Canberra’s Luminescence Chamber Singers get their name from the emission of light, but it was darkness and the gradual snuffing out of candles during Holy Week church services which formed the backdrop to their first tour of the year.

Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsoria have shocked and fascinated since they were written more than 400 years ago and the ensemble, directed by Song Company former Artistic Director Roland Peelman and led by mezzo soprano AJ America, has embarked on a three-year journey bringing them to light for audiences in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Wollongong.

Luminescence Chamber Singers. Photo supplied

For this tour they performed the Good Friday section, the dramatic heart of the work. The concert featured five of the usual line-up – America, soprano Rachel Mink, tenor Dan Walker, baritone Lucien Fischer and bass-baritone Alasdair Stretch – joined by guest baritone Lachlan McDonald.

Woven into the nine responsories were 11 chant-like solos from De Lamentatione Jeremiae Prophetae, each assigned a letter from the Hebrew alphabet and shared around among the male singers.

The stage was sparsely lit by four spotlights and the six performers read the score off iPads, tapping their screens for the next piece as if stubbing out a candle.

It’s difficult to separate the 16th century Italian nobleman’s music from the fact that he brutally killed his first wife and her lover when he caught them in flagrante delicto, a crime for which he was exonerated as he was a prince and, besides, murder was considered less serious than being cuckolded.

There is certainly plenty of violence in his use of polyphony, particularly in the Crucifixion section, and he often jolts the listener with sudden changes of dynamic. His musical word pictures are startlingly experimental – so much so that they sound surprisingly modern. Peelman compares them to the paintings of Gesualdo’s contemporary El Greco: “classical balance makes way for restlessness, uncertainty and ambiguity”.

There was nothing uncertain about Luminescence’s performance, with pitch-perfect intonation, a rich vocal blend with America and Mink soaring deftly above the rounded lower voices, and crisp diction and precise entries.

Melbourne baritone McDonald showed himself to be the perfect guest, especially with his solo in the Ghimel lamentation – “He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy” – which brought the recital to an end.

After that it only remained for the house lights to be turned back up for the ensemble’s final bow.

Luminescence Chamber Singers presents Gesualdo Tenebrae II at Sacred Heart Oratory, Abbotsford Convent, Mebourne, 21 March.