Bel a cappella | …and the river runs away
April 20, 2024, Mosman Art Gallery, NSW
Monica Buckland – conductor
Josephine Allan – piano
David Miller – piano
This is the first time that I have heard Bel a cappella since Monica Buckland was appointed musical director and it wonderful to note that the upwards trajectory of this choir continues on. Anthony Pasquill did great work with these musicians for 14 years. Bel a cappella is cementing their position in the leading group of non-professional vocal ensembles in Sydney. The very experienced Buckland conducts with authority and care for the musical detail and her choir obviously enjoy her directorship.
This concert was notable for the premieres of three Australian works, one by the venerable Donald Hollier, an emerging composer, Andrew Howes and a one who has flown under the radar for a long time, Kevin Barker.
It is a pity that Covid slowed down the presentation of this concert as Hollier died last August. Composers love hearing their premieres and maybe a little fragment floated somewhere to please him. His skill as a choral composer and conductor of choirs was evident throughout Crossing the Bar and at times I thought there was a liturgical feel to this most effective work.
Barker’s Now Fades the Last Long Streak of Snow was an evocation of nature and his simple and straightforward approach to the music and structure was perfectly nuanced.
Moss Stone Cantic by Howes opened with pleasingly sweet and, dare I say, pretty music but this was an emotional trap as he drew the listener into a world full of swirling and turbulent music whilst hinting at ecstasy with rising female voice lines. Both Barker and Howes showed excellent skills in drawing fine music from a non-professional choral group that satisfied on all levels.
In a concert with a large amount of small works the choir shone in its performance of Carry her over the water by Benjamin Britten. This was a well chosen work for Bel a cappella as it allowed them to show the exultant music inferred in the score.
The largest works, and both were around 20 minutes in duration, were Aus Goethes Westöstlichem Divan by Hans Huber and Richard Rodney Bennett’s Nonsense. In both these compositions the choir was joined by two of Sydney’s great pianists, Josephine Allan and David Miller. The thrilling piano writing and the playing by Allan and Miller in the silly nonsense songs by Bennett inspired the choir to have fun and so did the audience.
Mosman Art Gallery hall created the right amount of reverb and the warmth of sound enveloped the large and appreciative audience.
PROGRAM
Johannes Brahms – Nachtwache II op. 104 no. 2
Robert A. Harris – April Rain Song
Kevin Barker* – Now Fades the Last Long Streak of Snow
Rani Arbo – Crossing the bar
Benjamin Britten – Carry her over the water
Donald Hollier* – Crossing the Bar
Hans Huber – Aus Goethes West-östlichem Divan
Johannes Brahms – Vineta op. 42 no. 2
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – By the lone seashore
Judith Bingham – The Drowned Lovers
C.V. Stanford – The Blue Bird
Andrew Howes* – Moss Stone Cantic
Richard Rodney Bennett – Nonsense
* Bel Composition Prize 2020 – winner
