Gloriana review
Clive O'Connell, the reviewer from The Age attended our concert on Sunday, and below is what he had to say. It's possibly not going to get published (maybe next week) as The Age has stuff-all arts coverage these days. I added links for the words I didn't know (I'm obviously so ignorant!)...
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USUALLY, you hear the Rachmaninoff Vespers at night in a large church, preferably a cathedral. The vocal ensemble Gloriana under director Andrew Raiskums gave its reading to considerable success on Sunday afternoon in the comfortable Anglican church in Fitzroy. What the occasion lacked in crepuscular atmosphere it made up for with a fearless clarity and a compelling realization of the work’s rich resonances.
In the best of all possible worlds, we would have archimandrites, thick vestments, thicker incense and hypnotic ikons to give the Vespers their proper context. In reality, you listen for an inner drive, a breadth of texture and a majestic flow, as though the singers are unconstrained by time. Most of these qualities came through from the Glorianas, even if they paused for an interval at that point where the Vespers move into Matins.
Although the work spreads into multiple lines at various points, these singers projected without forcing their tone, and notable moments - like the triple Alliluya that punctuates the third movement, or the improbably low B flat for basses in Movement 5 - wove their magic with just as much effect in daylight as in the small hours. Mezzo Tania Ferris gave a remarkably authentic solo early in the work with a dark, weighty sound-color; tenor Irving Dekterev by contrast brought a piercing mobility to his solos.
The program began with a work by British composer John Tavener, Svyati, that followed this writer’s pattern of plenty of static chords supporting bright simple melodies, cellist Lachlan Dent here contributing an obbligato line of fluctuating intensity, as well as some parts of Britten’s Russian-heavy Third Cello Suite. But the afternoon served mainly to mark another highpoint in Gloriana’s adventurous career
path through Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece given to an appreciative, packed audience.
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USUALLY, you hear the Rachmaninoff Vespers at night in a large church, preferably a cathedral. The vocal ensemble Gloriana under director Andrew Raiskums gave its reading to considerable success on Sunday afternoon in the comfortable Anglican church in Fitzroy. What the occasion lacked in crepuscular atmosphere it made up for with a fearless clarity and a compelling realization of the work’s rich resonances.
In the best of all possible worlds, we would have archimandrites, thick vestments, thicker incense and hypnotic ikons to give the Vespers their proper context. In reality, you listen for an inner drive, a breadth of texture and a majestic flow, as though the singers are unconstrained by time. Most of these qualities came through from the Glorianas, even if they paused for an interval at that point where the Vespers move into Matins.
Although the work spreads into multiple lines at various points, these singers projected without forcing their tone, and notable moments - like the triple Alliluya that punctuates the third movement, or the improbably low B flat for basses in Movement 5 - wove their magic with just as much effect in daylight as in the small hours. Mezzo Tania Ferris gave a remarkably authentic solo early in the work with a dark, weighty sound-color; tenor Irving Dekterev by contrast brought a piercing mobility to his solos.
The program began with a work by British composer John Tavener, Svyati, that followed this writer’s pattern of plenty of static chords supporting bright simple melodies, cellist Lachlan Dent here contributing an obbligato line of fluctuating intensity, as well as some parts of Britten’s Russian-heavy Third Cello Suite. But the afternoon served mainly to mark another highpoint in Gloriana’s adventurous career
path through Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece given to an appreciative, packed audience.