![\"PA\"](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/PA-184x240.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parsons Affayre<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
St James, King Street, Sydney<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
9 March 2014<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Miserere<\/i><\/b> \u2013 Music for Lent<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parsons Affayre was formed in 2009 as an elite choral group, normally with two singers per part and specialising in Renaissance polyphony. \u00a0Directed by Warren Trevelyan-Jones, a Lenten concert has become a regular feature of their calendar and the programme for this year\u2019s concert comprised baroque music by composers from Germany and Venice.\u00a0 Since some of this music was written for double choirs the choral forces had to be doubled.\u00a0 A characteristic of the Parsons Affayre programming has been their exploration of lesser-known repertoire and that continued in this Lenten concert with two Australian premiere performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first half of the concert consisted of the Miserere in D minor<\/i> (ZWV 56) by Jan Dismas Zelenka who was working at the Dresden Hofkirche when it was written.\u00a0 Born in Bohemia, Zelenka spent most of his life north of the Alps, but he probably visited Venice and seems to have been strongly influenced by Venetian musical styles.\u00a0 This Miserere<\/i> is an amalgam of Germanic solidity and characteristically Venetian polychoral sonorities.\u00a0 It may also owe something to the music of Heinrich Sch\u00fctz who had previously worked at Dresden and was also influenced by Venetian music.\u00a0 The Miserere<\/i> has only recently been revived and this performance was one of the first in modern times and the first in Australia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The augmented choir made a splendid sound in the rich acoustic of St James with 17 individually strong voices with a notably robust tenor section.\u00a0 Their well blended singing was accurate, disciplined and well balanced.\u00a0 The initial sonic impact was enhanced by the rich sound of the instrumental group of 16 whose string and sackbut players used period instruments while the oboes and bassoon were modern.\u00a0 The strong toned sackbuts dominated the musical texture in the Zelenka and in the resonant acoustic of St James often seemed relentlessly loud and somewhat unvaried.\u00a0 There were times when a greater degree of tonal and dynamic variety would have been welcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second half of the programme started with the first Australian performance of the complete Credo in G minor<\/i> by Antonio Lotti, who was born in northern Germany but spent most of his life in Venice.\u00a0 The work is written for two choirs in the typical Venetian manner and displays more variety of texture and dynamics than the Zelenka Miserere<\/i>.\u00a0 The choir gave a splendid performance, especially of the crunching dissonances in the Crucifixus<\/i> movement which is sometimes sung on its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The concert continued with Bach\u2019s cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden<\/i> (BWV 4) which gave the soloists greater exposure.\u00a0 Throughout the concert the soloists were drawn from the choir and again demonstrated what a fine body of singers Trevelyan-Jones has assembled. \u00a0Soprano Kim Dover produces a beautifully pure and clear, resonant sound, particularly at the top of her range.\u00a0 Her decorated singing of the Gloria Patri<\/i> in the Vivaldi at the end of the concert was delightful. \u00a0Alto Jenny Duck-Chong sang with a warm sound that blended well with the other soloists, especially with Natalie Shea in their brief duet in the Lotti. \u00a0Tenor Andrei Laptev\u2019s voice was strongly projected and he provided some fine florid singing in the Zelinka. \u00a0Bass Nick Gilbert blended well in the ensembles and bass Simon Turnill, who sang only in the Bach, produced sensitive phrasing and a very attractive tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The published programme ended with Vivaldi\u2019s Domine ad adiuvandum me festina<\/i> for two antiphonally placed choirs and orchestras.\u00a0 Here the two divided choirs reaffirmed their strengths even with half their numbers.\u00a0 The instrumentalists were also divided and since there was only one cello and one double bass they went respectively to the first and second orchestras.\u00a0 This was a nice touch because the greater sonority of the double bass in the second orchestra helped to subtly differentiate the sound of the two orchestras.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As an encore the combined forces performed another (much shorter) Miserere<\/i> by Zelenka.\u00a0 This was in the same style as the opening work on the programme and ended the concert in a suitably rousing manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the evening Warren Trevelyan-Jones was fully in control of his forces and gave clear directions which maintained unanimity of purpose.\u00a0 The orchestra provided strong and reliable support throughout the programme and special mention should be made of some sensitive solo cello playing by Noeleen Wright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Easter is a musically productive time of the year and this Lenten concert once again demonstrated the high level of music-making that regularly emerges from St James’ King Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Warren Trevelyan-Jones will be directing the Choir and Orchestra of St James’ in a programme of music by Bach and Handel at the church on Saturday 22 March.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Larry Turner for SoundsLikeSydney\u00a9<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n Larry Turner has been singing in choirs for many years \u2013 both in Sydney and London.\u00a0 He is an avid attender of operas and concerts, with an emphasis on vocal music.\u00a0 He particularly enjoys music from both the great a capella period and the baroque \u2013 especially the lesser-known works of Bach and Handel.\u00a0 He has written programme notes for Sydney Philharmonia, the Intervarsity Choral Festival and the Sydneian Bach Choir and is currently part of a team researching the history of Sydney Philharmonia for its forthcoming centenary.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 The Parsons Affayre St James, King Street, Sydney 9 March 2014 Miserere \u2013 Music for Lent\u00a0 The Parsons Affayre was formed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"sls_format":[],"class_list":["post-15706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"acf":{"deck":"","is_featured":false,"media_type":"standard","audio_embed":"","video_url":""},"yoast_head":"\n