Bangalore Camerata’s renditions of the toughest of the classical musical compositions have made them one among the most sought after western classical performers in the City. The Cameratas are at it again. They will perform the Requiem of the French composer Maurice Durufle and Agnus Dei of Samuel Barber on September 22 at 6:30 at the St Mark’s Cathedral. The compositions the choir has chosen to perform are tough pieces and require long hours of dedicated practice. “We chose this because the music is absolutely beautiful. And we are an adventurous choir that likes to try works which no one else does. Except for two compositions, the rest are quite tough indeed,” says Neecia Majolly, choir director.

Of the composers and their pieces, Neecia says performing Durufle’s pieces are a laborious process involving constant revision and impeccable craftsmanship. “Only 10 works have been published — one fewer than his teacher Paul Dukas, a similarly fastidious perfectionist.

Unlike his friend and fellow-student Olivier Messiaen, Durufle eschewed the avant-garde experimentation that might have resulted in a fashionable new language, choosing instead a retrospective stance, looking to plain song for his inspiration, and great French composers Debussy, Ravel, Faure and Dukas for his models,” observes Neecia.

The choir will also be performing the works of Henry Balfour Gardiner, an English musician, composer and teacher, which include compositions in a variety of genres, including two symphonies, but many of his scores are lost and only a very limited amount of his music survives.

The choir will also sing light numbers like Samuel Osborne Barber II compositions. He was an American composer of classical music ranging from orchestral, to opera, choral, and piano music. “His music, masterfully crafted and built on romantic structures and sensibilities, is at once lyrical, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich,” says Neecia.

Benjamin Britten — Rejoice in the Lamb is a festival cantata for four soloists, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass of the choir, and organ composed in 1943 and based on the poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart (1722-1771). The poem, written while Smart was in an asylum, is a highly idiosyncratic and ecstatic praise and worship of god by all created beings and things, each in its own way.

Each of the compositions are sung with a lot of energy and expression. The pieces are sung to reflect the mood and character of the composers and Neecia’s band of singers exude the power and poignancy built into every song.

“The idea in choosing such pieces is to introduce pieces from western classical music that are unusual and lively,” says Neecia.

Western classical music, she avers, can be understood only by a few people. So does she see the audience for western classical music growing in anyway?

“Classical music has always been, and will be, for an elite audience. One needs to have a kind of understanding for this music in order to enjoy these concerts. Yes, I have seen the younger audience coming for concerts, which is great,” says Neecia.

Generation Next showing some inclination toward learning and performing western classical compositions is a new trend and western classical musicians like Neecia are confident their numbers would swell.

Western classical musicians are so far and few in number in the City. What does it take to be a good western classical musician? Neecia thinks that a good musician needs to put in a lot of hard work, discipline, commitment and have love for the music! Besides the obvious fact that one needs to possess a good voice.
That commitment comes through well in Neecia for she composes and tunes music for choir, voice and piano, cello and piano, and has worked on some children's pieces as well.

After the Bangalore concert, Camerata will take their performance to Chennai and Goa as well. The choir will be accompanied by Leslie David on organ.