Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión Según San Marcos is nearly a quarter-century previous now – it was commissioned as considered one of 4 new passions in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach’s loss of life – however its remedy of the gospel nonetheless comes as a shock. A riot of rhythm and color, interweaving a different of Latin American musical types and cultural traditions, that is Christ’s struggling not as solemn biblical narrative however as a here-and-now human disaster: one instructed, retold, and re-enacted by the lots in language drawn from Spanish vernacular gospel pamphlets offered on avenue corners.
Paired for the Edinburgh worldwide pageant’s opening weekend with its progenitor, Bach’s St Matthew Ardour, this one-off efficiency was a three way partnership on an epic scale, bringing collectively the exceptional Schola Cantorum de Venezuela – who premiered the work and have sung in each efficiency since – with the Nationwide Youth Choir of Scotland, members of the Royal Scottish Nationwide Orchestra, a set of specialist (and indefatigable) percussionists, and a different array of jazz, classical and conventional vocalists and dancers.
On paper it would sound exhausting; on stage is was exhilarating, and whereas particular person soloists had their standout moments – Luciana Souza’s haunting Kaddish, Sophia Burgos’s gossamer Lúa Descolorida, and a number of other formidable turns from alto soloist Gioconda Cabrera – the actual triumph right here was within the exultant massing of voices, shifting musical types and numerous instrumental textures, formed with fluid self-possession by conductor Joana Carneiro, and underpinned by the distinctive work of each choirs’ inventive administrators.
A St Matthew Ardour through which choristers gesticulated in anger, soloists swayed in rhythm, or Christ’s crucifixion was conveyed by way of capoeira would probably increase eyebrows, however in Golijov’s prismatic interpretation – and when delivered with such conviction as right here – that intertwining of music and motion feels totally pure. “Rituals that unite us” is the strapline for this 12 months’s pageant; on the energy of the standing ovation that immediately met this specific set of rituals, it will seem they’ve began down the suitable observe.
