Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields review: 17th century work an 'organisational nightmare' - and it showed

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Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields review: 17th century work an 'organisational nightmare' - and it showed

By Clive O'Connell
Updated

MUSIC
MISSA SALISBURGENSIS
★★★
Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festival, St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat, Sunday January 21

Winding up this annual 10-day event, Gary Ekkel​ conducted his own Newman College choir, that of Queens College and a welter of instrumentalists in Heinrich Biber's​ Missa Salisburgensis, a monumental work written in 1682 to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of the Archbishopric of Salzburg.

Gary Ekkel, left, with members of the Newman College choir.

Gary Ekkel, left, with members of the Newman College choir.Credit: Angela Wylie

Because of his cathedral's vast space, Biber opted for a lavish interplay of vocal and orchestral fabric inherited from Venice's St Mark's Basilica.

The Mass combined 53 lines, made up of two choirs of singers including 16 soloists, two groups of strings, two brass and timpani ensembles, a pair of organ and bass continuo bodies, and a unit of mixed woodwind and period brass – cornetti, sackbuts and clarini trumpets.

These combined forces sounded impressive when everybody was involved, like the initial apostrophes of the Kyrie. However when the texture was pared down, it sounded uneven and less persuasive. Not many of the soloists had enough volume to cope with just a mild accompaniment; some exposed strings lacked vitality and character; the brass were positioned at the back wall – fruitful at the big climaxes but lagging behind the beat in quieter moments.

The Mass and its pendant hymn Plaudite tympana is an organisational nightmare, made easier by sitting in a C Major tonality because of the brass's limitations. Despite Ekkel's efforts to keep the work mobile with faster speeds, the sheer weight of participants appeared to drag the pace back into a euphonious jog-trot after a few bursts of accelerated interest.

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