BREAKING BOUNDARIES: WHERE CHOIRS AND ROCK MUSIC MEET

Uģis Praulinš wouldn’t be the first former choir boy who turned to rock music.

As a child, Prauliņš sang in the boys’ choir of Riga’s impressive medieval cathedral. He returned to his choral roots in 2002 after decades of playing in Latvian rock bands, writing the the spine- tingling Missa Rigensis for his alma mater. His career has also encompassed pioneering efforts in the genre of folk music, as well as works for ballet, film and television.

Continuing the ABCI’s travel-themed concert season of 2022, and to mark the 20th anniversary of the piece, the Institute presents Baltic Sounds in its return to the stunning acoustic of Our Lady of Victories in Camberwell. Prauliņš’ music is an exciting new addition to the Choir’s repertoire.

The mass itself was brought to world-wide attention in a stunning premiere recording by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge and conductor Stephen Layton on the Hyperion label. In the notes accompanying the recording, English composer Garbiel Jackson provided an apt overview of the work: “The diversity and resourcefulness of vocal scoring throughout are striking. The declamatory supplication of the Kyrie is both eternal and modern in its added-note richness, while the sotto voce keening that ends the movement is shockingly potent. The dancing, glistening opening of the Gloria owes as much to rock music in its syncopated canonic build-up as it does to any older polyphonic tradition, the dramatic antiphonal exchanges at ‘Domine Deus’ have an ancient, hieratic quality and the return of a more outgoing music at ‘Quoniam tu solus’ reaches a climax of near-hysterical joy before bell-tone pedal notes herald a melismatic series of Amens.”

Jackson goes on to note that “the pulsing clusters that open the Credo are a powerful symbol of the urgency of belief. A mosaic of varied textures follows—joyful quasi-Baroque roulades, chant- inflected canons over open-fifth drones (a haunting moment of stasis), anguished overlapping chromatic sighs at ‘passus est’; and the pointillist, off-beat figure at ‘Crucifixus’ is both a graphic representation of the driving-in of nails and at the same time built into a groove-based ostinato. The movement ends with a soaring pan-consonant choral carillon, repeated over and over again, while another group of voices whispers the final lines of the text with ever-increasing fervour. The brief Sanctus begins with an awed hush and concludes with exultant ‘swung’ Hosannas and a final chord that is deliciously unexpected. The Agnus Dei achieves no easy resolution, the uncertainty of its final bars unwinding into a Post-Communion where long-breathed vocalise underpins an ad lib spoken prayer (in this instance the ‘Actus caritatis’). The effect is both theatrical and numinous, as the public face of the music slowly dissolves into inwardness and deep repose.”

“Written for a choir of boys and men, and with an intensity and drive stemming from Uģis’ extensive cross-genre exploration, the Missa Rigensis is a logical addition to our repertoire.” says ABCI Artistic Director Nick Dinopoulos. “The singers are looking forward to putting their stamp on the piece.” Fresh from their Australian Digital Concert Hall debut last month with Austrian Encounters, this event will once again attract a global audience on the innovative platform, now in it’s third year.

Headlined by The Vocal Consort, and with music by the most- performed living composer in the world, Estonia’s ever-popular Arvo Pärt, alongside leading Lithuanian luminary Vytautas Miškinis to round out the program, this is sure to be yet another highlight of the musical calendar in Melbourne. Of his approach to life and art Ugis Praulinš says that ‘Music and love explain everything’, indicating the depth of the experience ABCI audiences are set to enjoy.