JUDITHA
TRIUMPHANS
Kajsa Dahlbäck concert
for her studies in the doctoral school DocMus of Antonio Vivaldi’s only
remaining oratorio Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie was performed
in the German Church in Helsinki by almost all female group of musicians. All
soloist and the choir were women, but in the Finnish Baroque Orchestra there
were a couple of men playing. Some people have earlier doubted if such warlike
music can be performed by women, but last night proved beyond doubt that it is
possible.
Already the beginning
of the oratorio, where the choir marched to perform like an army shamed all
doubting Thomases. The choir (Akademiska Damkören Lyran) proved during the
evening that not only do they know how to sing, but they are also splendid
performers. The banquet scene was absolutely fabulous and I truly enjoyed
watching their director Jutta Seppinen. She radiated joy of making music.
The soloists were also
enjoyable. Personally I liked the most Katariina Heikkilä in the role of
Holofernes. She has such a deliciously dark mezzosoprano. But also the other soloists
caressed your ears. The oratorio is not exactly easy to sing, since it contains
a lot of decorative parts and in some arias the singers are required to have
quite a range.
I also appreciated the
fact that the performers did not just stand as blocks in front of the audience,
but taking into account the venue, there was some acting included. The choir
moved around (by the way, at least to my seat, it sounded wonderful when they
were singing sitting on the side benches) and the soloists had some kind of
costumes, too. The German Church suited really nicely for this kind of
performance and the acoustics seemed to work well, too.
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| The German Church |
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| The performers |
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