BY CELINE CHONG
Faure Requiem
Queensland Symphony Orchestra with The Australian Voices
QPAC, 7 April
What’d you miss?
- Spoken text and handbells
- An old work that was buried by history for a century…and dug up again three years ago
- A pretty lush performance all-round
A celebration of both symphonic and choral repertoire, Faure Requiem presented by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and The Australian Voices proved that there was no lack of excellence from either ensemble.
Stravinsky’s long-lost Funeral Song Op. 5 was the first work of the program. After having its premiere performance in 1909, the score was lost and only recently rediscovered in 2015!
The work began as a hushed whisper – the quietest of tremolos from the string section – that left us in suspense before anybody had time to get comfortable. Funeral Song shows a very different Stravinsky to the one we associate with Rite of Spring, and the QSO did its lush chromatic harmonies and sweeping melodic figures justice.
Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes Op. 33a followed, and though each of the pieces were small, they certainly left an impression. Being from an opera, there was no mistaking the storytelling aspect of the four snippets – Dawn (Act 1), Sunday Morning (Act 2), Moonlight (Act 3) and Storm (Act 1). The QSO captured the programmatic elements with character and personality, from running waves in the harp and strings, to Sunday morning church bells in the horns, and the whole orchestra joining forces to evoke a raging storm to finish.
The theme of rain continued in my unexpected favourite of the night, Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre. Performed by The Australian Voices, this composition for choir, percussion and piano was unusual yet extremely subtle and complex. Cloudburst featured many tone clusters in the choral parts, creating dissonance, consonance, and dissonance again as the parts resolved and unresolved in their intertwining movements. It was complemented by spoken text, handbells, and a metal sheet used to make a thundering sound, culminating in an intensely layered and dynamic atmosphere.
Finally, the featured work of the program was of course, Faure’s peaceful Requiem, with soloists Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Morgan England-Jones. Both soloists stunned in their performances, but particularly England-Jones, whose voice was marvellous in the Pie Jesu movement, with a crystalline and clear tone.
Overall, QSO’s Faure Requiem was a very enjoyable concert with a great and varied repertoire – established favourites along with new discoveries, brought to life by two great ensembles.
Images supplied.
