… a seemilngly effortless choral masterpiece … an exercise in precision and perfection
Australian Chamber Choir: Ludwig Van We Missed Your Birthday!
by Sue Hinchey
A freelance writer who loves photographing the beauty of nature, travelling, writing, swimming, and singing
Event: 21/03/2021
It’s a birthday bash and you’re invited
On Sunday 21 March 2021, The Australian Chamber Choir held a belated birthday bash to honour the late Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most famous composers of all time. 2020 would have been his 250th birthday and concerts were planned around the world. Sadly, due to COVID-19, live performances were cancelled and online performances would have to suffice.
Last Sunday’s concert was the ACC’s first live-audience concert since March 2020. With COVID-safe practices in place, the ACC chose the beautiful and intimate Our Lady of Mount Carmel church in Middle Park, Melbourne. You could almost believe it was built especially for chamber choir singing, blessed with high ceilings and cathedral acoustics, the ensemble of voices – four male and four female – blend and rise, ricochet and reverberate around the space as gentle as angel’s wings.
The ACC is one of Australia’s great cultural assets and the singers’ pleasure in, once again being able to perform in public is evident during this celebratory concert. Choosing pieces to honour the composer’s great love of the ethereal, their smooth ascensions and perfect transitions result in a seemingly effortless choral masterpiece. Stand-out pieces for me were Beethoven’s ‘Song of the Monks’, Elegy Song Op.118, Bach’s ‘An Wasserflussen Babylon’, and an Encore of ‘Ode to Joy’ from the Ninth Symphony. It can’t have been easy practicing in a foreign language on top of practicing in isolation. However, with no instrumental accompaniment or microphones, the ACC’s 8 delivery and timing was an exercise in precision and perfection.
Douglas Lawrence, the ACC’s artistic director, was recognised in 2020 with the Member of the Order of Australia for services to music. Still, today he continues to tour both nationally and internationally working with ensembles of varying sizes. “The most important aspect of our year is how well we sing.” Choirs, historically, minister to the needs of those who come, with music to worship, and to those who worship music. It’s comforting to know that wherever people are – at home in isolation or some beautiful church setting – people like Douglas and his team at ACC still keep making music.