Modernism in London

Posted on April 5, 2025 by vhk10

I was not going to pass up an opportunity to hear Der Wein, the centrepiece of a concert at the Barbican themed around Baudelaire given by Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sophie Bevan.

The concert opened with another piece by Berg which I’d never heard in that arrangement, the three movements from the Lyric Suite for string orchestra. These came over better than I expected them to, although listening to the slowly rising phrase at the end of the last of them (for me, the most magical moment in all of Berg’s music) I miss its sequel: the truly deranged opening of the next movement of the quartet.

This was followed by four settings of Baudelaire by Debussy, substantial pieces orchestrated sympathetically by John Adams. The settings are relatively early, though still later than the Ariettes oubliées, which I think I prefer.

After the interval came the work I’d come to hear. I hadn’t imbibed anything, though plenty of people around the Barbican were doing so that evening. I got to know this in a recording by Anne-Sofie von Otter, but it made much more sense in live performance, with the orchestration becoming three-dimensional. Sophie Bevan’s interpretation had a wit and knowingness that I missed in von Otter’s more po-faced version.

The concert ended with Debussy’s Three Nocturnes, which was on one of the first recordings I ever bought. The final movement used women from the London Symphony Chorus; I’ve never sung this particular wordless chorus and only now realised what a lot they have to do.

Now all I need to locate is a performance of the Altenberglieder…

Review:

Seen and Heard International

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Verdi or Dixit?

Posted on March 31, 2025 by vhk10

I had a choice between two concerts on the same night: either singing Handel’s and Scarlatti’s settings of Dixit Dominus with a larger choir than they were written for in Bristol, or singing Verdi’s Requiem with a smaller orchestra than it was written for, in Gloucester. (This being organ, two pianos and percussion, in the arrangement by Richard Blackford.) I went for the latter.

I’m always up for a performance of the Verdi, but obviously this was rather different. I didn’t really appreciate how much our two pianists did (too busy singing) – even so, I did miss the sustaining quality of orchestral instruments and of course I was a bit spoilt having sung the work with full orchestra only a year ago. Writing this up some weeks after the event, I realise I don’t remember very much about it, and it has merged in my memory with the earlier performance.

I did go to some rehearsals for the other concert, as I’d not sung the Handel for a long time and never done the Scarlatti, so I’ll be prepared if those works come up again soon.

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the 15th evening at Exeter

Posted on March 18, 2025 by vhk10

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir joined forces with our opposite number at Exeter Cathedral, the St Peter’s Singers, for an evensong in Exeter.

Close-up view of woodwork from the stalls in the quire

Exeter is one of the few Cathedrals now that does the BCP psalms for the day (Christ Church Oxford is the latest one I know of to have given them up) and if you like psalmody as I do it was a real treat to sing there on the 15th evening, the longest one where you get the entirety of Psalm 78. (I think the only other time I may have sung this was years ago at St Paul’s Cathedral. We turned up on August 15th – no Marian references in that service – with Ps 78 all primed, only to be told that this was an alternate month when they sang ‘morning psalms’ at evensong! But they let us do it anyway.)

The service contained much that was new to me: a Magnificat by Soriano (a composer I hadn’t encountered before), Wood’s Latin Nunc Dimittis in B flat (which I like more than the other settings by him that I’ve done) and Verleih uns Frieden by Mendelssohn. This last bears a disconcerting resemblance to the initial hymn sung by the prophets of Baal in Elijah! The large numbers of our combined choirs allowed us to sing in 8 parts with confidence.

Impressive stitching on a Cathedral kneeler

Exeter Cathedral wasn’t quite its normal self. There was a lot of scaffolding in the quire, various bells were rung during the service which shouldn’t have been and the heating was not on.

The St Peter’s Singers have been going rather longer than us (124 years to our 4) and comparing their operation with ours has made us realise what can be done with and for a voluntary choir, and got us asking questions! Sadly I am likely to miss the return visit to Bath that is planned.

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Modernism in Cardiff

Posted on March 12, 2025 by vhk10

As a slightly belated birthday celebration for me we went to hear the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ commemoration of the centenary of Pierre Boulez in Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff. I’d never been to a concert here, although I have used it as a rehearsal venue a number of times, so this was the first time I’d entered it from the main lobby of the WMC. We sat at the front of the raked block.

