Soundstreams’ concert on Friday evening in the new TD Music Hall at Massey Hall was inspired by the Rothko Chapel in Houstion, Texas.  It featured two works; Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel, commissioned for the opening of the chapel, and Cecilia Livingston’s mark, commissioned for Friday’s concert.  Both featured chorus (Soundstreams Choir 21), viola (Steven Dann), celesta (Gregory Oh) and percussion (Ryan Scott).  mark also featured baritone Alex Samaras).  Both were staged by Tim Albery with lighting by Siobhán Sleath and projections by Cameron Davis.

Both works were heavily influenced by the Rothko Chapel and in the case of mark by other paintings but they were very different.  Feldman’s work felt meditative and very abstract; rather like a Rothko colour study.  The wordless choir and viola provided a sort of colour wash into which soloists from the choir and the other instruments injected a few points of differentiation.

The Livingston piece, which included allusive poetry by Duncan McFarlane, felt very different.  The performance began with projections of some seriously disturbing paintings including Goya’s “The Third of May” and Picasso’s “Guernica”.  The staging and Samaras’ stage performance and vocal delivery reinforced this sense of pain and anxiety and the music backed that up in a pretty relentless way.  It’s a very effective piece but not at all comfortable to listen to; the more disturbing for following the Feldman.

It’s hard though to imagine either piece getting a better performance.  The choir was precise and incisive, Steven Dann covered a lot of bases on viola and was particularly effective in a sort of duet with Samaras in mark.  The other instruments were used sparingly but effectively.  The choir being arrayed down the sides of the audience created a sort of surround sound effect that reinforced the meditative immersiveness of the Feldman and the jarring, disturbing qualities of the Livingston piece.  David Fallis conducted from behind the audience which felt odd but worked very well.

All in all, it was a very good example of what Soundstreams does; presenting often challenging contemporary music in an engaging and effective manner.  There are two more performances on Saturday at 2pm and 7.30pm.

Photo credits: Cylla von Tiedemann