Gioacchini likes a laugh…
by berberis on Nov.11, 2006, under Choir, Concerts, LCS, Rehearsals
Saturday, 11th November 2006, St Paul’s Church, Deptford.
Rachmaninov: Suite No 2 for two pianos
Rossini: Petite Messe SolennelleSoprano: Caroline Lenton-Ward
Mezzo-Soprano: Joanna Gamble
Tenor: Philip O’Brien
Baritone: Philip TebbHarmonium: Andrew Dutson
Pianists: Robert Hunter, Annabelle LawsonConductor: Stefan Reid
Gioachino Rossini definitely had a sense of humour. This is the opening of his Petite Messe Solennelle:
Not content with calling this huge (in full, the performance time is nearly two hours) and, at times, very jolly piece ‘little’ and ‘solemn’, he chucks in a few bars that could easily double for the opening to ‘My old man said follow the van’.
No? Just me, then. Fair enough. Anyway, you sit through a number of solos – all wonderfully performed, as expected – until the Cum Sancto Spiritu, which is best sung from memory, and is a brilliant, exhilarating sing.
The next major choral bit is the Et Resurrexit. I’m now convinced that the solos are only there to allow the choir to recover its collective breath between bouts of exertion because, from fig. 42, it’s all long phrases, fff, and watching the basses go blue with the effort of sustaining those 16 bars. I’ve done gym sessions that are less tiring.
To stretch the metaphor further, the Agnus Dei is the cool down. The contralto soloist is interrupted every now and again by ‘donna nobis pacem’ until 15 bars after fig. 51, when it starts to build towards the key change at fig. 52, and the final seven and a half bars of Rossini basically chuckling to himself.
‘Petite Messe Solennelle’ indeed.
The Suite No. 2 for two pianos is Rachmaninoff in a good mood, which makes a change.
