Ludus Modalis in concert
Monday, August 9, 2010 8 pm
Christ Church Cathedral
I don’t quite know what I was expecting when I sat down to listen to the MusicFest Vancouver 2010 concert, but the fact that I’m sitting down to write about it several hours later is testament to the fact that this performance by Ludus Modalis unsettled me.
According to the concert programme: ”Ludus Modalis means The Mode Game, and is a professional ensemble of 5 to 12 singers. It has devoted itself principally to restoring the sound palette of sacred and secular polyphonic repertoire of the Renaissance and pre-Baroque. The group tries to create a unique sound by concentrating on aspects of performance practice that are sometimes neglected, such as pronunciation, and intonation governed by the use of different modes, temperament, and a search for variety in vocal sonority, and – above all – a scrupulous respect for the original sources, reinforced by collaboration with musicologists.”
While the group has performed at several European festivals, this is their first visit to Vancouver, and tonight’s concert was the second of two performances for MusicFest Vancouver.
The programming consisted of works by Jan-Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Paschal de l’Estocart, Alfonso Ferrabosco, Guillaume Costelley, Claude Le Jeaune, and Paschal de l’Estocart. It seemed as if a particularly dusty chapter of Grout’s A History of Western Music had suddenly sprung to life in front of us.
This version of Ludul Modalis featured two sopranos, an alto, two tenors, and a bass. (You can watch a clip of them on YouTube here.) One has to note that the two tenors sang most of the concert in their upper registers and almost entirely without vibrato – no mean feat! The overall singing was splendid.
So why am I sitting here unsettled?
I heard unusual and technically demanding repertoire sung beautifully. That’s what a good choral concert is, right?
Well, actually, no.
While the music was beautiful, technically very difficult and unusual, it was also all very much the same. Indeed, most of it had almost the same tactus, or beat. The ensemble exhibited no interest in exploring choral dynamics, singing everything at a mezzo-forte or louder – a shame, really, when the Cathedral can and does support soft singing very well.
Add in the presentation of the programme, with both halves of the concert being given without interruption, and the audience being warned by an admonishing hand not to applaud at an inopportune time (between songs but within a set as determined by the conductor and tenor, Bruno Boterf) and a complete lack of connection between the singers and the audience, and it all became too much an academic exercise.
Choral music is the most visceral of music – it can’t get anymore personal that the voice – and the voice is about communicating. If you reread that verbatim quote from the ensemble’s printed programme that I began this post with, perhaps you’ll notice what’s missing: “Passion, interest, communication.” Make us, your audience, understand why we should care about something you’ve obviously spent hours being excited about. For that matter, this particular audience was full of choral singers! Make us want to SING it!
When you as an artist decide to only allow applause at certain times in a concert, then you’d better be very gracious upon the receipt of said applause. Smile widely and accept it. This ensemble wasn’t. Ludus Modalis rushed it, barely smiled (the women did better than the tenors, and the bass, who mailed in a note perfect and perfectly bored performance, didn’t smile once) then got back to the business of “serious music,” and always with the admonishing upraised hand between selections, lest anyone dare show they may have enjoyed themselves too much.
Frankly, I would have had a better time at home listening to a CD.
(If I had the CD I’d have the track that featured the 3 women singing unison verses in L’homme et son coeur by Gullaume Costelley on repeat. They were ravishing in it. The fact that I don’t have the CD is indicative of how unmoved I was by the overall concert.
A choir visiting Vancouver, the choral hot-bed of Canada, cannot afford to arrive and basically ignore their audience for most of their show, then turn on a bit of charm at the end to mention the availability of CDs. In a city that features groups like Chor Leoni Men’s Choir, Elektra Women’s Choir, musica intima vocal ensemble, and many more, all of which know how to draw an audience into a performance, a beautifully sung academic treatise just doesn’t cut it. It didn’t work, people, and I’m proud that only a few people jumped to their feet for a very anemic standing ovation.
And that’s why I’m unsettled.