The concert featured works by Boulez himself as well as music he was renowned for conducting. The Livre pour cordes arranges two movements from a string quartet for string orchestra. Given the density of the textures, it was hard to imagine what the quartet version would have been like.

The first half ended with Ava Bahari playing Berg’s violin concerto, the acoustic of the hall allowing all of the orchestral lines to come through clearly. For years I knew the concerto mainly through Boulez’ own recording with Menuhin, where soloist (a romantic approach with lots of portamento) and conductor (in I’d-rather-be-conducting-Webern mode) are somewhat at odds with one another. Bahari and Daniel Cohen were more in agreement.

The other Boulez work was Mémoriale for solo flute, played by Matthew Featherstone. This is part of the complicated history of his … explosante-fixe … though it did not feel like an arrangement and was more accessible than Boulez is popularly thought to be.

Messiaen’s Les Offrandes oubliées by contrast did seem more contrived, written to fit an explicitly religious programme. It’s an early work though so he had some excuse for this.

The concert ended with what many regard as the starting point of modernism, the prelude and Liebestod from Tristan. Comments from the orchestra in the car park afterwards indicated that they appreciated this ending after the rigours of the other pieces.

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Norma vs. Brecon Baroque

Posted on February 26, 2025 by vhk10

Bath Opera returned to Bellini (a few years ago they did La Sonnambula) for this spring’s production of Norma. Given the demands of the two principal roles, they were double-cast and tickets were sold to what was nominally the dress rehearsal, so that each pair got two performances.

There’s a fair amount of implausibility about the plot of this one. We are asked to believe that Norma has borne Pollione two children without anyone apart from Clotilde apparently noticing. And surely Pollione could have handled the ending better – used his troops to rescue Norma and then they could both have toddled off to Rome, with or without the children?

It’s also hard at times not to imagine ‘improvements’ involving introducing some characters from Asterix, and there really was a set based on Stonehenge! More seriously, I sensed the influence of Cherubini’s Médée in the scene where Norma debates whether to kill her children.

From all this you’ll have gathered that bel canto isn’t really my thing so I’m probably not best placed to appreciate it. Nevertheless I was happy with the performances all round. I realise there at any time only a handful of singers in the world who can do the leading role justice. This Norma emphasised the power-wielding side of the character and there was a lot to be learnt from her diction – she had rolled r’s you could cut your finger on. The orchestra did a sterling job although I detected some slight mistuning just after the interval.

Anyway I’m very grateful Bath Opera are around to deliver productions of this ambitious repertoire within walking distance of my home (thanks to a new footbridge over the Avon). There was the usual clash with the Bachfest, and on this evening with a concert by Brecon Baroque. I was told that the latter couldn’t be faulted.

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Billing, Chorus Angelorum or Gerontius?

Posted on February 14, 2025 by vhk10

Bath Abbey hosted a well-attended evening event: a hymn forum in which four people involved with compiling hymnbooks (in particular the Revised English Hymnal) discussed hymnody, the part it had played in their lives, the history of recent hymnals, and the use of hymns for meditation and teaching.

In between, we had the chance to sing a few with words and music from various periods, including the inevitable Coe Fen (‘Look! Someone’s written a good tune in the last 80 years!’) I’m afraid my heart sinks whenever I’m asked to sing this as I just find it too gushy for my taste. We had some more interactivity by singing a couple of verses of Praise to the Holiest to each of the three tunes named above and then being invited to choose our favourite among them. (Actually I have no very strong view here as I like all three, although I think Billings just edges it.)

There was time for discussion afterwards with questions from the nave on such matters as how to introduce the young to great hymns and the grounds for changing words from what was originally written.

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Praise Him with Trumpets

Posted on January 31, 2025 by vhk10

We weren’t able to have an in-person launch of Bristol Choral Society’s first CD, so it was good to be able to inaugurate the second one this way. It was made with Delphian back in autumn 2023 and I sang on one of the two days the choir recorded. We were joined by supporters and friends of the choir including Judith Weir who composed the title track. The choir performed a selection of pieces from the disc, all of which I’d recorded apart from Holst’s Psalm 148 based on Laßt uns erfreuen which I’d done at a Christmas concert a few years ago.

