BY MICHELE JARVIE, CALGARY HERALD
Updated on Oct 26, 2019
https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/music/review-luminous-voices-rises-to-the-choral-challenge
The opening program of Luminous Voices seventh season as Calgary’s professional choir was entitled Nymphs of the West. Today, we tend not to talk about nymphs very much, there being something de trop about these ancient Greek demigodesses. Nevertheless, the idea of mirthful, cavorting nymphs has inspired some beautiful (if dated) poetry in Restoration style, which in turn has inspired some fine music by contemporary composers from the western part of the continent. It was the world of nymphs, and love more generally, that inspired the music presented on this fascinating, beautifully sung program devoted almost entirely to contemporary choral music, music that on this occasion was accompanied not by the piano but by two harps.
The program opened with an attractive set of six pieces called The Sunne of Grace by Ontario composer Leonard Enns. Enns has composed quite a lot of music, and the music I know of his is unfailingly professional in its treatment of choral textures and compositional craft; the music is always imbued with a strong melodic impulse. A choral man himself, Enns’ songs fell gracefully on the ear, with charming solos sung by the always reliable Hannah Pagenkopf and with well-rendered harp accompaniments by Gianetta Baril. The most impressive piece was the final number, In excelsis gloria, with its full textures and more outward character. Here, and in the set more generally, Luminous Voices sang with precision, excellent tuning, and (most impressively) beautiful choral tone.
English composer Gustav Holst, inevitably paired with his contemporary and friend Ralph Vaughan Williams, was strongly inspired by the religious poetry of the far east, especially the Rig-Veda. Among his various groups of settings are four hymns for women’s chorus and harp. This music contains much four-part divided singing of considerable complexity. But these challenges were easily met by the highly capable women’s component of Luminous Voices, the sound especially attractive in the water-based images of the second movement and the faux-mystic Eastern sound of the final song, my favourite of the group. Scott Ross-Molyneux provided a fluently rendered, flowing harp accompaniment, especially in the water-themed second song.
Rounding our the first half was the well-known Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure, a favourite of choral groups the world over — although not so frequently heard with the original harp accompaniment. For a group of this ability, this was easy music to sing, and for the choir a moment to relax and relish the simple beauty of tone and eloquence that mark this choral gem.
The second half opened with a change of pace in an unaccompanied madrigal of Monteverdi: Sfogava con le stelle from the composer’s Fourth Book of Madrigals. A famous text in its time, it inspired several settings, perhaps the best known being this exquisite setting. Here the sound of the choir changed to match the spare, lean texture of Renaissance-style music, the Italian language giving the music a very different character. At some point, it would be welcome to hear Luminous Voices in an all-Monteverdi program of madrigals and church music — music mostly too difficult for most amateur choirs. Once again, it was the sheer competence of the singers and their ability to handle the vocal demands that made this performance a success.
The Monteverdi madrigal was followed by a new commissioned work by Scott Ross-Molyneux, one of the harpists for the concert and also a composer. Ross-Molyneux, currently a graduate student in composition at The University of Calgary, previously composed Landscapes for The Calgary Youth Orchestra, a work that has had some “legs.” This new work, entitled Seaside on a love poem by Allison Iriye, adopts a neo-romantic idiom with expressive melodic lines that work their way through all the parts. Music doesn’t need to break new ground to make it point, especially if it is touching and beautiful. And these were the hallmarks of this attractive new work, and given an equally touching performance by the ensemble.
It was, however, the next two groups of works that formed the musical heart of this concert: Four Songs of Love by Sven-David Sandstrom (a capella) and Hesperides by Malcolm Forsyth (with two harps), the source of the concert’s reference to nymphs. Sandstrom, who died this year, was a Swedish composer and a professor at the University of Indiana. A prolific choral composer in a neo-romantic idiom, Sandstrom achieved a remarkable intimacy of expression in these short choral pieces, creating music of remarkable beauty and serenity. The performance could hardly be bettered.
Malcolm Forsyth, whose music was being celebrated last week in a symposium and by the CPO, was mostly a composer of instrumental music. However, in these playful choral pieces — a full dozen of them — to witty, irreverent poems by the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick, showed a side of the composer sensitive to all aspects of words. (Forsyth was famous, or infamous, for correcting every lapse in grammar he encountered in his students and associates.) Remarkably sensitive to the poetry, this set of choral songs drew from Forsyth some of his wittiest, most engaging music, even as it is very difficult to sing.
Unquestionable the most challenging music on the concert, it also made a terrific impact on the audience, with its original harmonies, clever setting of the words, and imaginative choral textures. As with the other pieces on the program, the two harpists had plenty to do and contributed substantially to the total effect.
Rounding out the program was a short work was I am the Rose of Sharon by Ivo Antognini, composed in a modern American style somewhat in the manner of Eric Whitacre or Morten Lauridsen. With its rich harmony, plangent dissonances, and expressive text setting, this attractive work was a summation of all that had gone before.
It is rare for Calgarians to have the opportunity to hear such an array of modern choral gems, and to hear this music sung with such professionalism. This music lies at the heart of what Timothy Shantz most loves about choral music, and throughout the concert he and the choir were in their element, rising to the technical challenges of the music and everywhere attuned to its expressive harmony, verbal nuances, and underlying sense of delicious melody. In all, it was a choral feast.