I Look From Afar
Saturday 20 November 2010
St Augustine’s Anglican Church, Hamilton
Music for Advent and Christmas
We looked from afar, back to the birth of Jesus Christ, and invited the audience to join us on a journey. Our program centred around Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Canticum during this advent season, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. This brief oratorio has several pastoral elements in its simplistic instrumental accompaniment and the beautifully crafted melodies sung by the narrator, angel, shepherds, and the evangelist.
To enhance the beauty of Charpentier’s writing, the performance of his oratorio was surrounded by Jean Mouton’s Nesciens mater, and Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O magnum mysterium.
The fresh sounds of Algirdas Martinaitis’ Alleluia cleansed the listening palate as we then moved through time to the twentieth century with Kenneth Leighton’s Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child. These words (taken from the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors) are sung by the women of Bethlehem in the drama just before Herod’s soldiers come in to slaughter their children.
The final section of the program took us into the world of relationships and friendship. Paul Bonetti’s The Angel and the Girl, lured us, through the text of Edwin Muir, into Muir’s view of the relationship between the Angel and Mary. Gerardo Dirié’s Two Hands or Wings took the words of Mateo Ricci and delivered a message of friendship, tolerance and mutual understanding. We are delighted that you were able to experience this world première of Two Hands or Wings.
St Augustine’s Anglican Church, Hamilton
Music for Advent and Christmas
We looked from afar, back to the birth of Jesus Christ, and invited the audience to join us on a journey. Our program centred around Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Canticum during this advent season, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. This brief oratorio has several pastoral elements in its simplistic instrumental accompaniment and the beautifully crafted melodies sung by the narrator, angel, shepherds, and the evangelist.
To enhance the beauty of Charpentier’s writing, the performance of his oratorio was surrounded by Jean Mouton’s Nesciens mater, and Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O magnum mysterium.
The fresh sounds of Algirdas Martinaitis’ Alleluia cleansed the listening palate as we then moved through time to the twentieth century with Kenneth Leighton’s Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child. These words (taken from the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors) are sung by the women of Bethlehem in the drama just before Herod’s soldiers come in to slaughter their children.
The final section of the program took us into the world of relationships and friendship. Paul Bonetti’s The Angel and the Girl, lured us, through the text of Edwin Muir, into Muir’s view of the relationship between the Angel and Mary. Gerardo Dirié’s Two Hands or Wings took the words of Mateo Ricci and delivered a message of friendship, tolerance and mutual understanding. We are delighted that you were able to experience this world première of Two Hands or Wings.
