Australian Haydn Ensemble | Heavenly Sopranos
Tuesday April 16, 2024, City Recital Hall, Sydney NSW
Although it is tempting to play with words around Celeste, Skye and Heavenly, I will simply say this concert was DIVINE!
The AHE with Skye McIntosh and Matthew Greco on violin, Karina Schmitz on viola, Anton Baba on cello, Pippa Macmillan on double bass, Simon Martyn-Ellis on theorbo and Joanna Butler on chamber organ were joined by their friends Celeste Lazarenko, soprano, and Helen Sherman, mezzo soprano, in this wonderful program of Baroque music at the City Recital Hall.
The concert began with excerpts from Hasse’s Oratorio Sanctus Petrus and Sancta Maria – the tragedy of Christ’s crucifixion. Delicate strings lent a sense of mystery and sadness to the opening. Helen Sherman sang St Peter’s agony and guilt with an edgy passion. Celeste Lazarenko joined her as Mary Magdalene resulting in a dramatic interplay of voices.
Hasse was famous during his life time, but his music fell into obscurity and is only now being rediscovered. He composed more than 60 operas as well as sinfonias, concertos, sonatas and sacred choral music. Another composer whose work is being rediscovered is Neapolitan Francesco Durante. During his lifetime he was mainly known for his sacred music. AHE revealed a different side to this composer, performing the opening of his Concerto No. 1 in F minor. This short instrumental interlude was beautifully played by the ensemble, with the upper strings floating above an undercurrent of chamber organ, theorbo and lower strings under Skye’s subtle control.
The concert continued with an earlier work by Hasse – the radiant motet Alta nubes illustrata for solo soprano. The brilliant exuberance of this work was matched by the brilliant exuberance of Celeste’s singing. Her skilled arpeggios and delicate high notes in this motet echoed the splendour of the heavens described in the text.
After the Interval we were introduced to a composer, who was little known in his life time, but became famous after his death – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. He finished his Stabat Mater whilst suffering from tuberculosis and died at the age of 26. His death became romanticised and everyone wanted to hear and play his music. Even Bach adapted his Stabat Mater into German for his own choir in Leipzig. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is still well known today. This moving, beautiful work was exquisitely performed by the ensemble, with the two sopranos’ voices full of yearning, interweaving and at times sounding as one. They expressed the many emotions of this work, from anguish to joy, finishing with a boisterous series of “Amen”s.
The audience applause was boisterous as well, with cheers from the crowd. The title of this concert truly matched the content – Celeste Lazarenko and Helen Sherman really were HEAVENLY SOPRANOS – the whole concert was DIVINE.
Photo credit – Oliver Miller
Sketches – Heidi Hereth
