Music

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Camerata Nova takes audience on journey past all four horizons

By: Holly Harris

Posted: 04/4/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Camerata Nova took its loyal choral fans to all ends of the earth Sunday afternoon, as its second season offering Directions: A Day in the Life of Mother Earth explored the "meaning and magic" of the four directions.

The eclectic program included four sets of music inspired by traditional cultures' interpretation of east, north, west and south. Each section, in turn, began with an Anishinabe song performed by local Aboriginal singer/drummer Corey Campbell that underscored the program with sacred reverence.

Holding the concert in the Circle of Life Thunderbird House -- a CN concert first -- only added to the experience that began with a traditional smudge ceremony invoking gathering spirits.

Now in its 14th year, CN is known for innovative programming spearheaded by founding artistic director Andrew Balfour. This concert proved no different with the 14-voice ensemble led by Mel Braun shifting position throughout the two-hour show, facing the direction corresponding to each set. While playing havoc with sight lines -- not to mention diction -- this novel concept nevertheless showed the organization's care paid to creating a unique concert experience for its listeners.

The world premiere of Balfour's Omnia Sol Temperat (East) is a meditative reflection on worship of the sun, based on medieval text used in the Carmina Burana. The modal work displayed Balfour's ear for close harmonies with guest string quartet: Claudine St-Arnauld (violin); Rachel Moody (violin); Anne Elise Lavallée (viola); and Blair Burns (cello) seamlessly interwoven throughout while adding its own sonic texture.

Also from the east set, Minnesota-based composer Catherine Dalton's From the State of Emptiness evokes haunting Tibetan chant including otherworldly, whistling vocal overtones led by chorister Alan Schroeder.

Ave Maria (West) by New-Brunswick's James Fogarty is an arresting a cappella work that steadily grows in intensity as its melody derives from densely scored harmonies.

Minnesotan composer Abbie Betinis' Spell of the Elements (West) intrigued with its incorporation of spoken text, foot stomps, and extended vocal techniques creating naturalistic colours.

The program ended with Winnipeg-based musician Richard Moody's Maya (South) based on his own text and first performed by CN in 2008. Described as "a poetic, humorous look at the birth and death of the universe," Moody's re-scoring of the work for choir and string quartet unfolded as a lilting, melodic excursion to the cosmos before finally bringing this unusual concert full circle.

Directions

Camerata Nova

Circle of Life Thunderbird House

April 3 attendance: 280

four out of five stars

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 4, 2011 D3

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