The venue was All Saints Clifton, which I’d never performed in before although we’d had a trial rehearsal. Copies had already been sold to members of the choir so I’ve had a sneak preview.

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3 kings in Latin and English

Posted on January 19, 2025 by vhk10

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir began the year with the fixed point in our annual schedule: the Epiphany Carol service, with two pieces I hadn’t done before.

Byrd’s 5-part setting of Reges Tharsis appears to be an early work, using the style of a previous generation, and has a certain amount of clunkiness, such as its abrupt ending, presumably resulting from inexperience.

Jonathan Dove’s The three kings is familiar to me from 9 Lessons and Carols broadcasts and proved to be tricky, with its changes of speed and key. I’d missed some rehearsal on it in December so I had catching up to do.

We reprised Marenzio’s Tribus miraculis from a couple of years ago, and also included the well-known The Crown of Roses by Tchaikovsky and the Coventry Carol. In the latter case we left in the dissonance recorded in the transcription which was fortunately made before the original manuscript was lost to a fire. Almost certainly this is a scribal error, but it seems right to my 21st-century ears, even if it’s wrong.

The other piece was another Nine Lessons favourite, Pearsall’s In dulci jubilo, which I hadn’t sung for a decade or so (it seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years, at least at King’s).

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round-up of 2024

Posted on January 7, 2025 by vhk10

2024 will not rank as a particularly vintage year for me I think – I didn’t go to any operas and there were no major works I sang for the first time (maybe this is because the ones that I have yet to sing are rarely performed). The first part of the year was marked by several performances with orchestra: the St Matthew Passion in Gloucester (although I got no nearer the B minor Mass than a day-long workshop), and Verdi’s Requiem and a return to Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi at Bristol Beacon. Since then the orchestras have dried up again.

There were nevertheless some interesting works I sang for the first time: John Bull’s ‘Star Anthem’, Jongen’s Mass of the Blessed Sacrament, Tallis’ mass Puer natus est nobis, Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria and several other anthems. Cathedral visit-wise there was a return to Rochester after a very long time, and one to York Minster that had been postponed for several years, as well as Bristol and Ely.

The year was bookended by two solo highlights though: in January I sang the treble one in Rejoice in the Lamb in Bath Abbey and in December the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City in Gloucester Cathedral.

Needless to say the Stanford anniversary featured strongly, with a few lesser-known pieces such as his Pater noster and Benedictus among the standards. And of course Bruckner motets.

Concert-wise, I heard Tenebrae and Sir András Schiff in Bath, and observed the Schoenberg anniversary at the Proms.

I’ll return I hope and put in links to some of the above, but until then you’ll have to search for them yourself if you want to read more. On to 2025….

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autumn and Advent round-up

Posted on December 21, 2024 by vhk10

I sang at various services during the autumn and here’s a quick summary of some musical highlights.

Back in September Bath Abbey Chamber Choir introduced me to another setting of Ego sum panis vivus, this time by Palestrina. Later in the autumn I encountered Victoria’s Versa est in luctum which I had not done for a very long time, although I’d sung Alonso Lobo’s more famous setting a number of times. In the same service I sang Wood’s Latin Nunc Dimittis in B flat for the first time. It was written for Westminster Cathedral like Holst’s, but a year later. Wood is not a favourite of mine, but I did take to this setting.

Meanwhile Howells’ Collegium Regale Communion setting was our ‘go to’ setting for Eucharists this term. There was still a novelty for me, as in December we sang the Kyrie which I don’t recall having sung before.

Finally I was able to sing in the Advent carol service at Christ Church, which included Sol justitiae by Alec Roth, a composer whose work I’ve only ever sung at Christ Church Advent carol services. This piece set a Latin hymn written for use in Durham University. Oliver Tarney was a new composer to me; we sang his The Waiting Sky, appropriate to the season rather than being explicitly sacred.

I’ve omitted quite a few other pieces that I’ve sung a number of times before.

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