Featuring:
Andión Fernandez, soprano/whip
Lars Grünwoldt, bass baritone/guiro
Modern Art Ensemble
Klaus Schöpp, piccolo/flute/alto
flute/bass flute
Unolf Wäntig, Eb clarinet/clarinet/bass
clarinet
Theodor Flindell, violin/re-strung and
re-tuned violin
Jean-Claude Velin, viola/re-strung and
re-tuned viola
Matias de Oliveira Pinto, cello/re-strung
and re-tuned cello
Yoriko Ikeya, piano/tam-tam
Programme:
Jeffrey Ching
A
Chamber Requiem
When cellist Renato Lucas told me
back in November 2015 that composer Jeffrey Ching’s next work to be performed
here would be his completion of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unfinished Requiem, I had to take several moments
to let that thought sink in. It was hard for me to imagine the classicism of
Mozart combined with the contemporary, 21st century idioms of Ching.
Some months later, still unable to
grasp the notion of these two styles combined, I braced myself for the world
premiere performance of Jeffrey Ching’s A
Chamber Requiem at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. And I have to admit that I came in to this concert almost
blind so to speak as my knowledge of Mozart’s Requiem is extremely limited. Yes, I know that Mozart died leaving
the work unfinished and that there are many, mostly romanticized stories
surrounding the work. Unfortunately, I have no idea which parts were truly by
Mozart and which were the parts completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr. This meant
that I won’t be burdened by overanalyzing Ching’s work but still I had to be
all ears throughout the performance.
A couple of days before the
concert, I attended a reception in honor of Jeffrey Ching that was held at the
residence of Michael Hasper, Deputy Head of Mission of the Federal Republic of
Germany. There, I was able to have a brief chat with Jeffrey Ching and a few
members of the Modern Art Ensemble that certainly got me into the mood to hear
the new work already despite not knowing much about it.
Based on the title and the performers made up of only two singers and six musicians, A Chamber Requiem was more focused on
the individual with the overall mood being more solemn and somber. Whenever soprano
Andión Fernandez and bass-baritone Lars Grünwoldt sang, it was intimate and
introspective.
What was most remarkable for me
was the parts played by the six member Modern Art Ensemble composed of flutist Klaus
Schöpp, clarinetist Unolf Wäntig, violinist Theodor Flindell, violist
Jean-Claude Velin, cellist Matias de Oliveira Pinto, and pianist Yoriko Ikeya.
Both Schöpp and Wäntig utilized all of the members of their respective
instruments giving the piece more range, color and texture. But what really
gave the work its distinct character was the additional violin, viola, and
cello that were re-strung and re-tuned to the Qing dynasty scale. The unusual
sounding string instruments were first heard during the Graduale, earlier on. As the
vocalists chanted in unison and the winds burst out brief phrases, the strings played
long, sustained notes that sounded like an unstable drone. The juxtaposition of
the chant with that of the distinctly Chinese sounding accompaniment fascinated
me.
But the next time I heard the
re-tuned strings near the end at the Responsorium,
I was left perplexed. The trio playing in the standard western scale with their
re-tuned instruments not only sounded as if they were playing the wrong notes,
but the quality was also scratchy as if they weren’t capable of producing a
good, solid tone yet. I think that this effect was intentional and by design
but whatever it meant to convey was lost in me.
Another moment in the music that
grabbed my attention was when Lars sang falsetto. I thought it was initially
the flute that I heard until I realized otherwise. What made this bit more
interesting was that Andión was singing along with him but with lower notes. It
was a case of the soprano descending the depths while the bass baritone scaled
the heights.
The inclusion of stage direction also
gave the piece an added layer/dimension. Near the beginning, there was an
extended moment of silence with everyone standing up with their heads bowed for
about a minute. The second part opened with the musicians playing as they walked
around the audience section. Both singers descended the stage and performed at
the audience section at one point too. There were parts that were played
offstage most notably the tam-tam that was immediately followed by a dissonant
chord by the strings located at the back rows among the audience.
Probably the most striking stage
direction was right at the end when Andión and Lars exited the theater while
still singing, their voices fading away as they walked farther away. All
the while, the members of the Modern Art Ensemble gathered around the piano and
slowly closed the lid not unlike lowering a coffin to the ground. Then, it was
suddenly pitch black. And it took me several moments to let everything that I've seen and heard sink in before I let my mind head back from a trip from a different realm which was Jeffrey Ching's A Chamber Requiem.
It is never a guarantee that one
will get to like a Jeffrey Ching composition or any other contemporary piece
for that matter. I was very relieved that the overall concept of the work being
a Requiem mass and a basic familiarity of Mozart’s other works meant that I had
more than enough to ease me through A Chamber
Requiem. So it wasn’t that jolting whenever the piece took some unexpected
left turns. The world premiere performance of Jeffrey Ching’s A Chamber Requiem
was dedicated to the memory of Celia H. Fernandez.
