A concert, ‘A Brief History of Musical Time’, traces the journey of music, right from Vedic chants and Gregorian chants, to Baroque music and original choral works. The concert, featuring 14 musicians, has been conceptualised by city-based Australian composer Devissaro.
Says Devissaro: “I have always been fascinated by the history of Western music and have always longed to do a concert which traces music’s journey over time. Most people’s knowledge of Western classical music is limited to the very brief period of time between Mozart and a Brahms; I want them to realise that it is so much more.”
Devissaro decided to start work on the project one year back when he met up with Bengaluru-settled Neecia Majolly, who was in the city giving a piano recital for Trivandrum Centre for Performing Arts. The idea was to bring together four male singers of Devissaro's vocal and percussion ensemble Asima, with four female singers of Neecia's ensemble The Madrigaalists, to explore early Western music for a mixed choir.
The hour-and-a-half long concert, which is divided into two halves, will see the vocalists performing 22 songs. “Most of the early music works are really short pieces, and mainly performed acapella style.”
The first part of the recital features music from 1500 BC to 1750 AD, performed by members of Asima Ensemble and The Madrigaalists. It begins with Vedic chants before moving to ancient Greek where the earliest notated song - Seiklos epitaph, dated 200 BC, was discovered. Devissaro chuckles as he recounts the story behind the Seiklos epitaph. “It was discovered by an British engineer during the construction of a railway line in Aydin, Turkey, during the 1880s. He didn’t realise the importance of the stone and gave it to his wife who thought that it would look pretty in her flower pot. She sawed off the bottom half of the stone for it to fit her pot and hence we only have half the song.”
The programme will then move on to Gregorian chants and Organum from the 1st millennium AD, which are mostly religious in flavour. The medieval age, says Devissaro, saw a rise of wandering minstrels who were popularly known as Trouveres. “Their works were mostly love poems with a touch of humour in them. Most of them are in archaic French. As English translations of the poem are available, we will be singing these pieces in a mix of French and English.”
Neecia (centre), Carola (left) and Martina (right)
The Madrigaalists, who specialises in works from the English Renaissance period, will be performing three compositions from the era - Gush Forth My Tears by William Holborne, Though Philomela Lost Her Love by Thomas Morley and Away, Thou Shalt Not Love Me by John Wilbye. Says Neecia: “The works from the Renaissance period are written in modes. The flavour of harmony from these pieces are different from a Mozart of a Bach. For example, in a Mozart piece, the top voice is important while the rest provide harmony. In a Renaissance piece, each voice has a melody and is of equal importance, making it a challenge to perform.”
The first half of the concert concludes with pieces from the Baroque period and culminates with a chorale by JS Bach. For the performance of the Bach Chorale, Asima and The Madrigaalists will be joined by the teaching staff of the Trivandrum Academy of Western Music (TAWM) - Kilmov Alexandr Dmitrievich (flute), Dana Bekpossynova (piano), Kenzhegul Akshekina (cello), Gleb Nechaev (viola), with Olga Vykhodtseva (vocals) conducting.
“The members of Asima and I have been studying Western vocal and choral techniques with Olga for the past six months. Although the members of Asima are trained Carnatic vocalists, a training in Western vocal technique I feel, is useful as it teaches us to project our voice without straining our vocal chords. Olga is a fantastic vocal teacher and we are very lucky to be able to get such training right here in the city!”
The second half features music composed and arranged by Devissaro. The Madrigaalists join Asima in launching two new works that Devissaro has composed. A highlight of the second half of the show would be a Devissaro's choral setting of the Upanishad sloka ‘ Purnamadah Purnamidam’.
Olga, the TAWM vocal coach says, the project is interesting as one can observe various tunes and styles of rendition in the concert. “For instance, the Gregorian chants, which are religious in nature, need to be sung with a disembodied voice, angelic-like. The Trouvere songs are more folkish in nature. Sweet Kate , an English Renaissance work is to be delivered tongue in cheek. Sweet Kate was a feminist song of its time as the woman dismisses her lover’s complaints. Georg Frideric Handel’s Dignare is operatic,” she says.
‘ A Brief History of Musical Time’ will be performed at Bharat Bhavan, Thycaud, on January 13, 7.30 pm. Entry is free.
Band members
The members of Asima are Anil Ram, Gokul Bhaskaran, Anoop Mohandas and Khalid
The members of The Madrigaalists are Neecia Majolly and Jerusha Lawrence-D’Cruz from Bengaluru and Carola Winnie and Martina Roberts from Chennai
