Transcending Religion
A nice Jewish boy finds the Virgin Mary heavenly — in the capable, music-lovingvoices of Houston Chamber Choir
The works performed spanned 500 years of history and music, includingcompositions for two and three choirs.Photo by Jeff Grass
The Virgin Mary was the inspiration of Houston Chamber Choir's season openingconcert.Photo by Jeff Grass
The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was the setting, packed full with HoustonChamber Choir fans.Photo by Jeff Grass
What does a Jew, like me, know about music inspired by and dedicated to the Virgin Mary? Aside from making myself believe that I was immaculately conceived (for sanity's sake, as I can't imagine my parentals in the act) and growing up in an environment where my mom treated me like the son of God, it turns out there isn't a need to be familiar with liturgy or be scared of sacred arts to be transported by the heavenly allure of music.
If Irving Berlin could write White Christmas, I could learn about "Our Lady." So when the Houston Chamber Choir offered the chance to be schooled about Mother Mary musically — and historically — I wasn't about to miss the opportunity.
There's a subculture of choir-loving concertgoers that packs every venue the Houston Chamber Choir dignifies with its euphonic presence. Such was the atmosphere at the ensemble's season opener, titled "Ave Maria: Music of Devotion to Our Lady," at the sleek-and-chic Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where baroque drama meets clean minimalism. On the bill was an ambitious compilation of music spanning 500 or so years of fascination with, and adoration of, the culture's ultimate matriarch.
It's evident. They love making music, and they love making music together. That's contagious.
It's not so common to see professional musicians genuinely loving what they are doing. Beaming between stage changes, the choir's performance was nothing short of divine, with superhuman pitch accuracy, clear diction and angelic musical phrases that resonated and echoed endlessly in the cathedral's abyss.
It's evident. They love making music, and they love making music together. That's contagious.
Playing with antiphonal configurations — the ensemble was sometimes split between the upper back choir stalls and the front sanctuary — and dividing themselves into two and sometimes three separate choirs, an otherwise homogenous musical genre delivered a colorful and texture-rich performance. Plainchants, Marian antiphons and other early music selections — including works by Tomas Luis de Victoria, Felice Anerio and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — were executed with sensitive and humbling shapes, rising and falling with organic forward motion.
Rich and thick sonorities were the highlight in Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat and John Taverner’s Song to the Mother of God, with dissonances and close harmonies yielding vibrations that crawled up your bones. Vocal solos via sopranos Kelli Shircliffe and Lisa Borik, tenor Jeffrey Ragsdale and bass Jeffrey Van Hal deepened the program's intimacy, which was also sprinkled with organ works at the hands (and feet) of Bruce Power.
On my not-to-miss concert list is Houston Chamber Choir's Psalmi ad Vesperas (1694) featuring the music of Giovanni Paolo Colonna which is set for Saturday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Philip Presbyterian Church. Concertgoers heard a preview of Colonna's music at last year's season finale performance with commentary by renowned Colonna scholar Anne Schnoebelen, the Mullen Professor Emerita of Musicology at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. I plan to talk to her further, so be on the lookout for an interview on CultureMap.
At the end of the concert, I felt inspired to call my own mother to tell her that I loved her. There's a Mary figure in every culture and religion. There's a Mary in everyone's life.
