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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > October > 24 > Entry
Review: Ensemble VIII
James Morrow’s Ensemble VIII is probably the most specialized arts ensemble in Austin — aside from the Bach Cantata Project, another of Morrow’s groups.
Last Friday’s concert at St. Louis Catholic Church on Burnet Road was their first of the season (last season consisted of a single preview concert of sorts). Yet they’ve already found a following in the cross-section of lovers of choirs and lovers of sacred music.
Eight singers, including Morrow himself, sing pieces from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, building on a strong base for early music here in Austin.
It’s a niche that’s much smaller than most groups would agree to. Unlike the Texas Early Music Project (TEMP), which dedicates itself to both instrumental and choral music of a similar period, Ensemble VIII sings with neither lutes or flutes, though that may change.
Not that they’ll run out of a capella music anytime soon. As TEMP has long known, and Conspirare showed at its weekend festival of Renaissance and Baroque music last January, it’s like a theatre group restricting itself to plays from the Greeks through Shakespeare — there is a ton of beautiful work, almost none of it well known.
On Friday, it was the music of Renaissance Spain, with Victoria (1548-1611) and Morales (1500-1553).
Morales’ work was the evening’s find, with dense, swirling voices that circle each other. To modern ears it recalls Bach, and following the harmony and melody patterns as they trade from one singer to the next, is a brain workout.
This is the kind of music that appears in murder mysteries at the climactic death scene.
The singing was crisp, resonant and cohesive. The ensemble were like a small orchestra of voices.
Especially stunning was the work written expressly for all eight voices. It goes full-tilt, each unique part flows gorgeously in and out of the whole.
The first half was lively and moving, with short, often brilliant works. In the second half, we heard Victoria’s requiem, “Officium Defunctorum,” a slower moving event.
The more sombre Victoria is a cause for meditation. It’s a long and beautiful work that probably asked a little too much of the audience for a Friday night concert.
And again, one must ask whether it remains necessary to force the audience to crane their necks with seats perpendicular to the singers. If it is some issue of historical accuracy, let us hope for a renaissance of comfortable seating.
Luke Quinton is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Comments
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By Gena Tabery
October 24, 2011 7:49 PM | Link to this
We are delighted that Luke liked the concert as much as we did. We are under the impression that St. Louis Cathedral Chapel does not want us to move their chairs. We will revisit this issue and see whether we can accommodate our audience. Thanks for caring!
Gena Tabery, President of the Board, Ensemble VIII