the late quartets that weren’t

Posted on November 30, 2025 by vhk10

I hadn’t been to a concert at the Wiltshire Music Centre in over 10 years. Only a small part of this was accounted for by the pandemic hiatus; mostly it was because I fell off the mailing list for their brochure, which was a useful way of reminding me what was happening.

We returned for a performance by the former quartet in residence, the Doric String Quartet. They are almost like George Washington’s axe in that they have had a change of 3 of 4 players since I first heard them, and of two players recently.

The publicity for this concert enticed prospective listeners with the prospect that the quartet would be ‘exploring some of the last pieces [Beethoven] ever penned’, Op 135 and Op 132. For me, there was also the chance to compare their interpretation of Op 132 with the one I remember hearing back in 2008. It was therefore disappointing to find that the two quartets were replaced by Op 18 no. 3 and Op 59 no. 3. Not that there is anything wrong with those, but two-thirds of the programme, which had been extensively trailed in publicity, was changed at a late stage, apparently because the new lineup wasn’t ready to perform it. Surely they could have realised that a bit earlier?

I have had something like this happen a few times during the lifetime of this blog. It’s more understandable when it’s due to illness and a replacement performer having to be found. It also happens in my own performances. I think of the time I signed up, and paid, to sing The Kingdom, only to find the entire programme changed to one of Russian music. (I have got to sing The Kingdom since then.) The consequence was that I was reluctant to join further performances by that choir, in case the repertoire was changed after I’d committed to them (as some of it was!)

As for the Doric Quartet’s performances, which included the unchanged Op 20 no. 5 quartet of Haydn, we found them accomplished but tending to style over substance, with physical gestures used to elicit audience appreciation. So maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed the late quartets all that much anyway.

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a Messiah about which there isn’t much to say

Posted on November 30, 2025 by vhk10

November 2025 was, I realise, a ridiculously busy month musically speaking. My final performance of the month was Messiah in Gloucester Cathedral. I’m beginning to run out of things to say about Messiah, which under natural conditions I’d aim to sing about one year in three. In fact this particular performance was the first one I’d given in two years, as I was unable to sing in 2024’s, so I’d had some sort of a break from it.

We had a different accomanying ensemble this year – La Serenissima, who have given other performances at the Cathedral recently. And, erm, I don’t have very much more to add except that everyone was definitely warmer than the last time I sang it there.

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revisiting Rossini

Posted on November 22, 2025 by vhk10

A decade ago I sang Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with Bristol Choral Society in Bristol Cathedral. The wheel has turned full circle and I went back there to hear them sing the same piece. I was a guest of the soprano soloist, whom I’ve known since we were both on the same Chorus Angelorum tour.

This was my first return to hear the choir since I stopped singing with it and lots of people said hello. It was a good chance not just to appreciate its sound but also to see what it looks like in performance. There were one or two surprises in this area. This Mass has (as I remarked before) several consecutive movements in the Gloria where the chorus doesn’t sing. (Verdi’s Requiem has a similarly long wait in the Dies Irae but somehow you don’t notice that as much.) Inadvertent entertainment was provided by watching choir members looking in various directions, shuffling around or stretching during this. I must remember next time I sing the Mass that I’m on view.

Another thing to watch for is the ridiculously catchy themes of the final fugues in the Gloria and Credo which produced gentle swaying in time from some. But overall I thought the performance comparable to what I remember from the previous one, including the tricky a capella section sprung on the chorus in the Kyrie.

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Split-level Makropoulos

Posted on November 20, 2025 by vhk10

I have long felt that The Makropulos Case has been unfairly neglected, but am still surprised the Royal Opera hadn’t ever put it on before. Even though I’d been to a performance in Cardiff not that long ago, I made a point of going.

Writing this up some time after the event, I don’t have that much to add to the reviews below. I found the staging rather cluttered but I wasn’t bothered by the introduction of an affair between Emilia Marty and Krista, and a plot by the latter to steal from the former, though it might have been confusing to someone less familiar with this opera. The performances were all strong, with familiar faces such as Peter Hoare (Vitek) and Jakub Hrůša for whom I once sang the Glagolitic Mass, conducting.

I’m told the surtitles were free in places and there was one misjudgement: when EM utters the Lord’s Prayer towards the end, she does so in Greek, being taken back to her youth as Elina Makropulos. However the surtitles only indicated that she was saying the Lord’s Prayer, not the change of language.

Some reviews:

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Diabelli at the Mozartfest

Posted on November 18, 2025 by vhk10

I was surprised that Cédric Tiberghien’s recital at the Mozartfest didn’t completely sell out, though there weren’t many nave seats left in St Mary’s church. Perhaps not so many people this year signed up for the weekend package offered by a tour company which accounts for many of the ticket sales of the festival.

The programme began with a direct and straightforward account of Mozart’s C minor sonata before moving on to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations in the second half. Even though I am familiar with the work and have been to performances before, it was very helpful to have a few directions beforehand and illustrations of the melodic and rhythmic ‘hooks’ that link the very diverse variations to the original theme. The heavily ornamented Variation 31 emerged as the heart of the set.

This was the only Mozartfest concert I made it to. The spirit of Amelia Freedman, who was always very visible at the Mozartfest and who planned this programme before her death earlier this year, could still be felt. She anointed Adrian Brendel as her successor so I feel it is in good hands.

