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Beautiful singing throughout in ‘Stabat Mater’

Ad Hoc Baroque at St Paul’s.

Music / Ad Hoc Baroque, “Stabat Mater V”, St Paul’s Anglican Church, Manuka, March 28. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD

THIS concert was originally planned for a year ago to mark the ensemble’s fourth anniversary.

That, of course, did not happen for all the obvious reasons, so it has marked the fifth year of their performances.

For this concert, Ad Hoc Baroque consisted of soprano Greta Claringbould, alto Maartje Sevenster, Barbara Jane Gilby and Pip Thompson on violins, Lucy Carrigy-Ryan on viola, cellist Samuel Payne, bassist Kyle Daniel and led from the organ by Peter Young. These forces fitted the ensemble’s usual approach of one performer per written part for concert performances.

The concert was of two works, both with links to Palm Sunday and dating from the 1740s. The first work was the cantata “Ihr Gerechten, Freuet Euch des Herrn” TWV1:901 by Telemann. This is one of many cantatas Telemann wrote, settings of religious texts in a structural format of seven short sections.

The second was JS Bach’s “Tilge, Höchster, Mein Sünden”, BWV 1083, a setting of Psalm 51 and based on the well-known “Stabat Mater” by Pergolesi. According to Peter Young’s introduction to the concert, it was quite common for 18th century composers to rearrange another composer’s music for local available musical forces. Such an approach these days would surely have solicitor’s letters going in every direction.

There is little to criticise in this performance. Greta Claringbould and Maartje Sevenster sang beautifully throughout. The five string players were well-balanced, with some especially tight work between the cello and bass. Young underlaid everything on a small electronic keyboard with a convincing baroque organ tone playing chords and fragments of melody where necessary, occasionally conducting with a spare hand to emphasise some detail of timing.

St Paul’s is an interesting space for musical performance. It’s larger than nearby Wesley Uniting Church and the extra size does seem to take away some of the clarity of the music.

The voices especially seemed a little blurry and indistinct, without the crystalline reverberation of larger churches. There was also the sound spill from the bells of St Christopher’s on the other side of Manuka as they fired up for evening mass. It was an unexpected addition to the music in the middle of the Telemann.

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