Miserere
Reviewed by Russell Starke
City Messenger, 8th March 2008VIEWED from the balcony of St Peter’s Cathedral above the great west door one appreciates the full beauty of the pillared nave, the ornate screens of the high altar in the far distance and the lofty curves of the ceiling.
It was the appropriate setting for last Saturday’s live broadcast on ABC FM of an exquisitely balanced and performed suite of three pieces reflecting Christian faith.
Carl Crossin led the unaccompanied singers through The Lamentations of Jeremiah of Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) with delicate precision. Each verse interlocked with the next in a complex pattern of rich sound using Jerusalem as the subject/victim on the eve of Easter.
James MacMillan’s post WWII Christus Vincit (Christ Conquers), by contrast, is a joyous paean, rippling through the air with soprano Greta Bradman’s wonderful voice floating in perfection high above all, a never to be forgotten experience in the vast shadowy spaces of the church.
Finally with Arvo Pärt’s Miserere, an elaborate plea for mercy against sin, the singers were accompanied by a fine combination of wind, brass and percussion.
Emma Horwood’s soprano and Matthew Rutty’s counter tenor parts glittered against the velvet tenors of Robert Macfalane and Andrew Linn and the brooding darkness of bass Thomas Flint and Lachlan Scott.
The genius of Pärt’s silences and solo notes was never more evident than in this splendid performance by this remarkable world class group which calls Adelaide home.
