Luminescence Chamber Singers: Ave Regina

Sunday 10 April, 2022, Glebe Town Hall

Luminescence is a Canberra based group here conducted by Roland Peelman, formerly of Song Company fame in Sydney.

The same high standard of a cappella singing to which we had grown accustomed from Peelman was in evidence here.

Interestingly programmed, this concert was centred around religious music about Mary, as well as some more contemporary secular themes. These are no less spiritual, but all firmly centred on the feminine. Peelman referred to this as a blurring of the centuries and of the sacred secular divide.

The first half of the concert was all early music. It opened with a Gregorian chant and organum setting of the “Salve Regina” with an ominous addition of a not-very-early-music electric guitar drone. It was rather shocking for its unexpected and contrastingly stark tone colour. The guitar was present in the program because it is the instrument of Jess Green, who’s work is premiered in the second half (sans guitar) and because it was required for the Gabriel Jackson piece at the end. Green also played some improvised interludes between the other Renaissance pieces.

While I said Renaissance, the first of the two Dufay works was more Mediaeval in character, with lots of open intervals and unprepared dissonances. Here there was a good blend of voices, excellent balance of sound and rhythmic cohesion. This augured well for the rest of the concert. The intonation was excellent, particularly at the strident and gutsy Mediaeval cadences.

The remaining pieces in the first half by De La Rue, Obrecht and another by Dufay were firmly in the Renaissance style. Phrases in particular voices rose out of the texture and fell again; carefully prepared and resolved dissonances were all beautifully controlled. The choral texture was mostly one voice per part, although frequently the soprano part was doubled where there were only 4 parts for 5 singers. However, careful control ensured this never disturbed the balance between the parts. A real lilt was often established, highlighting the gentle nature of the purity of the virgin, the love as a mother and the congregation’s attitude towards her.

The second half of the concert was all contemporary composers, and all the but last, Australian.

Alice Chance’s setting of the Michael Leunig text “God Be With The Mother”, rather than concentrating on the importance of the mother’s relationship with the child, concerns itself with the mother as an archetype. It is about the mother’s own development in having a child, achieving a “higher truth”, “for her own soul shall be her most painful birth”. The unaccompanied textures are quite naturally centred on the female voices with some interesting use of “la. la.” repetitive sound, like a passionate heartbeat.

Andrew Ford’s piece “Our Mother’s Heart” (a world premiere) is based on a text by Kate Fagan’s “Red Dirt Hymns”. It is mostly for solo soprano, here sung by Rachel Mink, with some backing vocals. It is an homage to nature, the eternal mother. Mink’s voice was thrillingly ecstatic in this performance.

Jess Green’s unaccompanied “I Heard You Sing”, is also a world premiere. Green wrote the words herself. This is a wonderful work in the voice of an unborn baby listening to and revelling in her mother’s singing. The singing continues after the birth and, by implication, the baby herself will become a mother and continue the tradition. A kind of musical umbilical chord, spanning the generations. The in-tempo clapping towards the end added to the jubilation of this relationship. The work was sympathetically rendered and in fact, I found this work the most touching of all. While this no doubt arises from Green’s own experience, I could not help but think of some of Peelman’s ex Song Company crew who we have frequently seen performing in Sydney of late while heavily pregnant. What a delight that must be for the unborn child and mother alike. This piece thus brought tears to my eyes.

The concert finished with yet another setting of the “Ave Regina Caelorum”, this time by English composer Gabriel Jackson. Here the gentle choral textures are interposed with, and in counterpointed against the guitar, which ranged from lilting reverb and vibratos to full-on raging Black Sabbath distortion. Interesting contrasts.

The feminine was pervasive in this concert and as a principle to unify the program it worked impressively well. It was genuinely engaging and enjoyable.

PROGRAM

Chant Salve Regina
Guillaume Dufay (1397 – 1474) Ave Maris Stella
Pierre de La Rue (1452 – 1518) Ave Regina Caelorum
Guillaume Dufay (1397 – 1474) Ave Regina Caelorum
Jacob Obrecht (1457 – 1505) Salve Regina a 4

Alice Chance (1994 – ) God, be with the Mother
Andrew Ford (1957 – ) Kate Fagan (1973 – ) Our Mother’s Heart (from Red Dirt Hymns)
Jess Green (1979 – ) I Heard You Sing
Gabriel Jackson (1962 – ) Ave Regina Caelorum

Photo Credit: HilaryWardhaugh