The former Canberra Chamber Singers, renamed the Australian Chamber Singers, presented a very interesting and well sung performance of Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsaries for Holy Saturday as one of the Occasional Concerts at CCEGGS last Saturday night.
Prince Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa was one of the oddest characters of late 16th-century Italian music, born into the nobility but devoting all his life to writing a series of sacred and secular works.
These Responsaries were written for performance during Holy Week, and are reverential contrapuntal responses to the nine lessons of the service. During Saturday night's performance, the plainchant lessons were sung before each response, and as the Tenebrae service was traditionally held just before dawn, the dim lighting and candlelit stage provided a suitable ambience.
Gesualdo's approach to composition has contrapuntal freedom and an expressive word-painting, giving it a uniquely modern feeling. It is also a capella writing which provides a distinct challenge for the singers, but under the direction of conductor Dominic Harvey, the singing was assured and accurate, with the beauty of the music realised in a performance that was as arresting as it was pleasing.
Christ's betrayal and death is depicted in music of solemn but striking beauty, with the mournful mood of the first lessons gently lightened for the more affirmative though still regretful feeling of the final lessons.
This concert provided singing of a high quality as well as a rare opportunity to hear Gesualdo's musical genius.
From the Canberra Times Wednesday 4 June 1997
Page created 21 June 1997; last updated 25 April 2000