Texte paru dans: / Appeared in:
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This classically conceived and executed recital gives us a few of the usual suspects (the two Gabrielis and Monteverdi) but also several other prominent musicians associated with St Mark’s Basilica, including Claudio Merulo and Giovanni Croce. The London Oratory boys’ choir has a solid presence, with good balance and body. Giovanni Gabrieli’s well-known Jubilate Deo is an ideal opener, nicely delineated; his Beata es virgo Maria skilfully alternates different moods and makes the point that the boy trebles seem more comfortable in extrovert mode. Bassano’s Dic nobis, Maria, with its jaunty refrain, shows the contrast even more clearly: when the mood turns contemplative, tuning and ensemble are less secure (especially the trebles’ high notes – a recurrent niggle) and the ending loses focus.
That the choir can sustain a devotional tone is clear from Finetti’s intimate O crux ave, spes unica (a particular highlight) and the ending of Croce’s In spiritu humilitatis, whose slow-burn suspensions have plenty of pathos. But one often misses the requisite urgency and forward drive in this repertoire – try the point of imitation at ‘quia per sanguinem tuum preciosum’ of Monteverdi’s Adoramus te, Christe (that said, the crescendo at the end of the phrase and the concluding ‘Miserere’ are powerfully shaped and contrasted). Might slightly faster tempos have helped shape the music more decisively and move the trebles more fluently through the phrases in the devotional pieces? Croce’s Buccinate in neomenia, which ends the recital, reinforces the impression that the choir is at its best with more animated material.
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