Schmucke dich, o liebe Seele BWV654 - Bach
Von Gott will ich nicht lassen BWV658 - Bach
Jesu, meine Freude BWV227 - Bach
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland BWV659, 660, 661 - Bach
O rubor sanguines - Eibhlis Farrell
Lobet den Herrn BWV230 - Bach
Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott BWV651 - Bach
The annual organ series at St Michael's, Dun Laoghaire began on Sunday with a Bach-saturated programme by the series's director, Anne Leahy, who is also the organist and director of music at St Michael's.
Her playing in a selection of the so-called Leipzig chorales was reverentially solid, focusing successfully on the grandeur of the whole. There are dangers associated with this sort of approach. It can miss out on a myriad of passing details in pursuit of the larger picture. And on this occasion it was the monolithic effect, sometimes rather featureless, which left a stronger impression than anything in Bach's writing that could have been savoured moment by moment.
The Canzona Chamber Choir under Blanaid Murphy sang two of Bach's motets, Jesu, meine Freude and Lobet den Herrn. Murphy is an emphatic choral director, with a tendency to allow the smallest unit of metrical subdivision to function as a beat, however clearly the time signature or the writing indicates to the contrary.
It's not a rewarding approach in Bach, and I'm not sure that the reinforcement of an electronic keyboard actually enhanced the performance in any way (its unvarying volume ruined some of the choir's dynamic contrasts), however much it may have done to reduce any drifting of pitch.
In Eibhlis Farrell's new O rubor sanguines, Canzona were like a different ensemble, altogether more assured and stylish, and, it seemed to me, more in tune with the spirit of the music. The piece, written in celebration of Hildegard of Bingen's O rubor sanguines, has a richly archaic flavour, and is one of the most intricately harmonically worked pieces I've heard from this composer's pen.
Given a programme note which made so much of the composer's responsiveness to the text, it seemed a major lost opportunity for that text and a translation not to have been provided.