Mozart Requiem

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/mozart-requiem-sydney-philharmonia-choirs-and-orchestra-at-concert-hall-sydney-opera-house/ a wonderful concert A thrilling, spectacular concert magnificently sung and played. The Concert Hall of the Opera House was packed both on and off the stage. Under the elegant, precise and passionate baton of Brett Weymark the Symphony Chorus and Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra gave a heartfelt, stirring performance of music that spanned nine hundred years. The orchestra was augmented by double basset horns and three trombones. With a sombre theme appropriate for Easter the bulk of the programme was the Mozart Requiem but four other short pieces were included.Mozart’s serene and soaring Ave verum corpus K618, written in 1791, swelled ,ebbed and flowed in some of the most divinely angelic music ever created. Sian Pendry and Michael Honeyman were delectable soloists. In great contrast was the Australian premiere of Taverner’s It Is Finished. This was the composer’s final work and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs followed Tavener’s specifications for the way in which the orchestra and choir should be situated. The Choirs formed a Latin cross. The lighting for this piece was very dramatic. Based on a contemporary English poet David Gascoyne’s interpretation of Christ’s last words on the cross, Taverner quotes from Mozart’s concerto No. 23 at the end of the piece. The piece began with spiky drums. At times it was raw and jagged, full of emotion , with the choir tumbling and cascading thunderously yet punctuated by electric silences interwoven into a Latin choral setting of Psalm 50, ending with the Sanskrit phrase, “That I am”. Honeyman had a very tricky, fiery falsetto solo with jumpy rhythms for the words, “Far from thy face I nothing understand”. and Pendry had a complicated long twisty aria featuring a fabulous oboe accompaniment by Nagire de Korte. The Sequenza: Victimae Paschali Laudes , once the woodwind and other orchestra members had quietly snuck in, was a 12th century plainsong sequence similar to a Gregorian chant that s a sequence prescribed for the Roman Catholic Mass and liturgical Protestant Eucharists of Easter Sunday. The piece led straight on to the Mozart Requiem. This was in the key of D Minor which Mozart also also used for his Don Giovanni work. Mozart’s Requiem was written on his deathbed in 1791 and left incomplete. It was finished by his pupil Franz Sussmayr, although Mozart’s widow Constanze tried to cover this up at the time. The work was commissioned anonymously by Franz von Walsegg. Plenty of myth has developed around the Requiem, mostly started by Mozart’s wife Constanze, including a theory that Mozart was poisoned,— later used as a basis for Peter Shaffer’s famous play. It is now relatively easy to detect where the Mozart ends and the Sussmayr begins yet Sussmayer did a very good job of it especially considering the pressure he was under with the need for furtiveness and for the commission to be completed. The opening 8 bars perhaps suggest a funeral procession , strings sounding like footprints. There is great emotional light and shade with the choir’s dramatic entrance , they appear almost to demand and shout why me?! . The Requiem is a work of profound humanity, using Mozart’s understanding of the human voice to express every nuance of the text. The piece is intensely intimate and personal, passing through fear and grief to a hopeful place of rest and peace. It contains the drama of the acceptance and confirmation of faith in the face of faith’s greatest challenge – Death. Haunting strings and organ are heard at points. The choir is absolutely riveting in places. Sometimes the strings are sharp and insistent. Shane Lowrnecev shone in the Tuba Mirum, the choir was at times most enthusiastic, swirling and passionate. The quartets were sensational ,the mini solos at various points very striking featuring glorious singing. The hushed, rather delicate Song for Athene by Taverner , combining words from the Orthodox funeral service and Shakespeare’s Hamlet which concluded the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales , completed the programme. A very moving concert for Easter Saturday. Running time 1hr 40 minutes without interval. The Sydney Philharmonia Mozart Requiem was performed Saturday 26 March 2016 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)Ave verum corpus K 618 Sir John Tavener (1944–2013) It is finished (Australian premiere) Sequenza: Victimae Paschali Laudes Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor, K 626 Tavener Song for Athene Conductor: Brett Weymark Soprano:Taryn Fiebig Mezzo: Sian Pendry (also singing the Tavener) Tenor: Jonathan Abernethy Baritone: Michael Honeyman Bass: Shane Lowrencev Choir: Symphony Chorus Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra SATURDAY 26 MARCH, 2:00PM CONCERT HALL, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE