@BristolChoral
Bristol was saturated with choral concerts over the weekend of 23-24 March. On Sunday night Colston Hall hosted a performance of Mahler 8. On Saturday there were concerts by the Bristol Phoenix Choir, Exultate Singers, and the one I sang in, Bristol Choral Society performing Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces.
I was one of a small minority in the choir who’d done the Rossini before (in my case in a Come and Sing performance in Oxford some years ago. It is a curious piece in many ways, and like the Verdi Requiem wasn’t all written in one go. From a choral point of view the last movement is much more complicated than any of the others. And parts of it such as the ‘Sancta Mater’ quartet, must be high in the rankings for the most inappropriate style in which to set a religious text and get away with it.
Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces are a rarity even in this anniversary year. I’d never sung them before – in fact I sang 3 of them this time as the Laudi alla Vergine Maria were performed by a semi-chorus. One might expect them to resemble the Requiem in style, but they have moved on into a new world of unusual scales, bleak, sparing lines and plainchant influence (I particularly liked the way the contours of the opening plainchant are recalled but not slavishly followed in the melodies of the Te Deum). We devoted a lot of time in rehearsal to the first piece, written in Verdi’s scala enigmatica. I’m actually not convinced it really goes with the other three (the collection of the four isn’t Verdi’s) – perhaps it ought to be free-standing like Verdi’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer and leave the two longest pieces to frame the Laudi. But you’re not going to change performance practice now.
Review:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Genuine-thrills-fine-tribute/story-18511089-detail/story.html