Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, reputed to be the most performed living composer in the world today, was the focus of a recent and excellent rendition of sacred music by the St Paul Choral Society.
The collection of seven sacred songs, which includes three pieces from Jenkins’s Stabat Mater, two from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and two from the Requiem, constituted the first part of this successful evening.
Soprano Kateriana Fenech sang the opening bars of the Ave Verum, followed by a subdued entry by the choir, which quickly recouped in the Cujus Latus, bringing the piece to a serene ending.
In And the Mother did Weep, as in the subsequent piece, Virgo Virginem, the choir displayed rigour, interpreting well the music and the text, paying strict attention to the director, bringing out the nuances and showing a musical refinement which hallmarked the evening.
The Agnus Dei, as the Pie Jesu which followed it, was truly uplifting. In the latter piece, soprano Fenech introduced the motif ‘piously’, lending it a dramatic depth, and the choir joined in, reprising the Pie Jesu motif beautifully. Introduced by a cello solo, followed by a violin solo, the Benedictus was well sung by the choir, alternating pianissimi and fortissimi with notable effect.
In both pieces, orchestra leader Sarah Spiteri was very good. The ethereal In Paradisum concluded the first part of the concert. Once again the choir produced a refined and nuanced sound. Harpist Anne-Marie Camilleri Podestà played well. Organist Elizabeth Conrad is an excellent musician, a big asset to the choir.
The middle part of the evening was restricted to three pieces: the first scored for a string ensemble, the other two for soprano solo and organ. The string ensemble played beautifully the Allegretto from the composer’s Palladio, a three-movement piece for string orchestra.
This Concerto Gross is Jenkins’s tribute to the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who, as the composer remarks, developed a theory of mathematical harmony from measurements of the ratios of the great structures of classical antiquity, an attention to mathematical proportionality which, Jenkins says, is central to his own approach to composition.
In He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, an enchanting setting of the poem of William Butler Yeats for soprano solo and organ, Fenech was accompanied by Hugo Agius Muscat on the Mascioni organ. Both in this short piece as well as in the longer one – I’ll Make Music from the Gloria – the excellent rapport was evident.
Fenech sang with feeling and projected her voice well in the packed Co-Cathedral. Agius Muscat confirmed, if confirmation were necessary, his excellent musicianship and proficiency on the organ.
The final item on the programme was the Te Deum, its first performance here, four years after its premiere in Liverpool in 2008. The work, which is in five movements, alternating in tempo and style, is relatively short, lasting about 15 minutes.
It is both innovative and very effective. The choir showed its mettle, producing a balanced sound, conscious of the subtle nuances of the voice, ever attentive to the clear-cut and meticulous conducting of its director.
This was indeed a memorable occasion, rendered all the more so as it was given in aid of Hospice Malta.
The standing ovation and prolonged applause at the end were deserved.