![\"Marais](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Marais-project-165x240.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2018Collusion\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n
The Marais Project:\u00a0<\/i>Jenny Eriksson with Susie Bishop, Emily-Rose \u0160\u00e1rkova and Eliska Sarka<\/i><\/p>\n
Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium<\/i><\/p>\n
24 August 2014.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a02014 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Marais Project and their director Jennifer Eriksson has adopted a theme of Re-imaginings<\/i> which she explains is \u2018taking the opportunity to re-imagine my instrument, the viola da gamba\u2019.\u00a0 The Collusion<\/i> concert was held in the intimate setting and attractive acoustic of the Recital Hall West at the Sydney Conservatorium.\u00a0 Eriksson was joined by a versatile trio of performers: Susie Bishop, Emily-Rose \u0160\u00e1rkova and Eliska Sarka. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The mediaeval mood was established by Sarka declaiming the text of the first musical item: O Virtus<\/i> Sapientiae<\/i> by Hildegard von Bingen.\u00a0 This was then beautifully sung by Bishop who sustained the subdued mood of this antiphon.\u00a0 Her clear, clean soprano is well suited to early music.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Eliska Sarka then vividly declaimed the Gloria<\/i> text from the Latin Mass and, as the concert proceeded, similarly delivered an English translation of the text for each vocal item before it was sung.\u00a0 This was a very effective way of establishing the mood for each new piece and conveying the text to the audience without needing to include it in the printing programme.\u00a0 Sarka\u2019s dramatic deliveries were extremely effective and one of the highlights of the concert.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Handel\u2019s recently rediscovered setting of the Gloria<\/i> was then sung by Susie Bishop with a reduced instrumental accompaniment.\u00a0 The work\u2019s two violin parts were played on the harpsichord by Emily-Rose \u0160\u00e1rkova while Jennifer Eriksson played the viola da gamba.\u00a0 The piece dates from Handel\u2019s early Italian period and was written for the virtuosos he encountered there.\u00a0 Its elaborate coloratura is very challenging and it also requires great dexterity from the instrumental forces.\u00a0 The performers rose valiantly to the task but the challenges were only partly conquered, particularly in the fast concluding Cum Sancto Spiritu<\/i> section.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jennifer Eriksson had promised a varied programme and the mood changed abruptly with \u0160\u00e1rkova\u2019s arrangements of four Marais pieces for piano accordion and viola da gamba.\u00a0 In a brief introduction \u0160\u00e1rkova explained that she was influenced by music from the Balkans and it was fascinating to hear how pieces written by Marais for viola da gamba could sound as though they originated from the far eastern side of Europe.\u00a0 Eriksson and \u0160\u00e1rkova frequently employed a characteristic Slavonic rubato so that the French origins of the music were almost unrecognisable.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Three songs by Joaquin Rodrigo followed.\u00a0 These were well sung by Susie Bishop and sensitively accompanied by Emily-Rose \u0160\u00e1rkova, this time on the piano, and with Jennifer Eriksson introducing her new electric viola da gamba.\u00a0 This is a curious beast, with a recognisably gamba-like sound, though with a discreet electronic amplification.\u00a0 But perhaps it is best reserved just as a curious novelty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The most recent work on the programme was a song written by Cliff Kerr especially for these performers.\u00a0 This was a witty setting of the poem May I feel?<\/i> by e.e. cummings.\u00a0 It received a spirited delivery but cummings\u2019s witty text was not always audible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The final scheduled item reverted to the core period of the viola da gamba with Monteverdi\u2019s duet Chiome d\u2019oro<\/i> sung by both Bishop and \u0160\u00e1rkova.\u00a0 This was another energetic performance in which \u0160\u00e1rkova also accompanied on the piano accordion while Eriksson played the gamba.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0As an encore, the concert concluded with a high-spirited rendition of Time Warp<\/i> from the Rocky Horror Show<\/i> enlisting all four performers together for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0As promised, it had been an inventive and enjoyable concert which expanded the styles of music in which the viola da gamba can be included.\u00a0 It communicated a sense of fun in music-making though perhaps not always achieving the highest levels of technical perfection.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Another innovative concert by the Marais Project will again be held at the Sydney Conservatorium on 26 October.<\/p>\n
Larry Turner for SoundsLikeSydney\u00a9<\/em><\/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 SoundsLikeSydney accepts no fee for its reviews.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Collusion\u2019 The Marais Project:\u00a0Jenny Eriksson with Susie Bishop, Emily-Rose \u0160\u00e1rkova and Eliska Sarka Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium 24 August 2014. \u00a02014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"sls_format":[],"class_list":["post-17037","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