Sydney Chamber Choir | Fauré Requiem
5 April, 2025, St James Church, Sydney, NSW
On a golden Autumn afternoon we entered the historic St James Church in King St., Sydney to hear the Sydney Chamber Choir sing the Fauré Requiem and other works by various composers.
There was a common theme of love and tender joy pervading this program, which was especially apparent in the Fauré Requiem.
They began with part 1 of Bach’s motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song). They sang in joyful counterpoint, expertly conducted by Sam Allchurch.
A more serene mood was presented in three Liturgical Motets by Healy Willan. The choir sang gentle harmonies in praise of the Virgin Mary to words from the Old Testament Song of Songs. Although the words were essentially erotic in nature, being an interchange between a betrothed couple, the church has interpreted them as a symbol of God’s love for his people. In Medieval times this was taken a step further with the Virgin Mary being the personification of the Church and the subject of the rhapsodic verses. The three hymns/motets Willan wrote in 1928-9, in praise of the Virgin Mary, were in the Medieval plainchant style that had regained popularity by then. I Beheld Her, Beautiful as a Dove came directly from Song of Songs; Fair in Face and Rise Up My Love, My Fair One came from an eighth century text inspired by Song of Songs. The titles give a hint of the adoration in the text, the singing was superb.
This was followed by a joyfully vibrant work by Brooke Shelley, Praise the Lord. It began with the sopranos singing very high chords to express ecstatic joy, followed by rhythmic humming from the lower voices, with others repeating the word “sing”. The effect was that of chiming bells. It had been commissioned by Associate Professor Michael Horsburgh AM, a Parish Lay Reader at the very church where it was being performed. It was for his 80th birthday in 2019 and used the text from Psalm 147.
Another commissioned work was Psalm 100, Jauchzet dem Herrn (Shout for Joy to the Lord) by Mendelssohn. This was written in 1844 for the Jewish Temple in Hamburg, built in the 1840s. The Psalm’s reference to “entering the courts of the Lord” was most appropriate for the occasion. The rich harmonies were beautifully intoned by the Sydney Chamber Choir in this concert.
They sang another recent (2022) work by Brooke Shelley: Heavenly Father. It was commissioned by the Sydney Chamber Choir to be a companion piece to Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien. It describes the circle of life, rather than death and is expressed musically by the upper and lower registers singing the melody in opposite directions. This resulted in etherial harmonies that again reminded me of bells.
Then followed Nigel Butterley’s Morning Fanfare – the opening movement of his choral cycle The True Samaritan, set to early English and Scottish sacred poetry. It depicts Christmas Morning, with the rooster announcing this special day of exuberant joy. This was musically expressed with chorister Megan Cronin’s beautiful pure voice ringing out from the ecstatic choir. They truly captured the sense of excitement and joy of Christmas!
After a short break, the choir, augmented with alumni, returned with two soloists to perform the highlight of the evening – the exquisite Requiem by Fauré. Renowned for its different perspective by omitting fear and retribution and emphasising love and serenity, this Requiem was Fauré’s response to having accompanied many different settings as organist in the Église de la Madelaine. He wanted to do something different! It is now very familiar to many of us – but is still spine shiveringly beautiful, especially as performed by the Sydney Chamber choir in this beautiful church. Baritone Andrew O’Connor sang the Offertorium and the Libera me Domine in his warm, rich voice. He seemed to be drinking in the beauty of the music when he closed his eyes. The choir responded to the Libera me Domine with a hint of darkness. Angela Brun sang Pie Jesu with exquisite sweetness. The final In Paradisium was delicately accompanied by Thomas Wilson on the organ. The choir really did sound like angels – it was a beautiful way to end the concert. Sam Allchurch, with his conducting expertise, held the silence while we all came down to earth. The audience then exploded into enthusiastic applause. This was golden music for a golden evening.
Sketches by the author: Heidi Hereth
Photo credit: Chalice Paiva
