Sperm in aluminum
by berberis on Mar.25, 2007, under Choir, Concerts, LCS, Rehearsals
Saturday, 24th March 2007, St Paul’s Church, Deptford.
Tallis: Spem in alium
Tavener: Ikon of Light
Pärt: Seven Magnificent Antiphons
Monteverdi: Quattro Canzoni
Sweelinck: Ballo del Granduca
Tallis: Spem in alium
Violin: Caryn Cohen
Viola: Melissa Bastin
‘Cello: Sheida Davis
Organ: Andrew Dutson
Conductor: Stefan Reid
Spem in Alium was written for 40 voices, split into 8 choirs of 5 voices (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass). Even with 40 voices, this becomes an undulating wall of sound. With a choir of 150+ this split becomes a bit unwieldy, as you need every person singing each voice part to be exactly on time and in tune. I was in choir 1, one of 3 voices who started the piece. I sang this, first time round, standing on the far corner of the stage, unable to see Stefan, hoping that I didn’t fall off the edge of the temporary trestle.
Tavener’s Ikon of Light was a real challenge. Pitching every note was really difficult, as there were so few clues in the rather sparse accompaniment, and it was sung in Greek, not a language I am particularly familiar with. I quite liked it, though.
Arvo Pärt is the man responsible for Fratres, probably the most melancholy music ever written. Seven Magnificent Antiphons is (are?) beautiful, and less jarring than Ikon. I love this orthodox style of singing. It’s so precise, relying on each voice part to be perfectly in tune, and not just musically. With unaccompanied music, you have to almost be able to sense when to sing.
For the repeat performance of Spem, the 8 choirs were placed strategically around the church, as Tallis himself may have had his singers stand. Apparently, it made a difference to the overall sound. Whether or not it made it sound better I don’t remember, but it was good to be able to sing it again.
