Saintly Inspiration

Choral concerts organized around a single figure can make for a bland evening if not programmed with restraint and consummate care. But the Artists’ Vocal Ensemble (AVE) made Saint Francis of Assisi the focus of a thoughtful, artfully structured, and surprisingly varied concert in two performances over the weekend.

Photo by H. Tran

Singing works by a dozen composers spanning eight centuries, Music Director Jonathan Dimmock and his ensemble presented a rich and multifaceted tribute to the Italian friar, mystic, bird-lover, founder of the Franciscan order, and patron saint of San Francisco. Credit Dimmock for constructing a program that was as illuminating as it was heartfelt, and credit his 16-voice group with performances that were consistently polished and assured. Titled “St. Francis of Assisi: Musings on a New World Order,” the program covered a wide range, from 13th-century works to contemporary settings by Fredrik Sixten, Gerald Near, and Morten Lauridsen. Rather than present them chronologically, though, Dimmock arranged them around various facets of the saint’s life, alternating the old and the new in rewarding juxtapositions. As anyone who has experienced Messiaen’s five-hour operatic masterpiece on Francis will tell you, the life of this particular saint is ripe for musical exploration, and the composers included here were apparently inspired through the centuries in deeply personal ways.

Splendid Singing

Saturday’s concert at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley, which repeated Sunday afternoon at Noe Valley Chamber Music in San Francisco, opened with a processional. Singing the anonymous 13th-century chant, Laudar vollio per amore (I want to praise with love), the chorus sounded uniformly vibrant, and their frank praise for Francis, accompanied by AVE members Allison Zelles Lloyd (harp) and Neal Rogers (percussion), set an exuberant tone for the evening. Next came Perotin’s Gradual for the Feast of St. Stephen. The connection was tenuous — St. Stephen was a martyr, Francis was not, and although Perotin lived at roughly the same time as Francis, the two men never met — but the singing, with the men providing a dark-hued drone beneath the soaring voices of the women, was glorious. Francis Poulenc’s Quatre petites prières de Saint Francois d’Assise restored a direct link. The French composer’s settings of Francis’ own words are exquisite: quiet, contemplative, and, under Dimmock’s direction, sung with elegant, pristine tone. Josquin Desprez’s Ave verum introduced a section of devotional settings, with a trio of voices — Dimmock, soprano Tonia d’Amelio, and alto Celeste Winant — twining in radiant ascension. Sixten’s setting of the same text, sung by the full ensemble, was intriguing in contrast, but somehow not as affecting. But Adoramus te (We adore you) by 16th-century composer Claudio Merulo, followed by Pierre Villette’s 20th-century Adoro te devote (text by Thomas Aquinas), came across in performances of striking beauty. The first half ended with Palestrina’s rarely performed Nunc Dimittis (The Song of Simeon). Here, Dimmock divided his forces into three mixed groups, stationed around the church, and invited audience members to stand behind the group of their choice. The score, whose text comes from the Gospel of St. Luke, is magnificent, and the chorus delivered it with enveloping, surround-sound power. The work got a repeat performance after intermission, with the singers grouped on the altar this time; their close proximity knitted the sound together in a thrilling way.

Thought-Provoking Words, Silence

Francis’s words, sung in English, were featured next, in Near’s A Prayer of Saint Francis. (This is the one that starts “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.”) The chorus, stretched in a single row across the front of the altar, blended to gentle effect, with the final “eternal life” dissolving into a penetrating silence. Two settings of “Ubi caritas” (Where there is charity) — the first plainsong, the second by Lauridsen — evoked Francis’s call for compassionate love. Giovanni Gabrieli’s Iam non dicam (From now on, I won’t call you servants), followed by Harris’ Bring Us, O Lord God (text by John Donne), were paired in a pointed meditation on leave-taking. The program concluded with a recessional: another 13th-century anonymous setting, Sia Laudato San Francesco (St. Francis be praised), with bass Rob Stafford delivering the solo part with articulate phasing and admirable heft. Throughout the program, Dimmock provided insightful commentary. Saturday’s program was presented in connection with the We Campaign (a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection), which seeks to repower America with 100% of its electricity from clean energy sources within the next 10 years. Saint Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of the environment, too.