Cantatas for the Soul. Photos: Mario Mintoff, FotocityThe fifth Valletta International Baroque Music Festival (VIBM) started at Ta’ Ġieżu church, Valletta, which resounded to some splendid music, some of which featured solo trumpeter Marcello di Lisa. He performed a number of works together with the Concerto de’ Cavalieri, directed from the harpsichord by their founder Marcello di Lisa, musicians who are no newcomers to the VIBM festival. Aptly dubbed The Trumpet Shall Sound, the baroque trumpet did sound at its best and provided a solemn yet festive touch to the concert.
The Sinfonia G1 for trumpet and strings was later followed by another symphony, Albinoni’s, penned to his opera Zenobia, and by another two symphonies after the brief interval. These were Torelli’s Sinfonia G7 in D and Handel’s Suite in D, HWV 341. There were other interesting works in between – like Corelli’s Sonata a Tre in F, Op. 3, N. 1; the very well-known Concerto in D for strings, Op. 6, N. 4; and A. Scarlatti’s Concerto N. 1 in F minor for strings.
Highly interesting is that this was music by composers all at some time alive between 1653 and 1759, all Italian except Handel (who did live in Italy for a while and developed his own style not without a nod to his Italian contemporaries). The latter, in their own turn, were innovators and had their own distinctive voice and style, all well-etched by the Concerto de’ Cavalieri.
Cantatas for the SoulThe magnificent St John’s Co-Cathedral was full for a really great experience, a concert that featured French music by Henri Dumont and Marc’Antoine Charpentier. It was performed by the Ensemble Correspondances, directed by the founder, Sébastien Daucé .
This was an event broadcast live on French television and was significant in more ways than one. One was that the first part of the concert featured some motets by Dumont, who composed them for Louis XIV’s Chapelle du Roy. Not so very long ago, six manuscript scores of motets by this composer were discovered at the Mdina Cathedral Museum archives.
However, during this performance it was Charpentier’s penitential Motet Pour les Trépassés that opened the evening. God’s mercy is implored, with voices and instruments projecting the atmosphere full of well-projected fear and dread, here and in later works of the same stamp. Dumont’s Memorare invokes the aid of the Blessed Virgin and sounded more optimistic, whereas the sadness in his Super Flumina Babylonis was nigh tangible.
Ensembles CorrespondancesEqually deeply felt were the highly reverential O Mysterium and Sub Umbra Noctis and the sweetness and beauty of the laudatory O Dulcissima. In the preceding In Honorem, the only other Charpentier motet performed here there was a touch of high celebration and even triumphalism.
What was also established from the start was that while there were excellent soloists who sang their solos very beautifully, when they returned to the ranks of the choir they blended in without any harm to the overall balance, cohesion and smoothness of texture.
Very significant was Charpentier’s Te Deum, the bracing prelude to which is so well-known as the opening music of the Eurovision television network and meant here as a tribute to Malta’s EU presidency, which came into effect this month.
The mood changed entirely from dread, plaintive pleading and currying favour with the Almighty to one of genuine praise. That prelude was so energising! How great the trumpets sounded, and how briskly paced was the whole orchestra that introduced a series of laudatory verses of joy, triumph and heartfelt thanksgiving which in that unique treasure house that is St John’s had a truly authentic feeling.
Cecilia BernardineWhen back at Ta’ Ġieżu church, the Edinburgh-based Dunedin Consort directed by John Butt presented a programme Cantatas for the Soul, there was more than that because the programme included two non-vocal works by J.S. Bach. Consort leader Italo-Dutch Cecilia Bernardini seemed to have the right north-south combination within her to give very fine performances of the A Minor, BWV 1041 and the E Major BWV 1042 concertos in a truly accomplished manner, and in reverse order as indicated in the programme.
It was rather strange, too, that whereas the lyrics of vocal works are usually provided, this time they were not. Owing to illness Tim Mead, the counter-tenor originally scheduled to sing this evening had to cancel and was replaced by James Laing, who sang three cantatas, one of which Ach, dass Ich Wassers g’nug hätte (Oh that I had enough water in my head) by Johann Christoph Bach.
In keeping with the theme of the vocal part of this concert, it is a penitential lament in which the penitent wished he had enough water in his head so he could wail in remorse for his sins. The singer sang with conviction and clear diction all the way, but at times there was a slightly brittle edge to his voice, especially in the lower register. He had very good breath control and negotiated his way well through the stormy runs and embellishments that emphasised the soul-searching in the other two cantatas by J.S. Bach.
These were Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin), Bach’s earliest known extant cantata for solo voice; and Vergnügte Ruh beliebste Seelenlust (Delightful rest beloved pleasure of the soul). Both are settings of texts by Georg Christian Lehms. Throughout this concert, John Butt’s energetic insight and enthusiastic direction was quite inspirational.
Ensembles Correspondances
Ensembles Correspondances
Sebastien Dauce