Celebrating Faure at an event in Bengaluru
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
While church choirs delight Bangaloreans over Christmas with carol medleys, it was a special treat to witness full choral works in an all-Faure programme. In 2016, Jonas Olsson formed The Bangalore Men with 22 singers; Cappella Bangalore, the 25 female-voice counterpart, followed in 2019 and Olsson has continued to train and conduct both choral groups. Most of the singers are part of church choirs but there are others whose sheer joy in singing prompted them to join, so that both these choirs are non-religious, non-sectarian, open to anyone with a love for and knowledge of western music.
Faure’s Requiem was performed by them in 2022, but this time they were joined by Swedish musicians, Maria Forsström, acclaimed singer and conductor, and renowned pianist Bengt Forsberg, who supported Olsson’s ambitious concert schedule of six performances over seven days. It included Schubert’s Winterreise, Forsström being the first female to sing the full Song Cycle in India.
The piano works
The concert at the BIC on March 2nd, began with piano pieces. Faure’s piano works are charmingly gentle, with none of Liszt’s flamboyance or Chopin’s emotional range, but are deceptive in their apparent simplicity, for their French lucidity nonetheless requires the very best technique. The themes are usually carried by both hands, harking back to Faure the organist, as well as to his being ambidextrous. The left hand exquisitely conveyed the lyrical melody in the second variation of Theme and variations opus7. The Impromptu No. 3 in A♭ major, Op. 34 is the most popular of Faure’s treatment of the genre. Forsberg unfailingly traced the theme’s swallow-like flight, delicately flitting and dipping over the moto perpetuo lake.
The Bangalore Men handsomely rendered Antique de Jean Racine, a French paraphrase of a Latin breviary. Faure was nine when he entered the school of church music. He trained in piano, theory, composition and classical language, and the curriculum included weekly choir singing. His grasp of liturgy enabled him to set the text with characteristic musical charm, evident even at the early age of 19, winning him first prize at the composition competition.
Faure’s Requiem was not highly regarded in his time, contemporary musicians and critics dismissing it as slight, and “unnecessary”, citing preceding composers who had already done justice to the weighty subject, in their masterful varying styles. At around 35 minutes, Faure’s is only a third as long as Verdi’s famous example, with its sweeps of operatic flourish. Nor is there the throbbing bleakness of Mozart’s Requiem; instead, Faure gently radiates hope, which was delivered with convincing persuasiveness by the choirs, resulting in an enriching moving experience. However, the solo pieces did not give baritone Olsson and soprano Anisha Chandy much scope to display individual talent. Forsström’s conducting shaped the choral pieces with enthusiastic verve, while Forsberg’s impeccable timing provided ideal piano accompaniment.
Right amplification
Though microphones were strategically placed so that amplification was not jarring or even aurally perceptible, were they necessary in the moderate-sized BIC auditorium: surely the ability to project the voice is part of a singer’s training? Forsström clarified: “The BIC auditorium acoustic is designed for amplified individual speech, such as panel discussions or lectures. If we hadn’t used mikes, it would have sounded like we were singing through cloth”.
Amateur performing groups are to be applauded: it is admirable that people still find the time and money to devote to a hobby or passion, whether it is music, theatre, or dance. Rehearsals necessitate financial outlay, requiring travelling some distance, braving snarling traffic and pollution [a singer’s particular nightmare!]. Considerable dedication is needed to apply oneself after a day’s work, not only in terms of time and energy, but also the emotional involvement artistic output usually demands, though this can be elevating, and not necessarily enervating.
Group participation was perhaps best appreciated during covid, when weekly virtual meetings alleviated the enforced isolation, as Olsson stated: “Singers said it was the only thing that gave some normalcy to their lives, it was the only outlet. We didn’t rehearse as much because singing wasn’t really possible. We adapted very quickly, having classes in music theory, history; we had guest speakers …”.
One looks forward to more performances by the two choirs, who greatly enhance Bangalore’s entertainment scene with such talent and dedication.
