Forced by a rail strike to stay a night in London in order to catch my Eurostar, I made use of the opportunity to go to the Barbican and hear a choral work I’ve never sung, Haydn’s The Seasons, performed by the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Laurence Cummings.
It has some of the relentless positivity (with occasional darker interludes) of The Creation. As I was on my way to Germany, I’d hoped to get some exposure to the language at this concert, so was a little disappointed to find the performance was in English. Not one of the standard ones in vocal scores, but one by Paul McCreesh. Sometimes ‘Ye mincing dandies stay away!’ I felt it would have been better all round left in German. Then there is the quaintly depicted relationship between the couple Lucas and Hannah, the politically incorrect celebration of hunting, and the way the piece can’t quite make up its mind whether it’s sacred or secular. On a more affirmative note, we do have a drinking song in which women are allowed to join in!
The performance was semi-staged, with the soloists Rachel Nicholls, Benjamin Hulett, and a (rather more wooden) Jonathan Lemalu suitably attired and engaging with one another. A backdrop of appropriate drawings of landscapes and weather was projected behind the choir. I had no complaints about the quality of the music-making; this performance was as likely as any to sell me the work.
However, I’m still not that sorry that I haven’t performed The Seasons, though I expect it would be fun to sing. It’s quite a long piece so I certainly got my money’s worth, and it deserved a larger audience.
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