Music / Polifemy and BlockSounds present Choristers of Flight, Wesley Uniting Church. September 6. Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

Spring in Canberra was welcomed with this sparkling program of sunny songs and sounds of and about birds from voices and recorders.

The seven women of Polifemy were joined by five guest singers including four men’s voices. They all sang through a continuous program of delights by early Western music composers like Palestrina, Orlando Gibbons, Byrd, Thomas Morley, Tallis and Gabrieli.

The programming was so carefully considered by director Robyn Mellor that it felt like a spring oratorio.

The augmented Polifemy was very finely balanced throughout this recital. They have a lovely rounded tone that floats in the Wesley acoustic. Sopranos and tenors sang their sometimes challenging high lines with lovely clarity and true pitch. Altos and basses were also true and provided a solid but never overpowering anchor. And all the interweaving vocal lines, often with overlapping complex rhythms were well rehearsed and clean.

However sometimes clear diction appears to have been sacrificed for tone. The acoustic possibly blurs diction but ending consonants particularly were lost. When sung in English, you shouldn’t need to refer to program notes for the words. While less of an issue with foreign languages, with them, there could be more attention given to capturing the vowel accents when singing French and Italian, for example.

There is a nicely unfussy approach to staging, where we moved seamlessly from full ensemble to various octets, septets and the recorder ensemble. Mellor directs from the centre, singing alto. Her inspired direction offers intelligent interpretation of both lyrics and music.

Beguiling instrumental interludes from recorder ensemble BlockSounds added birdcalls from a full range of recorders. Some were offstage solos or duets that magically filled Wesley with lively birdsong and perfectly complemented the songs. Using Baroque decorations, turns, mordants and sliding techniques, the players captured a variety of different bird sounds.

With such a wide program, we only have space to discuss highlights.

For the augmented Polifemy, Edward Johnson’s Come Blessed Bird had some nicely rhythmic singing and a stronger attack than other works. The singers maintained their accuracy and added good swelling and dynamic contrast.

Later, an octet presented Clément Janequin’s The Song of the Birds (Le chant des Oiseaux) with pleasing percussive effects and fun bird mimicry, each verse requiring different chirruping and vocal trickery. This work demonstrated the good humour of both the composer and the singers.

There were many smiles of satisfaction from the Wesley audience, but it was a shame not to applaud these gems throughout the program.

For BlockSounds, the full quartet highlight was the delicious Cappriccio III by Frescobaldi. This extended work of multiple changing tempos and moods was punctuated throughout by shared cuckooing from the instruments – with one most persistent offstage descant cuckoo throughout. Very effective and technically sound, well balanced and tonally bright.

There was also a lovely duo by Thomas Morley, The Little Turtledove, played on treble and square bass recorders that softly cooed and swooped to capture the character of the distinctive birdsong.

To finish the recital 11 choristers sang Andrea Gabrieli’s fun Cock-a-doodle-do. There were many layers within the vocal writing here, with answering choirs and quirky rhythmic nonsense words, and quite naughty lyrics between the feuding lovers, Lucia and Martino.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.