The Song Company: Journeying to Finisterre

15 March 2025, St Philip’s Church, Sydney, NSW

Program:
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat – O Virgo Splendens
Tomas Luis de Victoria – O quam gloriosum
Codex Calixtinus – Congaudeant Catholici
Juan del Encina – ¡O Reyes Magos Benditos!
Alfonso X El Sabio – Cantigas de Santa Maria: Entre Ave e Eva
Francisco Guerrero – Ave Virgo Sanctissima
Francisco Guerrero – Ojos claros, serenos
Joseph Twist – Versa est in luctum (from Three Motets after Victoria)
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat – Stella Splendens
Pedro de Cristo – Quae est ista
Toru Takemitsu – Kaze no uma (Wind Horse): Vocalise 1
Rodrigo de Ceballos – Hortus Conculusus
Anne Cawrse – I look up to the mountains (from Pilgrim Psalms)
Alonso Lobo – Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui
Paul Stanhope – Geography VI
Manuel Machado – Dos estrellas le siguen
Tomas Luis de Victoria – Versa est in luctum
Edie Hill – Cancion de el Alma “En una noche escura”

Artists:
Susannah Lawergren
Amy Moore
Jessica O’Donoghue
Timothy Reynolds
Hayden Barrington
Andrew O’Connor

The endpoint of the pilgrimage of the Way of St James (the “Camino de Santiago”) is officially the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the North-West of Spain. The Camino was established because various miracles brought the body of the Apostle St James from Jerusalem to Compostela and it now rests in the crypt below the altar there. A more pragmatic political reading of history is that the pilgrimage was established by the Catholic Church in early Medieval times to drive a wedge across the North of Spain in order to stop the advances of the Islamic population gradually working its way from the South of Spain towards Europe.  Plenary indulgences were offered to pilgrims as an incentive.  The ploy seems to have worked. Vast numbers of devout “pellegrini” flooded the 900km path on foot or by donkey from the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France to Compostela, a trip which typically takes 30 to 50 days. Many sacred points were established along the way. Pamplona, Puente La Reina, Logroño, Burgos, Leon and Astorga to name but a few, all became pilgrimage points in their own right with magnificent cathedrals, and many smaller chapels, churches and monasteries on the way. The bitter end of the Camino is actually another three or four days walk further West beyond Compostela, on the coast at Finisterre, a bleak peninsula which is the Westernmost point of Spain, to which this concert gives its name; the “End of the Earth”. Tradition has it that here pilgrims burn their old (and by now probably smelly) clothes to symbolise their rebirth into a new spiritual life.

To this day nearly a quarter of a million people still make this pilgrimage each year. Political motivations aside, the pilgrimage was for Christians a once-in-a-lifetime transformative religious experience; the spiritual depth of which is attested to by the sacred (or at least deeply spiritual) music in this concert.

The program put together by Amy Moore is a moving combination of early music (Medieval and Renaissance) and contemporary; mostly unaccompanied vocal repertoire in which the Song Company finds itself well at home.

The male voices, introduced by the chime of a tubular bell, sang the beautiful 14th century Gregorian chant “O Virgo Splendens” from the Montserrat monastery in Spain as a processional. Having reached the front, they broke into a rich organum for the 3rd verse. The acoustics of St Philips church are perfect for this music; reverberant but not so much that the music looses clarity. The sacred atmosphere was set with high expectations for the whole concert.

And we were not disappointed. The Victoria “O Quan Gloriousum” was the first of many Renaissance contrapuntal motets that suit this choir so well; individual parts emerging seamlessly from the texture with rising and falling phrases.

The modern setting of Psalm 121 “I look up to the mountains” by the Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse was certainly a contrast, but did not disturb the sacred atmosphere.

While the text was sacred, musically there was a turn towards the secular with Sabio’s “Entre Ave e Eva” from “Cantigas de Santa Maria”. The text basically says enthusiastically that what Eve ruined, Mary made good. It was performed like a Medieval Estampie with drones, strident voices and percussion; clapping, tambourine and drum. It was an energetic dance probably more appropriate to outside of the church, but it was a lively and joyful contrast to the earnestness of the rest of the program.

Joseph Twist, the USA based Australian composer arranged Victoria’s motet “Versa est in luctum” in a contemporary setting, retaining much of the original feeling but adding many modern harmonic turns, swelling to a glorious climax and ultimately tranquil ending.

Toru Takemitsu’s “Kaze no Uma” (Wild Horse) is clearly not a Christian or even a sacred piece but it is an interesting inclusion with many musical surprises. As a vocalise, any meaning whatsoever may be projected onto it, including the sacred.

Similarly Paul Stanhope’s “Geography VI” is not especially sacred but certainly spiritual in its evocation of the landscape and worthy of a place in this concert where the landscape of Northern Spain is as significant as the sacred waypoints.

Edie Hill’s setting “En una noche escura” finished the concert on a sensual note. As in the  Song of Songs, in this poem by San Juan de la Cruz the erotic moments of lovers uniting are a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment; achieving oneness with God. Rich floating harmonies and surging textures lead to an ecstatic ending to this concert; an apotheosis as one might feel upon completing of the mammoth pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and the End of the Earth.

While no-one burnt their clothes at the end, this concert fulfilled all expectations of a religious and profound experience while giving the audience a rich and musically varied program.

The Song Company has done it again; many thanks to all involved.

Photo Credit: Claire Burrell-McDonald