Hear the Passion

FOR CENTURIES composers have pulled out all the stops when it comes to music for the Lenten season. Nowadays we seem to have got it into our secular heads that Lent is about "giving things up", and maybe shedding a bit of body mass in the process; but the great choral works of the Christian tradition have always offered a more subtle, nuanced approach to this season of self-examination, writes ARMINTA WALLACE

At the heart of this music is a morality which is neither partisan nor – odd as this may sound – the unique preserve of religion. Compassion, the possibility of growth and the need to set past wrongs to right are the central concerns of Bach's St Matthew Passion, which will be performed at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin on March 21st. Meanwhile, brand-new choral works by the Irish composers Eric Sweeney and Seóirse Bodley, which will also be unveiled in Waterford, Dublin and Galway over the next seven days, tackle two of the thorniest topics in contemporary ethical life – our treatment of children, and our relationship with the planet.

The St Matthew Passion, a setting of two chapters of Matthew's Gospel, is noted for its almost reckless marshalling of musical forces: three choirs, two orchestras and half a dozen soloists. The commissioning of new work, meanwhile, is by its nature a leap in the dark for both composer and performer. Both of the choral directors involved, however – the Palestrina Choir's Blánaid Murphy, and the director of the Lassus Scholars, Ite O'Donovan – are confident that they're doing the right, even if very different, musical thing.

"The St Matthew Passionwas written in a kind of sweep of sound," says Murphy. "And it has everything. It has arias; it has recitative; it has dramatic interaction and intimate chorales. Bearing in mind that Bach wouldn't be known for writing opera, it's extremely effective as a drama, in its use of emotional tension and release. The opening chorus really is one of the great choral pieces in the repertoire. The two choirs are already wonderful enough – but then you get the children's chorus soaring into that beautiful, innocent text about the Lamb of God being slaughtered and so on."

"Both of the new pieces address the concerns that people have in contemporary life," says O'Donovan. "Seóirse Bodley's Massis dedicated to the memory of children who have suffered. In Hymn to Gaia, Eric Sweeney is trying to look at the importance of looking after the environment. That's his big thing, and his piece is almost a wake-up call for us to look after the beauties of the created world. He uses texts from all world religions, and from poets such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and Walt Whitman.

“It’s probably unique in that it uses the framework of a Christian Mass – yet with all these extraordinary texts put in.”

Sweeney opens with a Native American prayer, followed by the traditional Kyrie, followed by a beautiful piece from the Qur’an: “Truly in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of the night and day, are signs for those of heart.”

Children’s choirs play crucial roles in both projects. Murphy explains that the reason she decided on the Bach for this year is that, for the first time, she has all the forces she needs at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral: the boys of the Palestrina Choir, a chamber choir in the shape of the Dublin Bach Singers and the new cathedral girls’ choir. “They’ve never done anything like this,” she says of the latter.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity, but also a lot of work; it brings them to a new level straight away.”

It offers the youngsters the chance to work with accomplished soloists such as the tenor John Elwes, who will be singing the role of the Evangelist. “He’s world class,” says Murphy. “He can set up the tempi to perfection – and also, he can bring an audience almost to tears, going towards Jesus’s death, just by the subtle tuning of semitones.”

For O’Donovan, the challenges presented by the new works will stretch the young singers of Piccolo Lasso to the utmost. “Eric Sweeney tends to write very rhythmic music with lots of semi-quaver motifs and continuous repetitive figures in the organ part, so once you get the tempo sorted it works very well.

“Seóirse Bodley is in a totally different sound world – it’s more of a legato line with long phrases and the breathing and all that. It’s very different, and, I have to say, quite difficult.

“But the children are coping very well. They don’t stop and think, ‘Oh my God, that’s a diminished octave – how do I sing that?’ They just sing.”

Bringing a new piece of music to life for the first time is something of a roller-coaster ride, says O’Donovan. The exciting bits range from getting a score in the post – one instalment at a time, like a thriller – to a composer turning up in person at rehearsals. “It’s very interesting to try to resolve the tension between what the composer wants, and what I, as choral director, might think,” she says. “It’s actually quite nice to be called up and have someone say, ‘Hey, Ite, you shouldn’t be doing it this way’.”

Both O'Donovan and Murphy stress that the emphasis in Lenten music is on healing and on growth. The point of the exercise is not to wallow in self-pity, but to find our way to joy. Thus, even as it criticises our failure to act as responsible custodians of the blue planet, Eric Sweeney's Hymn to Gaiacelebrates the wonders of the created universe and the diversity of human life.

In Bach’s Lutheran tradition, says Murphy, the idea that you have to pay for the sins of the past, and that the payment is ongoing, is central.

“You have this great story, which everyone knows so well – but suddenly Bach will stop and bring you to a deeper level, show you how the biblical text relates to us. With the arias and chorales he always shows us what we, today, are supposed to learn from what’s going on in the action.”

As for the terror of lifting the baton which will bring that massive opening chorus crashing like a wave of sound over the congregation, Murphy is sanguine.

Having done the St Matthew Passionthree times before, she knew what she was letting herself in for – and, besides, she volunteered.

“I think by the time you get to the actual performance, you have had so many choral rehearsals and orchestral rehearsals and combined rehearsals that you are actually just relieved that it’s finally going to happen,” she says.

Scores of concerts and choirs for Easter

WE CAN’T list them all, folks. There will be lots of special musical events around the country in the weeks leading up to Easter, especially in those churches noted for – let’s say – extraordinary choral activity. But here are a few of the most interesting.

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, an eyewitness account of the destruction of Jerusalem, is one of the most potent explorations of grief and loss in the Hebrew Bible.

Many composers have set the texts, including Palestrina and Thomas Tallis, and in a series of concerts the chamber choir Resurgam, conducted by Mark Duley, will present a selection of settings from the 16th century onwards.

Intriguingly, the choir will also present two versions of Allegri’s celebrated setting of Psalm 51, known as the Miserere. Written in the 1630s, the score was for centuries a closely guarded secret at the Vatican – until the boy Mozart memorised it on a single hearing, and wrote it out afterwards.

The version we know today has evolved to a startling degree from the original – so Resurgam will sing both at the Church of St Nicholas, Galway (March 30) and at St Nicholas of Myra, Francis St, Dublin (March 31), at 8pm. Tickets cost €20 and will be available at the door, or from the Central Ticket Bureau or Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway .

Last but not least, more Bach is on offer when the National Chamber Choir of Ireland and the Irish Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Paul Hillier, perform Bach’s Easter Cantatas – BWV 4, Christ Lag in Todesbanden, BWV 6, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden and BWV 131 Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir – at the Black Abbey, Kilkenny on March 25 at 8pm; at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on March 26 at 8pm and at the Parish Church of St George, Belfast on March 27 at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost €20 (Kilkenny), €25/ €20 (Dublin) and £18 (Belfast) and can be booked online at irishbaroqueorchestra.com

• Bach's St Matthew Passionwill be performed at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral on March 21. Part One is at 4.30pm, with Part Two at 8pm. Soloists are John Elwes (Evangelist), Jeffrey Ledwidge (Christus), Tristan Caldwell (Pilate), Roisin O'Grady (soprano), Alison Browner (alto), Eamon Mulhall (tenor) and John Owen Miley Read (bass). Tickets, €25, available from Centralticketbureau.com, the Pro-Cathedral Office or at the door