GETTING
German artist Gerhard Richter and Estonia-born composer Arvo Pärt together for
a joint artwork wasn’t quite unique to the Manchester International Festival,
but what’s on offer at the Whitworth for 11 continuous days is still a unique
creation – and a remarkable one.
It’s both
an art exhibition and a performance event. It’s also something derived from the
possibilities of a space – one of the new galleries at the Whitworth which has
the live acoustic properties of a tall ‘shoebox’ shape, and the visual ones of
a room with a full-length window to the park beyond.
That makes
particular sense of one side of the exhibition display, Richter’s Double Grey,
four divided rectangles of enamelled grey on glass – different shades of grey.
They reflect the rest of the room in subtly varying ways.
The other
side is the ‘B’ version of Richter’s Birkenau, photo-versions of four large
abstract paintings inspired by photographs taken by a prisoner of
Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944.
Both these
works are dedicated to Arvo Pärt, and he has repaid the compliment in the
composition of Drei Hirtenkinder Aus Fátima, a miniature a-capella piece for
choir which is being sung at selected times throughout the exhibition, in the
gallery itself, by the Estonian vocal group Vox Clamantis.
It’s a
striking juxtaposition, with the reference of the music’s title being to the
peasant children of Fátima who, in 1917, heard a message from the Virgin Mary
that included prophecy of the Second World War.
Pärt’s
chant-like setting of the words from Psalm 8, ‘Out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings Thou hast ordained strength’, encompasses an intense insistence on
the miracle of innocence triumphant, with exultant alleluias.
The
artist-composer collaboration was brought about by MIF’s boss, Alex Poots, and
its artistic adviser, Hans Ulrich Obrist, who introduced the two 1930s-born
creative geniuses to each other. Richter’s work often relates to music … he
admires Pärt’s compositions … and the two hit it off. At the formal opening
both were there, along with Poots, Obrist, Whitworth director Maria Balshaw,
and other luminaries including theatre and opera director Peter Sellars –
himself a contributor to MIF last time round.
The singing
by Vox Clamantis, conducted by Jaan-Eik Tulve, was impeccably pure and
beautiful – and subtly different each time. They enter the gallery incognito,
looking just like other members of the viewing public (the staging is by Royal
Exchange chief Sarah Frankom) … then suddenly the singing starts. Some of them
change position each time, and the music works in different tempos and
textures.
The extra
aspect to all this is that after Vox Clamantis have done their duty singing
Drei Hirtenkinder Aus Fátima over three days, some of our own north west vocal
groups take over – Rochdale Youth Choir, Oldham Youth Choir, Manchester Chamber
Choir, Ordsall A Capella Singers, the Sacred Sounds Women’s Choir, the King
Edward Musical Society, Manchester Singers, Wigan Youth Choir, Siemens Choir
& Friends, and the William Byrd Singers.
The piece
is less than a minute long, but if the others emulate the Estonians’ work rate
and perform it around five times in a 15-minute set in each half-hour, I reckon
it will have been done over 670 times by the end of next week.
****
Until July
19.
Robert
Beale
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