If Johaan Sebastian Bach was listening in to Gregory Vancil play his magnificent “Prelude in A Minor” as the opening of the Evening of Lenten Music at St. Mark's Cathedral recently, his heart would have swelled with pride. The church organ with its awe-inspiring booming tone, and Vancil's amazing pedal work, set the reverent ambience for the evening's chorale programme.
The selection of music for the evening, was very carefully planned by the young conductor Preetam Koilpillai. Preetam has begun conducting the St. Mark's choir only recently, as he is better known as a pianist. The choir came on with their first offering: “In the beginning was the word” with the words and music by Lloyd Larson, with interludes from “God so loved the world” by John Stainer. A well-balanced choir, which was controlled well by Koilpillai, this spoke volumes of the perfect chemistry between singers, accompanist and conductor.
Accompanist Susheila Mani's years of experience showed with her masterful restraint in adding wonderfully to the voices, rather than overwhelming them. “I have attended St. Mark's from 1950 for Sunday School and accompanied the choir from the '60's, after which I left Bangalore for 30 years and this is my return performance.”
After the choir sang “God's Holy Lamb” by John Parker and Mark Hayes and “You are the bread” by Ruth Schram, there was a heart warming performance by Nancy and Gregory Vancil, who are music teachers in the Kodaikanal International School.
Nancy on the keyboard and Gregory on the organ played three Lutheran chorals composed by the little-known German composer, Johann Pachelbel.
The two instruments blended wonderfully well with the more tinkling sounds of the piano as against the more sustained grander notes of the organ. “Lord Jesus, what have they done to you?” was one of the pieces which was so apt for the Lenten season. The choir came back with a marvellous rendition of “ King of tears” by Joseph Martin bringing to mind vividly the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane with the words, “beneath the Olive trees, He cries and battles with His fears, The shadows write his name in black, behold the King of Tears.”
The final and fitting choral was, “Praise the god of resurrection” by John Parker, which had a lot of Beethoven's 9, better known as “Hymn to Joy”. The choir and Koilpillai gave it their all, with the music resounding in the beautiful nave of the church, all dressed for Lent in royal purple. As a grand finale to the evening's music, Gregory and Nancy played “Prelude Valet Will Eich dir Gaben” again by J.S. Bach. “Bach had over 20 children and only nine survived. So he has written a lot of funeral music which is used at Lent but since he never feared death, they are light and are not dirges,” said Gregory of their final piece. Commonly known as the chorale piece – “All glory, laud and honour”, it is associated with the resurrection at Easter.
Anjana Samuel, the convenor of the music committee, said “We have members from the age of 16 to 70, who are doctors, IT professionals and students. We have trained for two months regularly to bring this programme to you.”
