Yet another operator has appeared on the Finnish music
scene: a new a capella group “Kanto Ensemble” (bass Juha Suomalainen, baritone
Valter Maasalo, tenor Mats Lillhannus and countertenor David Hackston). The
members of the group are probably known by all lovers of older music; I have
myself heard several productions from them. Kanto Ensemble had its first
concert in the Suomenlinna (an island in front of Helsinki) Church and performed
in the beginning of the concert four motets (Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina’s
“Heu mini Domine”, Josquin des Prez’s “Absalo fil mi” and “De profundis clamavi” and Cristóbal de
Morales’s “Pace mihi, Domine”). The main number of the concert was Orlando di
Lasso’s “Missa pro defunctis”.
The name of the concert was ”Requiem 1918 – Requiem to
the offers of civil war” in the memory of the civil war that ranged in Finland
one hundred years ago in 1918. All the pieces performed had a sad undertone and
they suited really the theme of the concert. It is also true that it would have
been difficult to find in the Helsinki region any other place more suitable for
this concert than Suomenlinna, where on its prison camps many red prisoners
were killed, died of hunger and disease.
The members of Kanto Ensemble are all very good singers
and their voices melted beautifully together. I have myself been for some time
already a big David Hackton fan, so I especially enjoyed the motets, where he
had a chance to present the beautiful clarity of this countertenor voice. My biggest
favourite of the motets was ”Pace mihi, Domine”, where the singers mainly sung
the same melody. Insanely lovely!
Di Lasso’s Requiem has perhaps not been performed
anywhere as an ”a cappella” version since its first performance (in 1575), but
it has definitely never been performed in any form in Finland before this. I
always tremendously enjoy when these small wonders of music are found and brought
on stage also in Finland. I liked this piece a lot and listening to it on a
beautiful spring evening in Suomenlinna, when the natural light was fading, was a
touching experience. My favourite part of the requiem was “Sequentium”, where Juha
Suomalainen and Mats Lillhannus took turns in singing every other verse alone
and the whole ensemble sung every other verse together. Despite the fact that
the concert lasted longer than promised and the audience thus missed the ferry
to the mainland by a couple of minutes only, which meant a 40 minute wait for
the next ferry, I would had hoped this part to be even longer. Absolutely stellar performance!
So, even based on their first concert I can warmly
recommend following Kanto Ensemble (https://www.facebook.com/kantoensemblehelsinki/).
I am already looking forward to their next performance! I have often said the human voice is the most beautiful instrument in the world and this group certainly proves that.
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| The Church |
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| Kanto Ensemble |
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