Baroque Voices conducted by Pepe Becker. Recorded by RNZ Concert, 10 May 2008.
Pepe Becker began her musical life in Nelson, singing in the Cathedral Choir, taking lead roles in school musical productions, and playing oboe in local orchestras. She studied Composition at Victoria University of Wellington from 1985 to 1987 under Jack Body, David Farquhar, and Ross Harris. Pepe then focused on singing and teaching, travelling to Britain and Holland to further her studies of early music singing. Upon her return to New Zealand Pepe focused mainly on performing, setting up her vocal consort Baroque Voices in 1994. In her own words, it wasn’t until late 1999 that Pepe rediscovered her ‘composition muse’, and began to write again with great fervour. Being a singer, Pepe has a special empathy for writing for the voice: most of her compositions include one or more voices, often partnered with other melodic wind instruments and/or percussion.
Pepe Becker’s 'Mass of the False Relation' grew out of a commission for an Introit for the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington. She dedicates the work to her ‘stalwart singing friends’ in the group Baroque Voices. The Mass uses medieval techniques of organum (parallel fourths and fifths) and false relation (the use of a flat or sharp version of a note juxtaposed with its natural version), as well as melodies borrowed from other composers. The Kyrie movement has also been performed as a standalone work, as it appears here.
