Simona Esposito

I have always regarded the choir as an allegory of the world. A multitude of individuals who, together, create a unicum, just as the combination of harmonised voices gives life to a piece. To an emotion.

I was therefore very surprised when I was asked to perform not one, but three chorales, transcribed for narrator, two clarinets and bayan. The idea came to Guido Arbonelli, who, together with Natalia Benedetti, founded the Namastè Ensemble, a flexible duo open to additional performers: in this case, Eleonora Tomassetti on the bayan – an instrument from the accordion family that originated in Russia in the early 20th century, with technical characteristics that make it extremely versatile.

With my modest contribution, we performed the pieces “O Magnum Mysterium“, “O Most Holy One” and “Hail Mary” by Mariano Garau, which I’d already heard about marvellous things by a fellow countryman of his who is both a musician and a teacher. And on that occasion, I realised that the admiration was more than justified.

To broaden my horizons, I listened to some other tracks by Mariano Garau, which boasts a vast and multifaceted repertoire, although its most significant output centres on sacred music. And I rediscovered that splendour of voices rising to the heavens that had enchanted me from the very first times I’d ever heard a choir sing. I discovered for myself – because Mariano Garau, just like Guido Arbonelli and Natalia Benedetti, he is one of the most brilliant yet least self-absorbed musicians I have ever met – his compositions have been performed all over the world, in highly prestigious venues and by top-class choral ensembles, and have been appreciated by audiences from different cultures. And the reason for such success is easy to see.

Mariano Garau draws on centuries of choral music, stylistic features, compositional forms and influences from the past, which he reinterprets through the lens of contemporary developments. Gregorian chant, Renaissance music and 18th-century choral music feature in his works, shining with modernity in a splendour that connects directly with the divine. Listening to different pieces with your eyes closed, you feel as though you are being whisked away by a time machine on a journey through the great cathedrals across different eras. Only to find yourself back in the present day. Enriched within. With emotions. With images. With that spiritual elevation that sacred song manages to bestow.

[And given the more than satisfactory result of the transcription for an ensemble other than a choir, an endless world of possibilities opens up for bringing the compositions of Mariano Garau with a thousand different “voices”.]

Simona Esposito – Theatre performer. Literary and music critic.