IMPRESSIVE AND SPIRITUALLY SUBLIME INTERPRETATION OF
MONTEVERDI
by Ed Farolan
Vespro della beata Vergine (The 1610 Vespers)
by Claudio Monteverdi
sung by the Vancouver Cantata Singers
with James Fankhauser as Director/Conductor
at the Holy Rosary Cathedral November 1 & 2
The Vancouver Cantata Singers celebrated their 40th Anniversary Season with
the monumental Vespro della beata Vergine by the great master and innovator,
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). It was Monteverdi who created a style of
singing recreating classical Greek solo song, the monody, pioneerin an
expressive, flexible vehicle for voice which he applied to both sacred and
secular music.
In 1610, unhappy at Mantua because of his modern excesses, he created a
collection of church music , Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed
Virgin) which he dedicated to Pope Paul V. This composition resulted in his
appointment as maestro di capella in 1613, a position he held until his
death.
The Vespro includes beautiful renditions of compositions dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, including Assumpta est Maria, Salve Regina, Magnificat,
and Ave maris stella .
Soprano Christine Brandes gave a beautiful lyrical and emotional performance
of Salve Regina, while tenors Paul Elliott, Colin Balzer and Jacob Doherty
offered a harmonious, exquisite interpretation of Duo Seraphim. The other
singers, a semi-professional ensemble of around 40 singers, were polished
in their vocal choral expressiveness.
James Fankhauser, the conductor and music director of the group, is Professor
of Music at the University of British Columbia where he also conducts the
University Singers. He, together with his singers, received a warm, extended
applause from the Holy Cathedral audience who witnessed this almost two and
a half hour concert.
I only have two comments: first, the performance, I felt was extremely
interesting and magnificent, but it could have been shortened by at least
30 minutes; Magnificat , for example, should have definitely been edited
and cut shorter. And secondly, two songs of Solomon were sung as concertos--Nigra
sum which was sung by tenor Paul Elliott, and Pulcra es by sopranos Christine
Brandes & Phoebe MacRae. Now, shouldn't it have been the other way around?
Nigra sum is supposedly a biblical verse delivered by a black concubine of
Solomon, and therefore, should have been sung by a woman, whereas Pulcra
es, I assume, is Solomon's song to a woman, and therefore should have been
sung by a male singer, unless Fankhauser had his own reasons for reversing
the roles.
Handel's Messiah will be the Vancouver Cantata Singers' next production at
The Orpheum on Friday December 12th at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 13th at
7:30 pm, and Sunday, December 14th at 2:30 p.m. These singers are very good,
even if they classify themselves as 'semi-professionals', and I look forward
to seeing and hearing them again next month for Messiah.