As part of their 20th anniversary celebrations, the New Choral Singers presented a choral and orchestral concert at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta.
The choir’s musical director, Robert Calleja, devised an enticing programme which included early 19th-century pieces by Naples-trained Maltese composer Pietro Paolo Bugeja alongside new works by Geoffrey Nobes, Patrick Hawes and Alexander Vella Gregory, one of Malta’s upcoming composers.
The programme was punctuated with organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the relatively lesser-known Jacques Boyvin (1649 -1706) and Nicholas Lebègue (1631-1702).
Organist John Aquilina’s remarkable technique and idiomatic choice of registrations ensured that the organ was heard at its best in repertoire which complemented the Baroque splendour of the co-cathedral. These pieces also gave the concert a ceremonial aura, with Boyvin’s Grand Dialogue à 4 choeurs and Lebègue’s Troisième Symphonie en C acting respectively as processional and recessional.
Bach’s mighty Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542 served as an instrumental interlude between the first and second part of the evening.
The concert commenced with the Bugeja pieces. Sourced from the archives of the Franciscan Friars Conventual and newly edited by the choir’s director Robert Calleja, Laudate and Litania Della Beata Vergine Maria display a classical sensibility as yet immune from the operatic excesses of the later 19th century.
Laudate featured attractive dialogue between tenor Edward Camilleri and bass Albert Buttigieg. The concluding Gloria Patri section included a part for soprano soloist, ably sung by Nicola Said. Mezzo-soprano May Caruana then joined the line-up for Bugeja’s Litania. Once again, the performance was characterized by an exciting interplay between the team of soloists, choir and orchestra.
The choral and orchestral accompaniment was finely judged throughout
The choir came to the fore in the Three Choral Psalms by Geoffrey Nobes – three psalm-settings composed specifically for this anniversary concert. Together they form a cohesive work whose emotional core is Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd). This setting is flanked by two more exuberant movements – Psalms 100 (Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord) and 150 (Praise God in his Sanctuary).
There was much to savour in the choir’s performance – the voices blended well, entries were confident and the gentle and more lyrical passages flowed beautifully. Where required, the choir produced a full body of sound, particularly in the Waltonesque brass-fuelled climaxes of the outer movements.
The two Vella Gregory premieres which opened the second part of the concert proved a more challenging listen. Like the Nobes work, they were written especially for the occasion and can be considered as companion pieces – Consolamini sets an extract from Isaiah which foretells the ministry of St. John the Baptist, while Ecce Agnus Dei is inspired by St John’s announcement of the arrival of Christ.
Consolamini starts with three bittersweet chords which provide the material for the remainder of the piece. Over an orchestral bedrock, a declamatory vocal line for bass unfolds. An element of word-painting is introduced when off-stage trumpet fanfares over hushed strings herald the words Vox clamantis.
Soloist Albert Buttigieg seemed to relish the work’s dramatic potential. Ecce Agnus Dei was more episodic, presenting a number of contrasting musical ideas – trumpet motifs, passages for harp and tremolando strings and even a final fugato section where the voice blended into the orchestral fabric. Mezzo-soprano May Caruana rose to the considerable demands of the work.
The highlight of the evening was the Maltese premiere of Song of Songs, a six-movement cantata for soprano, choir and orchestra by Patrick Hawes, which also gave the concert its title. Hawes is one of the UK’s best-known contemporary composers, partly thanks to his stint as Classic FM composer-in-residence in 2006 and 2007.
Hawes’s sacred music is steeped in the English Cathedral tradition, but at times, as in this particular piece, he adopts a more popular style, characterised by lyrical melodies, relatively simple harmonies and insistent rhythms, not unlike Karl Jenkins in Adiemus mode.
The Song of Songs is one of the most intriguing books of the Old Testament. At one level it is a passionate love song, rich in earthy, exotic and surprisingly explicit metaphors. In the Jewish and Christian tradition, how-ever, the text has also been subject to various mystical and allegorical interpretations.
The music itself does little to suggest these theological complexities. Indeed, at times I caught myself thinking that it would have worked equally well as a soundtrack to a period romance or a documentary about the Cotswolds.
This is not to say that Hawes’s music is not enjoyable, especially when given such a committed reading. In this regard, soprano Nicola Said’s richly nuanced performance deserves to be singled out. She tackled the punishingly high tessitura of her part with deceptive ease and without ever sacrificing expression or vocal warmth.
I particularly liked the pen-ultimate movement in which a solo violin part (beautifully played by orchestra leader Sarah Spiteri) intertwined with the soprano line over ecstatic strings. Under Calleja’s attentive direction, the choral and orchestral accompaniment was finely-judged throughout, always supportive and never overpowering even when, as in the spirited, toe-tapping concluding movement, the urge to let rip must have been strong.
As an encore, the New Choral Singers resorted to a perennial favourite – Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. As the capacity audience stood up in time-honoured tradition, one could not help feeling that this was also a standing ovation in tribute to 20 years of fine music making.