OBSERVER: Journeys


The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus celebrated its 60th anniversary in a splendid concert honouring Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), a great Spanish composer, in the Iwaki Auditorium.
Conductor, Warren Trevelyan-Jones skilfully led the singers in Missa pro Victoria, (Victoria), Versa est in luctum, (Joe Twist), O quam gloriosum (Victoria) and To the Field of Stars (Gabriel Jackson).
Missa pro Victoria demonstrated glorious harmony. A monastic quality persisted, the first movement ending jubilantly with ‘gloria de patris amen’. Each part took its turn – a vivid conversation between male and female parts, gorgeous voices swelling and hushing melodiously.
Joe Twist’s short composition, Versa est in luctum (My harp is turned to grieving), was discordant and moody, the lament written in 2011 as a tribute to Victoria’s death. The unaccompanied motet, taking its text from Job was intensely moving.
O quam gloriosum by Victoria was triumphant, the first line of the Latin translation reading: ‘Oh how glorious is the kingdom in which all the saints rejoice with Christ!’
Jackson’s extraordinary To the Field of the Stars was commissioned and performed by the MSO in 2011 to honour the 400th anniversary of Victoria’s death.
It was inspired by the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St James. Nearly 40 minutes of singing by the MSO choir included superb solos by Michele de Courcy and Natasha Lambie and narration by tenor, James Dipnall.
Ariel Volovelsky on cello, John Arcaro and Robert Cossom on percussion and Timothy Mallis on chamber organ provided wonderful accompaniment.
Bells led the singers joyfully while the cello was a melancholy contrast. The seven movements in Latin and English included a prayer for travelling and words from John Adams (American President, 1735-1826) Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, amongst others.
Gabriel Jackson said that though his composition illustrates the pilgrimage to Santiago, the journey was more about ‘the physical, emotional and psychological struggle’ to reach one’s goals.
For this reviewer, the concert provided a truly rewarding journey.
Review by Juliet Charles