Not Only Opera

Vox Luminis
Wigmore Hall
Stalls J15, £5 (under-35s)
8 November 2018
Wigmore page

Programme
Heinrich Schütz: Musikalische Exequien, Selig sind die Toten, Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener
Thomas Selle: Die mit Tränen säen
Johannes Bach: Weint nicht um meinen Tod
Johann Michael Bach: Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil
Johann Christoph Bach: Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren
Samuel Scheidt: Ist nicht Ephraim mein teurer Sohn
Johann Ludwig Bach: Das Blut Jesu Christi

I once sang some of Schütz’s Musaklische Exequien semi-sight-reading on one rehearsal. Our rendition was on the hairy side, to say the least, with the consequence that I associate Schütz not only with the beautiful strangeness of his music but also with a powerful anxiety that is the product of that strangeness. On the whole Vox Luminis quashes such anxiety. Watching them one sees how Schütz should be done, and relax in the warm glow of their competency.

Their genius stems from the collective. Were the individual singers of the group to perform as soloists they might not shine as the choir does; I expect a malicious breed of singing teacher could have a field day. But with one exception in the long programme, where a soprano was definitely too flat for it to be ok, the weaknesses of the individuals are completely obscured by the whole, and the precise understanding each singer has of their position within it. Until concentration began to flag towards the end, the singers of Vox Luminis performed with preternatural ensemble and perfect blending, beautifully musical, each knowing the music utterly and caring for it deeply.

I was bowled over in the first half and washed away on waves of Schützian wonderfulness. The second half resonated at a lower level, perhaps not too surprisingly. The singers seem to know this music less well; tiredness began to show in their tuning and ensemble; and, dare I say it, the music of these hordes of pre-Bachs and pre-Bach-lites is something of a comedown after the extraordinary Schütz. Still, this was an impressive and heartfelt performance from a choir that surely must be one of the best currently performing.