Review - Music from Eastern Europe 30 November 2024
Saturday evening’s special recital by Aberdeen Bach Choir conducted by Dr Paul Tierney was entitled ‘Music from Eastern Europe’. The six composers involved represented two from Poland, Górecki and Łukaszewski, one from Estonia, Arvo Pärt, one from Latvia, Renāte Stivriņa, although she works in Poland as well, and two from what is now the Czech Republic, Leoš Janáček and Antonín Dvořák. Most people would have heard of Janáček and Dvořák, some would have heard of Górecki but it is likely that Łukaszewski and Stivriņa would have been new musical discoveries. How splendid it was therefore to hear for the first time a whole range of marvellous new pieces, new, because people said to me that they did not know that Janáček or Dvořák had ever written any Masses. I myself, from student years, was familiar with Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. I still have the record somewhere upstairs. I must get it out and listen again. It is a great showpiece with an amazing organ solo.
Anyway many thanks are due to Paul Tierney and the fabulous Aberdeen Bach Choir for introducing us to what for us was new music.
The first four pieces in the concert were short, including one work for organ solo and at least two works which had splendid flamboyant choral complexities, both of these for unaccompanied choir. The first of these was Górecki’s Totus Tuus. It opened with the strongest singing of harmonies enriched by the splitting of the parts, into two. Sometimes the split parts became just one, giving a simpler but clearer sound. Towards the end of the quite short work, the choir produced the most delicious soft singing. I was impressed by the way in which Paul Tierney managed to get such delicate soft tones from such a large choir. Górecki asks the choir for cantabilissimo singing. I do not know of any other composer who has used this word. I think it means something like the most beautiful singing tones, and that is exactly what we got from the Bach Choir towards the end of this piece.
The other work that demanded special choral complexity was Pawel Łukaszewski’s Ave Maria. It is set for two separate unaccompanied choirs and the Bach Choir had indeed been seated in two blocks with a space between them. There was a clear sense of song and response between the two sections but they would also come together giving a splendid feeling of grandeur in their singing. I was impressed by the way in which Paul Tierney commanded his musical forces.
Arvo Pärt is celebrated for his tintinnabuli, the bell-like sounds in his music. His Cantate Domino Canticum Novum was the second piece in the programme and the first which brought together the organ played by Kamil Mika and the choir. That bell-like sound was certainly there with the female voices and possible later with the men too. The organ was very gentle in the background. Male and female voices were mostly separate. Rhythm was crucial in this piece and that brought a brightness to the music. There was a free floating sense to the melodic delivery in the music.
Attende Domine by Renāte Striviņa was an organ solo played splendidly by Kamil Mika for whom the work was composed. He premiered it at the Marian Sawa Polish Organ Music Festival in 2019 in Kraków. The highest and most delicate flute sounds of the St Machar organ were heard at the outset then later the deepest organ sounds. It was like a cathedral built of organ sounds, the highest notes suggesting the lofty ceilings of the building the depths suggesting the dark sprawling expanses of the building. You can access a performance of this piece by Kamil Mika on the internet. He was wondering how it would sound in the St Machar building? Well I thought it sounded just great!
It was time now for the two larger works in the concert and to get acquainted with the four vocal soloists whom we had not yet seen. There were just three sections in Leoš Janáček’s Mass in E flat, the Kyrie, Credo and Agnus Dei. I had been able to access the Kyrie and Credo on the net but not the Agnus Dei. The harmonies of the Kyrie had a tinge of modernity but behind that, a feeling of plainsong. There was a gentleness to the choral singing in this section and like the composer’s orchestral music choir and organ moved forward in separate stages, short bursts of music. The Credo opened explosively for both organ and choir. There was a real sense of power in the music. It was when we reached the Crucifixus that the soloists were first heard. They were excellent whether in solo or ensemble. Soprano Catriona Hewitson was bright and clear but with a warmth to her singing that avoided the edginess that puts some listeners off sopranos. Mezzo Lea Katherine Shaw was marvellous, more about her in the Dvořák which was to come. Tenor Sam Marston had just the right clean and clear tenor voice for church music and Ross Cumming whom I remember as a music student in Aberdeen had strength and warmth aplenty, just what this music wanted.
In the Agnus Dei the choir’s sopranos and tenors shone brightly. I particularly liked the hop-along rhythms from the organ in this movement.
After the interval it was time for the largest piece in the programme, Dvořák’s Mass in D. On the net I listened to a performance of this piece. No names, no pack drill. The smaller choir were all right, the organ was good, the soloists all from the choir – well the men were passable but the soprano sang out of tune and they used a male alto which I think was wrong for this music, he sounded horrible. Thank God for Lea Katherine Shaw, she has a large part in the Credo and her performance absolutely transformed it. Ross Cumming was splendid too and I loved Sam Marston’s singing in Agnus Dei.
Would the Bach Choir be too big for this work? No, not at all. They too transformed the piece. I kept falling asleep through the recorded version, but the Bach Choir made me sit up and listen. They really made the melodies in Dvořák’s music sing out splendidly. I enjoyed the tuneful easy flowing sopranos and the sturdy basses in the Kyrie. Soprano Catriona Hewitson launched the Christe section beautifully. The Gloria opened strongly from both choir and organ. There were splendid contrapuntal passages in this section handled well by the choir. Male and female voices were so well balanced. The sopranos led with the melody in the Credo and of course here was that splendid alto solo followed by Ross Cumming’s imposing baritone. The Crucifixus was marvellously dramatic from both choir and organ.
The Sanctus was dazzlingly lively. Many composers use soloists for the Benedictus but Dvořák reserves them for the Agnus Dei. There is an attractive organ solo to open the Benedictus then the male voices entered gently. The organ had a fine floating continuity before the bright and energetic Hosannah came in again. The tenor led the solo section of the Agnus Dei and also the Dona Nobis pacem and the choir led us softly to the end of the work. This had been an excellent finale to a concert that had been generous both in musical entertainment and musical education. Very much a performance to be treasured in the memory.
Alan Cooper
