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AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
Penderecki, Zieleński, Górecki:
Olga Pasichayk (soprano), Sofia Soloviy (soprano),
Ewa Wolak (mezzo), Jorma Silvasti (tenor), Reinhard
Hagen (bass), Boris Carmeli (speaker), Munich
Philharmonic Choir, Munich Philharmonic, Krystof
Penderecki, Munich 11.11.2008 (JFL)
Zieleński:
Magnificat
Gorecki:
Amen op.34
Penderecki:
Cherubinischer Lobgesang, Seven Gates of Jerusalem
Flanked by substantial choral forces to the left and
right above the stage and another 33 singes in front
of him, Krystof Penderecki took the stage at the
Philharmonic Hall of the Gasteig to the new sounds of
Mikłai Zieleńsky, a Polish Renaissance composer born
somewhere around 1550 who probably died some time
after 1615, in a place also unknown. We only know
that he existed at all, because he left an
Offertorium (published in Venice in 1611), from which
the 8 minute Magnificat, that Penderecki
presented, was culled.
Renaissance polyphony is a kind of music so rarely
heard outside special-interest early music concerts
that is a real tonic to ears otherwise offered
orchestral fare from no earlier than the late
classical period. The waiflike beauty of the music,
and the full surround sound of the three choirs, far
outweighed the occasionally forced, squeaky tones
that some of the Philharmonic Chorus’ sopranos
emitted. Something that was true in equal measure for
the borderline new-age, pretty and simplistic, “Amen”
op.34 of Gorecki, circling through the fifths on one
word.
With three choirs, brass chorales from the wings, the
lowest strings, and a large gong, the Seven Gates of
Jerusalem open overwhelmingly: a combination of brute
force, movie-music, religiosity, severity, and a dash
of Aida. As would be a secret to no one who
has witnessed the curious powers of musical coercion
by works like Mahler’s 8th, Harvegal
Brian’s “Gothic”, or a handful of Shostakovich
symphonies (the 11th, for example), sheer
power works. And it works here, too, organized around
seven movements and dominant seven-note themes.
The Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum makes use of two
“Tubaphones”, a Penderecki development based on an
New Zealand aborigines’ instrument that now looks
like toppled anti-aircraft guns ready to massacre the
first three rows of listeners with one salvo each.
Several very long plastic tubes are played with
felt-covered fly swatters – the result being ½ whack
the mole, ½ Blue Man Group accessory. The six
soloists are musical also-rans when compared to the
importance of the choir, and while the latter just
needed to be able to sing properly, and loudly,
without sounding ugly (which they achieved), the
singers distinguished themselves a bit more, most
notably so the Finnish tenor Jorma Silvasti.
Jens F. Laurson