The awe came not just from the feted musicianship of Richard Tognetti and his\u00a0band, but also from listening to the world-renowned Estonian Philharmonic\u00a0Chamber Choir in their second collaboration with the orchestra after a 20-year
\nhiatus.
\nThe inspiration was the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the world\u2019s most\u00a0performed living composer Arvo Part, who has written several pieces for his\u00a0compatriots making the EPCC the last word in interpreting his works.
\nThe Part element of the program covered works choral and instrumental from\u00a0different eras of the composer\u2019s life. The Toccata from Collage based on the notes\u00a0BACH was written in his experimental atonal phase when Estonia was still under
\nSoviet domination, while Summa is an early example of his famed\u00a0\u201ctintinnabulation\u201d style, along with the Berlin Mass thatthe evening.\u00a0Bach was represented by four of his motets, including the wonderful Komm, Jesu,\u00a0komm and Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, which featured solo spots for several\u00a0of the choristers.
\nThe program was rounded out by Peter Sculthorpe\u2019s Djilile, or \u201cwhistling-duck on a\u00a0billabong\u201d, based on an Aboriginal chant, and another EPCC showcase in Ukrainian\u00a0composer Galina Grigorjeva\u2019s In Paradisum.<\/p>\n
POWERFUL
\nThe first thing that strikes you about the EPCC is the blending of timbres, seamless\u00a0control of dynamics and how the choir breathes as one.\u00a0This was beautifully illustrated in the opening work, Part\u2019s Da pacem Domine, his\u00a0achingly beautiful and powerful memorial to the victims of the 2004 Madrid\u00a0terrorist train bombings. Hilliard Ensemble founder and former EPCC conductor\u00a0Paul Hillier describes the work as carefully placed stones in a Zen garden and it gave\u00a0the listener the chance to hear the individual beauty of each of the 25 voices as well\u00a0as the peerless sound of the ensemble.
\nTognetti conducted the program with characteristic attention to detail and there\u00a0was a feeling of joy and celebration in all he and the musicians around him brought\u00a0to the evening.
\nThe concert is repeated at City Recital Hall Angel Place on Tuesday, February 5, at\u00a08pm and at 7pm on Wednesday, February 6. I strongly recommend you try to get\u00a0there \u2014 you won\u2019t hear singing and playing like this for a long time to come.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The awe came not just from the feted musicianship of Richard Tognetti and his\u00a0band, but also from listening to the world-renowned Estonian Philharmonic\u00a0Chamber Choir in their second collaboration with the orchestra after a 20-year hiatus. The inspiration was the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the world\u2019s most\u00a0performed living composer Arvo Part, who has written […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n