Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | Fauré’s Requiem
August 29, 2024, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, VIC
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus presented a program of miniature masterpieces, perfect pieces that left us completely satisfied.
The first half of the program was without chorus and featured the dark and evocative Mythic by Elena Kats-Chernin. I’m such a fan of Kats-Chernin and there doesn’t appear to be an idiom that she hasn’t composed for.
Mythic is slow-building, dark and expressive. Using harp and brass to evoke scenes of the large, mythical cave that Kats-Chernin herself described as giving inspiration for the piece. I found myself dreaming of parts of Tasmania in the wilderness and by the sea where I had been camping or visiting with friends. The work builds to a relentless hymn-like chorus in the strings, underpinned by the brass.
Conductor Lawrence Renes, a champion of contemporary music seemed to relish Mythic and was able to bring this energy and enthusiasm to the Sibelius Symphony No. 7, which draws us in with its mysterious rising opening motif.
Composed in one movement of around 20 minutes, again a relatively short work when you compare it with others of the period. What is lost in length, Sibelius makes up for in intensity. The Symphony is bursting with melodies which sound almost folk-like. And again, as with the Kats-Chernin, these ideas percolate through the string and woodwinds to emerge victorious in the brass.
And into this sacred and mysterious space, we were treated to an exquisite performance of one of the kindness and gentlest requiems I know, Fauré’s Requiem in D minor, Op. 48.
The MSO Chorus, prepared ably by Warren Trevelyn-Jones, were superb, particularly in their dynamic control, always subservient to the needs to the music. While they only really had one solo each, international superstars Siobhan Stagg and Roderick Williams were outstanding. As an old friend used to say, they were ‘worth walking over glass to hear them sing.’
The orchestra too, provided the best accompaniment with the delicateness and the seriousness of the text (which was distractingly projected as surtitles) always honouring Fauré’s intention that this be a work for all people.
I was reflecting during the performance, how Fauré’s setting is not scary, like many other settings you hear, but instead is soft and gentle and speaks to that eternal longing of all of us that death is a place of rest and comfort surrounded by love in the womb of the universe.
The only distraction to this performance – and no fault of the MSO’s or their wonderful performers – was the lack of an organ, and I don’t mean just a pipe organ, the electronic versions can be very convincing if the time and effort is put into the positioning of the speakers. But in this case when the organ entered our hearing there were raising eyebrows all around me.
A great shame, to an otherwise superb performance. That aside, there is one more performance to go and you’d be foolish not to grab a ticket if you can. After all, good things come in small packages.
