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to balance the need for clarity and transparency
of the individual voices with the idea of this also
being a community coming together,” explains
Gershon. “We also talked about keeping a real
simplicity to the whole look and feel, without
any set or props or extra performers. Peter’s
work with the singers would be complemented
by Jim Ingalls’s lighting and some chairs onstage;
the wardrobe is basically shades of grey—clothes
that look like they could come out of anyone’s
closet.”
“ is is music that has a real austerity,” Gershon
adds. “
Lagrime
is old composer’s music, like the
late Beethoven string quartets or the
Adagio
from
Mahler’s Ninth or Tenth.
ings are stripped
away until there is nothing extraneous: there are
very few melismatic passages.” For Sellars,
La-
grime
is composed “with an incredible concision,
with sheer essence and focus. ere’s a harmonic
density but at the same time it’s stated as simply as
possible, without a single extra note.”
We know that in his nal years Lasso had been
ailing, seeking relief for a condition described as
“melancholy,” and he even dedicated one set of
his madrigals to the court physician who took
care of him.
“At this point in his life,” according to Sellars,
Lasso “does not need to prove anything to any-
one. He is [composing
Lagrime
] because this is
something he has to get o his chest to purify
his own soul as he leaves the world. It’s a private,
devotional act of writing, but these thoughts are
now shared by a community—by people singing
to and for each other.”
While the
Lagrime
project represents his rst
time staging an entirely
a cappella
performance,
Sellars considers it a continuation of themes he
has been recently revisiting in his collaborations
with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen involving
choral works by Igor Stravinsky. For the con-
clusion of Salonen’s tenure with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic in
, Sellars staged Stravinsky’s
Symphony of Psalms
and
Oedipus Rex
as a double
bill, and the conductor and director reprised it in
February
to crown a Stravinsky series with
the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
As in the Stravinsky double bill, in
Lagrime
the
chorus “carries the drama forward”—drama ac-
cording to the ancient Greek understanding of
tragedy, says Sellars, “which I could also call an
African understanding, where an individual crisis
is also a crisis of the community. Even though we
hear one man’s thoughts, it is the community that
absorbs them and has to take responsibility: a col-
lective takes on this weight of longing and hope.”
INNER DIALOGUE, LIGHT, AND DARKNESS
—
at interplay between the individual and
the collective has suggested thrilling possibil-
ities for staging. For Sellars, “the voice is not
something disembodied but is part of the body
which is testifying. e sheer physical intensity
of the singing joins with this collective dawn-
ing through the inner dialogue of the compo-
sition, as these voices have their moments of
revelation.”
And beyond the Stravinsky,
Lagrime
can be
viewed as a continuation of Sellars’s engagements
with the Passion story, from his acclaimed stag-
ings of the classic Bach Passions to his work on
contemporary variants by John Adams (
e Gos-
pel According to the Other Mary
, in whose world
premiere the Los Angeles Master Chorale and
Gershon took part) and Kaija Saariaho (
La Pas-
sion de Simone
, recently reintroduced in a cham-
ber version as part of the
Ojai Festival).
“
Lagrime
has one foot in this world and one foot
in the next world—it’s music written by some-
body who is in pain,” says Sellars. “It shares the
giant discovery of lighting in Renaissance paint-
ing that was echoed in poetry and music: this
understanding that light and darkness are deep-
ly intertwined in God’s creation and are neces-
sary for each other. Taken together, they create
chiaroscuro. at’s how we perceive depth.”
rough all of its pain, says Sellars, the challenge
in
Lagrime
“is directed towards oneself. Instead
of challenging the world, you challenge your-
self—that is the real meaning of
jihad
in Islam,
the war within yourself. In an analogous act to
Michelangelo’s and Rembrandt’s self-portraits,
Lasso has created this host of recording angels
who can detail the uctuations and razor-edge
re nements of his art, his moral quandaries, and
lifelong regret for failed moments.
at crys-
tal-clear, relentlessly honest moment is a crisis
known to every human being on earth. In the
case of Lasso, he can’t forgive himself, but the
music is su used with a divine compassion and
illumination that reaches the very heart of hell.”
e result of this powerful collaboration turned
out to make a milestone in the history of the
LAMC. “What neither Peter nor I could fully an-
ticipate was the overwhelming emotional vulner-
ability that our singers would bring to this proj-
ect,” says Gershon. “Ostensibly this piece is about
Peter the apostle and his lifelong sense of remorse
over denying Jesus before the cruci xion. What
we came to realize as we all worked together is
that Lasso was delving into much more univer-
sal themes surrounding growing old, losing the
things and people that we care about, experi-
encing extreme shame and regret, but also some
possibility of benediction. We all came away from
the initial performances of this work convinced
of two things: that
Lagrime di San Pietro
is one of
the towering masterpieces of Western music, and
that this project represents for each of us some of
the most important work that we have ever em-
barked upon. is is a piece that people need to
hear, to see, and to experience.”
Thomas May, program annotator for the Los Angeles
Master Chorale, writes about the arts and blog at
memeteria.com. Reprinted with permission.
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE
e Los Angeles Master Chorale is widely rec-
ognized as a leading professional choir and one
of Southern California’s most vibrant cultural
treasures. Hailed for its powerful performanc-
es, technical precision, and artistic daring, the
LAMC is led by artistic director Grant Gershon
and president & CEO Jean Davidson. Gram-
my-winning composer Eric Whitacre current-
ly serves as the ensemble’s Swan Family Art-
ist-in-Residence. Created by conductor Roger
Wagner in
, it is a founding resident compa-
ny of
e Music Center and choir-in-residence
at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Presenting its own
concert series each season, the LAMC performs
choral music from the earliest writings to con-
temporary compositions, striking a balance be-
tween innovation and tradition. It also frequent-
ly performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
at Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In the
upcoming seasons, the chorus will embark on
national and international tours with its ac-
claimed production of
Lagrime di San Pietro
,
directed by Peter Sellars.
e LAMC has been
awarded three ASCAP/Chorus America Awards
for Adventurous Programming as well as Cho-
rus America’s prestigious Margaret Hillis Award
for Choral Excellence. In
, it was inducted
into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
e chorus has an esteemed recording catalog
and has appeared frequently on lm scores and
soundtracks, most recently
Star Wars: e Last
Jedi
. Committed to community engagement
and fostering music education in schools, the
LAMC’s education programs include Voices
Within residencies, which encourage students
to write and perform their own songs, and the
expansive Oratorio Project for high-school
students.
e chorus presents an annual High
School Choir Festival, bringing teenagers from
around the Southland to perform in Walt Dis-
ney Concert Hall. e festival celebrates its th
year in
. In June
, the Master Chorale
hosted Big Sing LA, bringing people of all ages
and abilities to Grand Park for a communal
singing event. In July
, this initiative ex-
panded with Big Sing California engaging sing-
ers from throughout the state and culminating
in a concert that was livestreamed worldwide.
SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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