Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. St Peter’s Cathedral. 11 Oct 2024
Sacred and Profane? In a Cathedral? What’s going on!?
Fear not! ‘Profane’ is an interesting word: it can be an antonym for sacred, or it can refer to irreverence. For the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s second concert in its Sacred & Profane mini-series, the profane refers to J.S. Bach’s sunny Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G, BWV 1048. There’s nothing irreverent about it at all – it’s simply not sacred music.
Scored for only three violins, three violas, three cellos, and harpsichord (as basso continuo), it is the shortest of the six Brandenburg Concertos and comes in at around ten minutes. What it lacks in duration, and in the size of the ensemble, it makes up in enthusiasm and energy. It is an explosion of pleasure, and ASO concert master Kate Suthers energetically leads the ensemble in a spirited performance. It struck this reviewer that the pace set in the first allegro movement was bordering on being too fast – as the melody is passed around the pulse seems to lose its acuity. Possibly the acoustic of the cathedral doesn’t smile kindly on small string ensembles playing at break-neck speed.
Haydn’s Symphony No.30 in C, Hob. 1/30 (Alleluia) uses a Gregorian Alleluia chant throughout, and sees the evening’s concert depart from the profane and place all feet squarely in the sacred. While conductor Anthony Hunt, who is Director of Music at St Peter’s Cathedral, spoke from the podium about the use of the word alleluia in various Christian religious traditions, additional musicians came on stage, including oboe, flute and horn which dominated the sound palette. In the second movement the flute is glorious, as is the horn in the third. Hunt nicely matched the pace and dynamics to the reverberance of the cathedral.
Mozart’s setting of the alleluia in his exquisite motet Exultate jubilate, K.165 is perhaps the best and most popular ever written, and the audience delighted in Jessica Dean’s performance. One never tires of hearing it. Dressed in a gorgeous gown resplendent in the colours of summer flowers, Dean took to the stage with a flourish and Hunt launched into the brisk opening with the enthusiasm of youth. The work is in four sections, and Dean was at her finest in the third (Tu virginum corona) where the pace is less frenetic, and she reaches ethereal vocal heights of gentleness and sweetness. Truly delightful and transporting. This is swept away with the mighty Alleluia! final section in which Dean, Hunt and the orchestra have so much unbridled fun. It sits well on Dean’s voice and the audience is sitting on the edge of joyous exhilaration throughout.
The concert ends with Duruflé’s Messe Cum jubilo, Op.11, a Mass ‘with rejoicing’ for baritone chorus, solo baritone, and orchestra. It is one of the few sacred works that is written for a male chorus and was written in 1966. Like many others in the audience (judging by the post-concert conversations as the audience left the venue), this reviewer had never heard this work until tonight, and it is a revelation. It is grounded in a plainchant, which permeates its five sections, and Hunt is in his element throughout. The vocal line frequently inhabits the upper end of the baritone range and neither the soloist Nathan Lay nor the St Peter’s Cathedral Choir ever sound strained. Indeed, the vocal tones are warm and rounded, and the at-times bombastic tutti orchestral accompaniment that is contrasted with moments of graceful, yet haunting woodwinds provides a choral experience that begs to be heard again.
This reviewer is doubtful that a recording of Duruflé’s Messe Cum jubilo could ever capture the majesty one experiences from a live performance in a venue such as St Peter’s Cathedral.
Kym Clayton
When: 11 Oct
Where: St Peter’s Cathedral
Bookings: Closed
