Innovation is a key note of this elevated early music concert and inspired musicological project from the Apollo Ensemble.
The cantatas and dramatic psalm settings, as well as instrumental works, are taken from the library at Amsterdam’s Portuguese synagogue, in either complete or fragmented form. Where needed, featured works are embellished and missing sections recreated. Some parts of the programme borrow from synagogue music in Italy.
This mammoth project covers diverse social, musical and religious backgrounds. Baroque performance practice is adhered to in both fine accompaniment and vocal structuring. Baroque settings of Hebrew and Italian texts are fresh and significant fare for this – and any – concert of liturgical music.
As well as the historical items programmed, the Apollo Ensemble also documents in a timely way how music is routinely used by cultures fleeing religious persecution in their homeland; in this case it was Jewish immigrants from Spain and Portugal seeking refuge in the more tolerant Amsterdam.
Vocalists perform from various angles and elevations in the synagogue, with varying success regarding balance above the instrumental forces. However, the vocal delivery is always of a very high standard.
Countertenor Maarten Engeltjes is stunning in his first work, the sprawling Salmo XXI. The drama of Marcello’s setting of the Italian text is commandingly and colourfully performed. Engeltjes’s expressive voice thrills the audience.
Despite being the most distantly staged from a high point beyond the ensemble, Soprano Siri Karoline Thornhill maintains clarity in her well-directed vocal lines. Her embellishments are enjoyably delivered. Repeats and climaxes are excitingly rendered. She is a good advertisement for the joy to be found in the ‘Esnoga’ musical legacy.
Julia Fredersdorff contributes even more variety to the night with an early Baroque celebration of the violin, from the opus of Uccellini. It is poised, virtuosic and recreates for us the potential of the instrument as written by a composer connected with the ‘Esnoga’ synagogue.
Rating: Four stars out of five
Apollo Ensemble
Director: David Rabinovich
Soprano: Siri Karoline Thornhill
Countertenor: Maarten Engeltjes
The Great Synagogue, Elizabeth St
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2014/Music/Apollo-Ensemble/
14-15 January
