Under their founder and conductor Raphaël Pichon, French ensemble Pygmalion delivered an absolutely enthralling account of the Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine at St Peter’s Cathedral, under the auspices of the Adelaide Festival. Aiming to recreate the ambience of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice in 1610, the small choir of 25, which included the soloists, and the orchestra of 20 filled the venue with glittering sound, while the vocal members deployed themselves physically around the spaces.
Monteverdi’s score was presented in full, with the addition of an antiphon Sancta Maria, succurre miseris between the Lauda Jerusalem and the Marian sonata, and a concluding Versiculum et responsorium after the Magnificat. The orchestra comprised just two violins, with a cello and three viole da gamba, with two recorders, two cornetti and three sackbuts. The continuo included not only a double bass, bassoon, two theorbos an organ and two harpsichords but also a harp, creating a rich sound world. After Lauda Jerusalem, there was a brief pause to rearrange the forces, otherwise it was performed straight through.
The programme began with the enunciation of Deus in adjutorium from the gallery at the back of the cathedral, with the Responsorium from the choir arrayed before us. As with the previous Bach concert, the precision of the voices, the immaculate balance of all the forces and the subtlety of the dynamics were all immediately apparent. By the end of the succeeding Dixit Dominus, one remarkable effect was the complete silence of the capacity audience. The Nisi Dominus further demonstrated the ensemble’s mastery of phrasing, dynamics and timing, with many quick rhythmic changes and modulations and a swelling sound on the “Gloria” in the Laetatus sum and the successive diminuendo, swelling again on the “Amen”.
Over the course of the work, different members of the chorus moved to the back to provide an encompassing effect, and at one point one of the theorbos went with them. This lent to the theatricality of the presentation. During the Avis maris stella, effectively the whole of the chorus removed to the gallery. They gradually returned for the Magnificat, filing along the left side of the cathedral in solemn procession, a magical effect.
Nigra sum was sung by tenor Laurence Kilsby with lyrical phrasing accompanied by Angélique Mauillon’s harp, an episode of great beauty. When I saw the name of the fine Czech baritone Tomáš Král listed under the tenors (soloists) and the basses (choir), I assumed it to be a misprint. Not so. Král duly joined Kilsby and Samuel Boden for the tenor trio in a lovely rendering of Duo seraphim, as well as singing several bass passages. Soprano Julie Roset was again much to the fore, along with soprano Maïlys de Villoutreys.
In the antiphon, the high voices featured first, with a lovely solo from alto William Shelton, singing with lovely focused tone. The sonata Sancta Maria featured exuberant violin work from Sophie Gent and Louis Creac’h, and was followed by a stunning Ave maris stella including a passage with all the sopranos singing as one with laser-like focus, making a nice contrast between the purity of the women’s voices and the deeper sonority of the wind instruments. Overall this was very much an ensemble effort, with evident commitment and enjoyment from all involved, under Pichon’s graceful direction. It is hard to imagine a better performance.
