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November 25, 2007, 7:30 pm
St. George’s Anglican Church
1101 Stanley Street, Montréal
PROGRAMME (subject to change without prior notice)
Brahms: Missa Canonica (1856)
Mendelssohn: Sechs Sprüche für das Kirchenjahr, Op. 79
Mendelssohn: Mitten Wir Im Leben Sind, Op. 23/3
Mendelssohn: Warum Toben Die Heiden, Op. 78/1
Rheinberger: Abendlied (Drei geistliche Gesaenge Op. 69)
Mendelssohn: Ave Maria, Op. 23/2
Schubert: Der 23. Psalm (D. 706)
Brahms: Fest- und Gedenksprüche, Op 109
Our first offering is a concert highlighting beautiful and lesser-known works by German-speaking romantic era composers. The ensemble will bring the romantic era to its listeners. Following the classical era, romanticism marked an evolution away from strict concern with form and structure, and towards a more colourful and varied personal expression. Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Rheinberger all lived and composed during this time of emotional expression.
Development of vocal compositions, such as the Lied, was one way of achieving greater expression and emotionalism. Franz Schubert, one of the earliest composers of the Romantic period, is best remembered for his Lieder, in which he typically set a classical poem to music, amplifying its defining metaphor by translating it into the musical language. The program includes his Psalm 23 for accompanied women’s voices. Well loved for the exquisite harmonies in the instrumental prelude, the magical entry of the voices, and the piece’s beatific quality, this four-part setting was actually written for a friend to use as an examination piece for her vocal pupils.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote his first piece at the age of eleven, continuing on to be a prolific composer and a conductor. Mendelssohn's music is the most classically oriented of all his generation, yet he was a true Romantic, cultivating smaller forms and character pieces. The program includes Mitten wir im Leben sind, the third of his Three Sacred Choruses. This piece is characterized by its austerity and emotive power, and the composer described it as one of the best sacred works he had ever written. His veneration of Bach and the use of Bach’s motet structures, as well as the use of chorales and neo-baroque contrapuntal movements are evident in this piece. Also included is Warum toben die Heiden, a work of psalms for unaccompanied chorus, considered one of his most ambitious. In it he achieves impressive contrasts of blocks of vocal colour, shifting the tonal balance from 8-part chorus to individual voices. Finally,a set of a capella eight-voice sacred anthems, Sechs Sprüche. These anthems have a Palestrina-like quality, which Mendelssohn has renewed and reworked to reflect his own time.
This is a composer that both Patrick Wedd and Musica Orbium have neglected over the last 14 years and these three selections are perfect for renewing their acquaintance. You will love the richness of these works.
Johannes Brahms is well known for the deep, reflective melancholy of his music; even the music of his youth is often characterized as autumnal. Brahms was unique among his contemporaries for studying the choral works of then largely forgotten Renaissance and Baroque composers. He employed their compositional techniques in a contemporary context, discovering new sounds by grouping voices together in new ways. His Missa Canonica for four/five part choir and organ is something of a rarity: composed around 1856, the work lay unperformed until 1983, probably because it is missing a Gloria and Credo. Also included in the program is Fest- und Gedenksprüche, three songs for eight-part chorus, a cappella. Composed when Brahms became an honorary citizen of Hamburg, this work has been described as the crowning glory of his pre-1890 a cappella works.
Brahms is a familiar composer but this mass is a new work for director, singers and organist, and will surely be new to you as well, as it is rarely performed. The choir is also looking forward to tackling some a cappella Brahms, and this enthusiasm will surely translate into a positive audience response.
Like those of Brahms, the choral compositions of his contemporary Joseph Rheinberger contain remarkable music which is for the most part unknown to the average listener. The program includes one of his most famous choral pieces, Abendlied, which he composed as a youth and revised repeatedly prior to its publication when he was twenty-four. The text is verse 29 from the Gospel according to St Luke.
The ensemble first “met” this composer back in 2005 when they performed his mass, and are looking forward to experiencing and performing this new piece.
Musica Orbium strives to contribute culturally to the community, not only in bringing unusual and beautiful choral repertoire to the public, but also in providing enriching performance opportunities to local artists. This concert of romantic German works includes a rarely performed mass setting by Brahms, which represents a unique concert opportunity for an organ soloist. Musica Orbium is delighted to be working with Jonathan Oldengarm, a recent graduate of McGill University in Montreal and an emerging Quebec artist who is the subject of impressive critical acclaim.
“...I appreciated [Oldengarm's] perfect control of the instrument, the passion and fire in the rapid or virtuosic sections, the intimacy of the meditative passages; as he played..., the music seemed to flow into existence through his fingers.” Mixtures, Journal of the Quebec Federation of Organists
“[Oldengarm’s] ability to make romantic and seamless registration changes on this instrument was most admirable, and his impressive playing left listeners looking forward to future opportunities to hear him in recital.” Organ Canada
"Jonathan Oldengarm of Canada stood out for unalloyed musicality and stylish imagination." Irish Times
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