Reena Esmail.
A tapping of a tabla, a voice lifting up Hindi poetry, a striking of a cymbal, a chorale joined in harmony: all came together to evoke the image of water and the multitude of ways it affects our lives in Reena Esmail’s Malhaar: A Requiem for Water, performed at Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall early Saturday evening as part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
The Yale Choral Artists, led by conductor Jeffrey Douma and accompanied by Rohit Panchakshari on tablas and Michael Yeung on percussion, offered Esmail’s work that, according to the program, was “inspired by mystical Hindustani raags invoking rain.” The performance, which also featured Mumbai vocalist Saili Oak as a Hindustani soloist, focused on “exploring water’s beauty, loss, and renewal.”
The sun-filled white and gold hall, full of chatty music fans, came to a hush as the choral artists, Douma, and Panchakshari took the stage. There was no speaking, no introductions, or explanations of the work. The music did all the talking, and the audience remained rapt and phone-free throughout the entire 75-minute performance, save for a couple of “wows” spoken out loud after a piece was completed.
According to the composer’s website, the requiem was written as a way to “process the rising panic” after the drought worsened in California. She was inspired by Malhaar, which “refers to a family of raags that beckon rain.”
“As the legend goes, the greatest musicians could cause a downpour from even the most severely parched skies by the power of their song,” wrote Esmail.
The Saturday sky could not have been clearer, but it was impossible to not feel as if the skies might swell with clouds and release their rains upon us during this evocative performance.
The performance began with a piece called “The Tipping Point” that saw the 16 choral artists and Panchakshari meld tabla and harmonies to mimic a rainstorm in a forest, with large raindrops hitting the leaves and tree limbs in song. Many of the pieces used excerpts from poetry interspersed with Hindi and tabla bols. This one included an excerpt by Amy Ferguson. The voices sang: “Stasis. Balanced on the razor’s edge between darkness and light. Darkness exults in his hold on the world. Yet we are arrived at the tipping point.”
Soprano Sarah Vitale and bass Jared Swope, soloists featured in this piece, exemplified that balance, and as the end of the piece found the repeating of the phrase “light always returns,” the chorale came back with an angelic assurance.
Oak and Young joined the others onstage for the Requiem. Comprised of seven titled parts and two interludes, the work blended traditional Latin mass requiems with Hindi poetry and pieces of poetry from Wendall Berry and Willma O’Daly. Each melded with the other to form a hopeful meditation on what water means to us all.
The first part, titled “Holy Water,” began with the sentence “all water is holy water.” All of the performers contributed to the dance of sound, a softer tabla and xylophone accentuating the chorale and solos from Vitale and Oak, who joined together to end the piece in unison. Part two, titled “Requiem Aeternum,” began with the voices of the chorale, followed by the gentlest of percussion added in by Yeung. Oak then joined in, creating along with the rest a most soothing sound, a respite of sorts. All eyes were on the stage, the audience held captive by this meditation.
“Skeptical Bell,” the third part, saw the tablas return and additional percussion from Yeung, including chimes, bells, and, appropriately enough, a rainstick. The piercing words in this piece came from William O’Daly’s “the Dream of Mount Liberty,” but the tablas eventually became the focus, highlighting Panchakshari’s deep and soulful extended solo that got many heads in the crowd nodding along as it became more rhythmic and rousing. Someone said “wow” out loud after it was over. I’m pretty sure that word was on my mind as well.
After Oak retuned for the first interlude accompanied by tablas and percussion, that lovely liquid sound led right into part four, titled “Lacrimosa / The ever-descending water.” This piece showcased soloist Yiran Zhao with words once again from O’Daly including the questions “Without you, how will we weep when we need to? How will the earth smell after the last drops of rain?” As the music and voices floated together and filled the space, including the reprise of the interlude afterward, the impact of the poetic words stayed ever present.
Part five and six, “Agnus Dei” and “Questions for God,” presented a more traditional prayer that led into a series of questions.
“Give us peace, give us light,” the chorale sang, and soon, via the words of O’Daly, wondered where they were, why they were there, and what they would soon be, with only the lightest of percussion accompanying them. A more contemplative moment was presented before the final piece, “The Dream of the Waterfall/In Paradisum,” which saw the chorale return to the words of O’Daly. Oak, Panchakshari, and Yeung each joined in to bring the program to an end in a resplendent yet meditative space. The final words were a return to the Berry piece from part one: “The water is free only in its gathering together, in its downward courses, in its rising into air.” It gave this listener much to think about long after the standing ovation given to the performers and the scattering of the crowd into the streets of New Haven, where the sky remained clear and many made their way over to the Green for that evening’s New Haven Symphony Orchestra performance.
Outside of Sprague Hall, the Hillhouse marching band played “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers surrounded by spectators taking photos and video and bopping along. I was still thinking about the rain, how easy it is to take for granted all of these lovely days we have been having recently, how often we get frustrated when rain interrupts our events and outdoor plans, but also how vital it is to consider how droughts and water shortages around the world have become more of the norm in recent years. Malhaar remind us of what is happening on this planet, awakening us to the need for change in a most peaceful and powerful way.