KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

John Tavener’s music has gone from Stravinsky-light to overtly Orthodox to an amalgam of religious and non-Western tropes. Throughout these periods, he has maintained clarity in musical and emotional expression of which 2003’s Lament for Jerusalem is a prime example. Setting various texts (Christian Matthew, Judiac Psalms, and Islamic Masnavi) with the strictest adherence to formal construction, Tavener composed an evocative and moving work that does justice to the texts and religions involved.

Cast in seven stanzas, each followed the same pattern of movements (chorus—countertenor solo—soprano solo—chorus).  These movements shared the same musical material with slight alterations across each stanza.  For instance, the countertenor solos were accompanied by a flute/alto flute duet with strings after an achingly gorgeous tintinnabuli introduction by oboe/flute/violin trio; the soprano solo was doubled with flute; the final choruses ended with the phrase, “Éklafsen ep aftéen,” [He wept over her] repeated three times by a trio of singers. Over the course of an hour, the degree of predictability became an asset. When Tavener wanted to highlight a moment of text, he would ever so slightly alter the orchestration. With ears so attuned to the previous patterned occurrences, these variations were aural neon signs seemingly reading, “PAY ATTENTION NOW.”

Not only was the composition effectual, but Sunday afternoon’s performance at the cistern-level-reverberant Redemptorist Church by the combined choirs of Village Presbyterian Church and William Jewell College led by Matthew Christopher Shepard was equally strong. The choirs navigated Tavener’s omnipresent harmonic planing with grace, luxuriating in the boomy hall’s sound. Though they sang the same musical material throughout, like a Taizé service, the piece can become taxing. The first sopranos, whose lines were frequently in the stratosphere, could have benefitted from a few younger, more supple voices but nowhere in the combined choirs was there any indication of “church lady vibrato.” They were clean, they were precise, and they were wonderful. The orchestra was equally fine and well balanced. Harpist Katie Wychulis, oboist Meribeth Risebig and the flute duo of Adrienne Garstang and Judy Johnson were the orchestral stars, playing with supple, shimmering nuance. Their string compatriots were consummate team players. It is exhausting to play pedal tones for nearly an hour on end.  Brass and percussion added nobility and added punch to the more climatic passages without ever overpowering.

Soloists Sarah Tannehill Anderson and Jay Carter have never sounded better; not surprisingly since Carter was the countertenor soloist for the US premiere in Washington D.C. His text was from the Muslim poet Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi and spoke to Divine love. Stellar throughout, his shining moment came in the final stanza when the flutes dropped out to leave him soloing above a string pedal on the text, “Now listen to this tale / it is the very marrow of our souls / the very marrow of our souls.” Tannehill’s effortless soprano soared through each of her movements but it was her penultimate stanza that was most affective. On the text, “Clash thine infants against the rock,” she went into a resonant chest voice, adding microtonal inflections and portamendi. With these Middle Eastern affectations, her singing became marvelously otherworldly and beautifully creepy.

Appropriately , the program asked for silent reflection, instead of applause, at the end of the work.  As I sat there in silence, I reflected on this hour-long musical journey and came away feeling renewed and fulfilled.

REVIEW:
Greater Kansas City Festival of Faiths
Village Church Endowment Trust
Lament for Jerusalem
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Village Presbyterian Church
67^th and Mission, Prairie Village, KS

Sunday, October 30, 2011 (Reviewed)
Our Lady of Perpetual Help—Redemptorist Catholic Church
3333 Broadway St., Kansas City, MO

For more information, visit http://www.festivaloffaithskc.org

Top Photo: John Tavener

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com