Adelaide Chamber Singers
by Stephen Whittington
The Advertiser, 18th June 2008LOVE, according to some, comes in two kinds: earthly and divine. The language poets use to describe one or the other is often indistinguishable.
I guess that was the point of this concert of music devoted to the Virgin Mary – music, in many cases, of rapturous sensual beauty rather than austere religiosity. Scattered through various Marian hymns was a complete mass by Jaun Gutierrez de Padilla, individual movements serving as punctuation to successive brackets.
Mexican Catholicism is a unique blend of Roman and native traditions. Padilla’s music is lively, rhythmic and joyful; he even manages to make the Crucifixus sound rather jolly.
It was a real pleasure to hear this little–known music from the great Mexican baroque era.
Accompanied by dual continuo sections nicely contrasted in timbre, the Chamber Singers gave a fine performance. The rest of the program was a very mixed bag. David McIntyre mixed Steve Reich and medieval hocket for his attractive Ave Maria, in which Emma Horwood impressed with her ability to flawlessly hit repeated high notes.
An unconventional arrangement of the plainsong O Spes Mea Cara was striking, while Bruckner’s Ave Maria stood out for its late Romantic lushness, a little incongruous in its surroundings.
