarra Street, Geelong. 

TWO OF A KIND: The Colac Chorale – Sunday, May 28th, 2023

A capacity audience enjoyed a delightful afternoon of music in Colac last Sunday.

Though the Colac Chorale was reduced in size, due both to attrition during the pandemic, and illness, the program, Two of a KInd demonstrated that the singers were well in control of line, pitch and dynamics. The choir moved from folk music through popular and jazz with excellent feel for the style of each. The concert was shared by guest artists – Geelong Youth Choir String Quartet.

The title refers to the theme of pairing songs with a similar theme. The Colac Chorale began the concert, most ably conducted by Johanna Latham and with their excellent accompanist Pam Radcliffe. First were two songs about trees in nature, the folk song The Ash Grove and Where the Green Willow Grows by American composer Douglas E. Wagner. Next were songs about rainbows – Look to the Rainbow from Finian’s Wake and Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz. The folk song Shenandoah and Ashokan Farewell by McGregor and Ungar – two songs of farewell – followed, before two love songs. These were Robert Burns poem Oh, My Luve’s Like a Red Red Rose, in a setting by David Dickau, and the American folk song Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair arranged by Ruth Elaine Schram. The final pair of songs from the Colac Chorale were Don’t Get Around Much Anymore by Bob Russell and Duke Ellington and Nice Work if You can get it by George and Ira Gershwin.

Geelong Youth Orchestra String Quartet includes Seth Latham- violin 1, Keely Nankervis – Violin 2, Angus Fuller – viola and Olivia Sagor. It has been said that the string quartet is the pinnacle of chamber music. The ensemble is pared back to one instrument per part, requiring total rapport between players. This quartet demonstrated this, playing as one. Continuing the theme of Two of a Kind they first presented movements from two of Mozart’s string quartets, then Hioko Dances and High Sea Hyjinx, the Beatles songs Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday before breaking the mould of paired pieces to conclude with a single work – Orange Jam.

It was a delightful way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon, and well worth the trip from Geelong.

Helen Lyth

Atmospere- Vox Angelica Geelong Chamber Choir: Sunday,7 May, 2023

The Geelong Art Gallery

A special twilight concert of beautiful contemplative music inspired by an exhibition of paintings by Clarice Beckett. 

The program included a work specially commissioned from Kym Dillon, Elegy for Clarice Beckett. 

Clarice Beckett (1887–1935) was a Melbourne-based visual artist working in the early years of the twentieth century.  Little recognised in her lifetime, she is now considered an outstanding artist of the time.  She especially wished to evoke truth in colour and mood when painting.  Much of her work was done en plein air, in all weathers.  Her work evokes the subtle colours of landscape, the city, sea and sky to create mood.  In choosing music for this concert of music to accompany the exhibition, Tom Healey sought out music to reflect the luminosity and atmosphere of Beckett’s exquisite paintings. 

Many of Beckett’s works were painted at dawn or dusk, or in the damp and cold atmosphere of a Melbourne winter. 

To set the atmosphere, the first piece in the program was Iain Grandage’s Dawn (from Three Australian Bush Songs) which musically paints a picture of an Australian dawn with it’s glowing sunrise and birdsong.    

Evening was evoked by Abendlich Schon Rauscht der Wald by Fanny Mendelssohn and Joseph Rheinberger’s beautiful Abendleid.  Next was Hubert Parry’s setting of Thomas Campian’s text for Never Weather-beaten Sail and Stanford’s beautiful song The Blue Bird, with the solo soprano line rendered exquisitely by the first sopranos.  One can imagine a bluebird hovering in the air as the solo soars and floats.  Now Touch the Air Softly, a song of undying love, by Melbourne composer Calvin Bowman, continued the mood. 

Kym Dillon is a Geelong composer and musician, who is gaining a reputation throughout Australia.  She presented a movement from her Sonata for Piano, titled Magnolia Grandiflora, with exquisite touch, evoking a feeling of crystalline sparkle. 

Randall Thompson’s Choose Something Like a Star, with its repetitive motif ‘Oh Star’, sung by the sopranos, is luminous in texture and stirring in text.  Underneath the Stars by Kate Rusby, in an arrangement by Jim Clements for Voces8 demonstrated that the ensemble is equally at home in singing music from the classical and popular repertoire. 

The theme of stars continued in the spiritual My Lord What a Morning.  From the softest pianissimo, the music rises to a climax before subsiding to the final hushed ‘When the stars begin to fall…’.

Tropar, by Ukrainian composer Hannah Havrylets, is a hymn to the virgin Mary.  Three soloists sang the haunting melody – accompanied by chords in the choir.  Its haunting theme was made more poignant by the knowledge that the composer had died during the first days of the Russian invasion, when she was unable to access medical treatment. 

The next item was a world premiere.  Kym Dillon was commissioned to write a piece for the choir in honour of Clarice Beckett and produced the beautiful Elegy for Clarice Beckett.  The text, Dillon explained, is the only known explanation by Clarice Beckett of her intent when producing art – a single sentence.  Dillon explained that she was moved by Beckett’s life of service to family and, therefore set the opening words ‘To give…’ with particular emphasis.  It is a lovely work, and I am sure it will be a worthy addition to the choral repertoire. 

The final piece was Ērike Ešenvalds’ There Will Come Soft Rains, a reflection on the futility of war – that it would not matter to the natural world if ‘mankind perished utterly’. 

Vox Angelica Geelong Chamber Choir, under the directorship of Tom Healey, is an ensemble of musical excellence, and an asset to Geelong. 

The Geelong Gallery performance was sold out weeks before the concert.  However, this concert will be repeated, this time in the equally superb acoustics of St Paul’s Anglican Church, La Trobe Terrace, at 5pm on Sunday September 17^th.