Tenebrae choral concert could be best of the fest

The Perth Festival of the Arts committee has an excellent record for inviting choirs of note to perform for the city.

Right at the top this list must come the concert given on May 20 by Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short. Everyone I spoke to from the packed audience in St John’s Kirk was bowled over by their impact, quality sound and choice of music.

It is odd to think of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov as embracing authentic practice, yet this is what they did in their music for the Russian Orthodox Church.

They went back to the znamenny chant of the Middle Ages and both used it or made up similar tunes.

The Russian language gives special flavour to music which the church insisted used only voices, no instruments, modulated little or not at all and had no counterpoint. So the music has wonderful tunes, strong rhythm, no dissonance and, as all move together through the text, clarity, and fantastic low Russian basses.

All services, called liturgies, in the Russian Orthodox Church were sung and could last up to two and a half hours.

Tenebrae began at the Kirk’s West End with Rachmaninov’s joyful Come, Let Us Worship from his All-Night Vigil. Next they processed down both side aisles to the usual platform area with his Great Litany – most in the South Aisle, as the congregation with their responses, and a fantastically resonant bass taking the part of the Priest in the North Aisle. This already was a most vivid, imposing start: quality of voice, allied with a stereo theatricality.

In their individual ways the eight composers produced similarly excellent sounds for Tenebrae. Rachmaninov had the lion’s share with eight items, Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Gretchaninov were there, too, then some really obscure names Chesnokov, Sheremetiev and Kedrov, and two who were famous for other reasons: Golovanov, as conductor and Stalin sacked director of the Bolshoi, and Viktor Kalinnikov, brother of the slightly known composer Vasily.

As given voice by Tenebrae all sounded of quality and magnificence, occasionally with a delightful admixture of innocence and sweetness.

It was a pleasure too, to watch Nigel Sort’s eloquent handling of the choir, his fingers drawing forth the sounds.

I think this could well be ranked as the best concert of this year’s festival.