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In August 20924 we travelled back to the birthplace of the renaissance with a concert Roman and Venetian music from the Italian baroque.
Phoenix Choir musical director gathered three seminal composers from the Italian cultural flowering of the 16th and 17th centuries which had such an influence on musical development across Europe right through to the popular music of today.
Particularly in early Venetian music there was a strong tradition of multiple choirs serenading each other across the chapel. Musical director, Amy Moore assembled four soloists, the Kanimbla quartet and accompanist Janette Norcott to join the choir and recreate up to three choirs and two orchestras. “This is exhilarating music” says Amy “with graceful counterpoint, call-and-answer between the different choirs, exquisite solos and grand choral finales.”
We were fortunate to be joined by countertenor, Michael Burden; tenor, Elias Wilson; and bass, Jesse Van Proctor. And we were particularly grateful to Susannah Lawergren who stepped in as our Soprano soloist at less than 24 hours notice.
The early 12 voice Magnificat by Giovanni Gabrieli bears all the stylistic hallmarks of a renaissance upbringing under his famous uncle Andrea at St Mark’s in Venice and his teacher the renowned Orlando de Lassus. Written in the 1590s it sounds as if it is from the previous era but its form and harmonic structure mark the dawn of the baroque.
Gabrieli and others laid the path towards the high-baroque exemplified by Vivaldi over 100 years later. His music is much loved for its refined elegance and his Lauda Jerusalem is no exception. Bold choral declamations are offset by delicate solo writing all culminating in a short but complex little fugue. We were also delighted to present two delightful Vivaldi solo pieces sung by Michael Burden. This is Venetian high-baroque at its very best.
And to open the concert Phoenix presented Alessandro Scarlatti’s energetic Dixit Dominus. After an early career focussed on opera with patronage in Naples and Florence he found greater appreciation in Rome which is where he composed much of his later religious works. Little of the rumoured church music survives and we are privileged today to hear the Dixit Dominus.
So Ciao Bella! and welcome to renaissance Italy.
Phoenix Choir performed at 3pm on Saturday 17 August at Wentworth Falls School of Arts and 3pm on Sunday 18 August at Hoskins Uniting Church, Lithgow. We were delighted that our Wentworth Falls concert sold out but we were well able to accommodate all comers on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Hoskins Memorial Church.
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Phoenix Choir 
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