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my Prior Park début

Posted on November 16, 2025 by vhk10

I have only once previously been in Prior Park Chapel. I seized the chance to take part in a workshop afternoon there, led by Matthew Finch. I hadn’t been to such an event organised by him before, and didn’t know anyone else there.

We had been sent scores of several short pieces to download in advance, and sang through them, making sure all was secure. All well known to me apart from a piece by Matthew Finch himself, and Parry’s All in the stilly night. Then we gave an informal performance of a selection (mostly the Tudor ones) at the end; a film of this is on YouTube.

The chapel has a less resonant acoustic than you might expect but is a pleasant place to sing.

Afterwards, there was the usual trot round to the nearby terrace to admire the view of the gardens. I might well take part in another of these events, particularly if it’s in Wells Cathedral Chapter House (although a forthcoming meeting there clashes with a concert date).

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a memorial Requiem at Merton

Posted on November 12, 2025 by vhk10

I had not returned to hear a service in Merton College Chapel, or indeed set foot in the College, since 2016. I came back for a memorial requiem Eucharist for a former Chaplain. I was at Merton mid-way through his very long tenure of the post, and a few years ago had run into him when I was singing in Chichester Cathedral.

He was not keen on having elaborate music in Chapel services (we were only allowed to do a choral setting of the canticles once a year) so I’m not sure what he would have made of the quantity of it at his memorial service, although in content and spirit the service was a fitting tribute to him. The choir sang most (the movements without soloists) of Duruflé’s Requiem, and the Russian Kontakion (in a lower key than I’m used to). There was just one hymn, sung to the Old 124th.

The Duruflé (which was not revived from All Souls but must have been specially learnt) was a fine performance, although possible in places to tell that it was early in the year and this particular group of singers hadn’t been together long.

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All Souls Day at Bath Abbey

Posted on November 11, 2025 by vhk10

The Abbey Chamber Choir sang evensong for a transferred observance of All Souls’ Day. I’m not sure whether this was a first for Bath Abbey, but we were able to submit names of the departed in advance and they were remembered by name during the service. [A later suggestion that incense might be used at one of the Christmas services was, however, firmly refused.] Clearly quite a few people asked for this, though the list was not as long as at another service in Bath some years ago.

We sang Sumsion in A and Bullock’s Give us the wings of faith. In October, the choir sang one of the large-scale anthems that were commoner in its repertoire when it was founded four years ago: Harris’ Strengthen ye the weak hands, which was known to few, other than me and those who’d been at the same college as our conductor.

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why you have to collate editions

Posted on October 30, 2025 by vhk10

I hadn’t sung in St Albans Cathedral in quite a few years, although at one time I did so several years in a row with different choirs. I visited the city three years ago but to rehearse in another church. Returning with the Erleigh Cantors, I noticed quite a few new features such as an extension on the South side (we rehearsed in a large room in the basement of this) and a reconstructed shrine to St Amphibalus.

I’d never sung Weelkes’ Sixth Service before. On arriving at the first rehearsal I was asked to compare the two editions being used, and found they differed in almost every possible respect: pitch, barring, underlay, note values, some variant melody lines and most critically the verse sections. One soprano verse soloist was puzzled that she had been given nothing to do, because she’d been given an edition which set the verses for lower voices only. The reason is that the work is preserved in two sources; they differ and also the verse parts are deficient in both, so there has had to be much editorial reconstruction. Copies of the edition with soprano verse parts were then sourced for everyone. I’ve come across this problem before, most notably when I sang Gibbons’ See, see. the Word is incarnate. I’m always glad to encounter a Tudor verse setting for the first time and there are plenty left that I’ve never done.

The main new piece for me was Howells’ I love all beauteous things which proved a tricky piece to learn, with the characteristic difficulties of late Howells: constant changing of time signature and entries on notes which are far from obvious. It was written for St Alban’s and our congregation included someone who had sung in the first performance.

Other pieces included a revisit of Ronald Corp’s Missa San Marco, Maurice Greene’s substantial setting of O clap your hands, the Walsh responses which we were asked not to do a year ago, Lassus’ Ave verum corpus and the Leighton First Service, which was new to quite a few in the choir

St Albans is not awash with suitable places to stay, but I found a pleasant AirBnB near the Cathedral with a host who regularly accommodated members of visiting choirs (another Erleigh Cantor had booked it independently). Details can be supplied on request. We were also entertained to drinks by the Dean after the Saturday evensong, an act of hospitality that’s now quite rare on Cathedral weekends.

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a Capitular Mass

Posted on October 25, 2025 by vhk10

Visiting Sardinia in mid-October, I went to Mass in the Duomo in Cagliari. We’d visited the building earlier and explored the network of subterranean chapels. I attended the ‘Capitular Mass’ which I think means the Bishop is supposed to be there although I don’t think he was. I might have done slightly better to go to the previous Mass which (to judge by the pewsheets left behind) used quite a lot of plainchant. But this Mass had a musical component too, provided by an organist.

St Cecilia – 19th century mosaic, west front of Duomo, Cagliari

Not for the first time, I sensed a player who was feeling frustrated at the restricted amount they had to do. What he actually played was part of Bach’s (and Vivaldi’s) BWV 596 and one of Bach’s chorale preludes based on the Passion Chorale. You sensed he was itching to do more.

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