2025 round-up

Posted on January 1, 2026 by vhk10

2025 was an odd year, both for what it contained and for what it didn’t. The outstanding feature was the two overseas choir tours in quick succession, with Bristol Choral to Latvia and Gloucester Choral to Transylvania. They just happened to come round in successive months. I sang in Prior Park Chapel for the first time. I sang Berlioz’ Te Deum for the first time. I heard a performance of Der Wein for the first time. I also got to hear Berg’s violin concerto and music by Boulez in Cardiff, Norma with Bath Opera and Makropoulos at the Royal Opera. Cathedral-wise, there were visits to Exeter, Llandaff and St Albans. The Llandaff weekend gave me a chance to revisit Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir and there were several pieces I sang in various services and concerts which I hadn’t done before. Major choral works I sang with orchestra were Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Brahms’ German Requiem.

But there were some things missing. I didn’t go to a Prom (apart from 2020, I have hardly ever missed a season totally for many years). I didn’t go to a concert in the Bath Festival. The only solo I sang was the first verse of Once in Royal in the atrium of the Royal United Hospital – quite a good acoustic as there is a lot of space above you. My opportunities to do so were reduced because I didn’t join the Cathedral Chamber Choir for anything (again, missing a whole year for the first time in a long while) and because the Bath Abbey Chamber Choir went through a transitional year (like most years in the choir’s short history) during which programming favoured straightforward pieces in four parts with no solos.

I also reduced my singing commitments by dropping out of Bristol Choral Society as of the autumn. So what should I expect or resolve for 2026? No choir tours are planned this time, and I may or may not be in the chorus for the Three Choirs Festival. Should that not happen, I gain an opportunity to return to Carlisle Cathedral for the first time in many years, but lose rare chances to sing with a professional orchestra. So I think my ambition for 2026 should be to get to sing in more orchestral concerts by whatever route (sadly the invitations to do so in London and Cardiff have dried up in recent years).

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Advent and Christmas 3: Rutter-tide in St David’s

Posted on December 26, 2025 by vhk10

We went as usual to the Nine Lessons and Carols in St David’s Cathedral. There was more John Rutter than usual, probably because as already mentioned he has a major birthday this year. It included what I think is one of his best pieces What sweeter music, as well as the Shepherd’s Pipe Carol and an arrangement of Noël nouvelet.

I have enjoyed singing many of his pieces (mostly sacred but also secular) over the years, although I’m not in a hurry to do any of his works that use an orchestra, as I find the orchestration works but is predictable. Looking back through this blog I see that Rutter was the subject of one of the earliest posts, and he was far from new on the scene then, so he clearly has enduring power, even though younger composers like Bob Chilcott have movd in on his territory. I wasn’t involved in his visit to Bath earlier in the year but did sing under his direction just once, when he did a workshop at Manchester University.

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Advent and Christmas 2: inclusive carols, the hospital lobby and Jethro Tull

Posted on December 19, 2025 by vhk10

My second tranche of seasonal music began with an inclusive service at church for our Open Table Network congregation. This began and ended with some appropriate ‘songs from the shows’, which was for me a welcome chance to dip into a repertoire I don’t normally do. We made sure to include a descant to every hymn! More reflectively we included In the stillness by Sally Beamish, as well as Rutter’s Star Carol; astonishingly, I really have no record of ever having sung this latter before although I’ve heard others of many different ages do so lots of times.

A few days later we made our annual excursion to the Royal United Hospital lobby to sing a short service for whoever happened to be passing through or setting in the café there. The major-birthday composer John Rutter featured strongly, including the Star Carol again.

Afterwards, a brisk walk eastwards to the city centre to join others from the Abbey Chamber Choir as a warm-up act for Jethro Tull, who were giving a benefit concert in aid of the new stained-glass window depicting St Alphege. We sang some well-known carols, including Gaudete, with interspersed jazzy interludes. The trickiest part of this was negotiating the cables en route to our staging – and remembering not to look at the lights, which would have dazzled us.

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Advent and Christmas 1: the anniversary that wasn’t

Posted on December 8, 2025 by vhk10

November was packed with musical events, and although I had no actual Christmas concerts in December there was nevertheless more other seasonal performances than I usually give.

Actually, this started well back in November with the opening of Bath’s Christmas market; this year was rather special as it was claimed to be the 25th anniversary of the market. Although I’m not really sure on what basis, as the first market was 24 years ago, in 2001; nor can it be said to be the 25th time the market has been held as there was no market in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 (in the latter case getting security staff was said to be the problem). We began by singing a few carols/hymns standing at the open west door of the Abbey (the weather was too poor to go outside), before joining stallholders inside the Abbey for a short ceremony combining sacred and secular as we heard about how the market came to be started.

A few days later Advent began and we sang the Abbey’s morning service. There was a piece new to me (and only a decade old in any case): Alan Bullard’s And art thou come with us to dwell which incorporates the Veni Emmanuel melody.

Christ Church’s Advent service was as usual a week later. This brought a personal premiere: Kerensa Brigg’s A tender shoot (also to be sung by the Abbey Chamber Choir this Advent). Our most substantial pieces were Alec Roth’s Unborn and Anthony Piccolo’s I look from afar.

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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.

Prior Park Chapel

Our Lady of the Snows, Prior Park

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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