HUNDREDS of men, women and children poured into the nave of York Minster - minus its usual chairs - to witness a spiritual concert of great beauty.
Most of the audience sat down on the cold stone flags - the best prepared equipped with rugs, cushions and even fold-up chairs - while others promenaded around the majestic building, with its soaring Gothic arches, to appreciate the skill of the musicians and singers from different vantage points.
The Minster's acoustics were ideally suited to the various sound textures of the Missa Gongso. It was composed by Napoleon Sutono (1916-1994) as an attempt to bring together the different musical traditions of Java and western Europe by including gamelan in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. Sutono had an Italian father and a Javanese mother.
The cornerstone of the concert was the University of York's Gamelan Sekar Petak, a popular ensemble of bronze gongs and metallophones (vibrating metal bars). Members of the university's Women's Chamber Choir rose to the challenge of singing the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus And Benedictus plus the Agnus Dei.
They were ably supported by soloist Eerik Joks, an Estonian expert in chant and ritual song who is studying for a music PhD at the university.
Two Yorkshire-based masters of Indian classical music, the saxophonist Jesse Bannister and the sitar player Dharambir Singh, played raga improvisations to weave together the different movements of the Missa Gongso.
It was Northern Gothic meeting music from the East - a match made in heaven.
Updated: 11:05 Thursday, February 17, 2005
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