Get Orff
by berberis on Jul.04, 2015, under Choir, Concerts, LCS, Rehearsals
Saturday, 4th July 2015, Cadogan Hall, London.
John Joubert: O Lorde, the maker of al thing
Eric Whitacre: Five Hebrew Love Songs
Mozart: Sonata in A for piano and violin
Carl Orff: Carmina BuranaSoprano: Louise Kemény
Countertenor: Tim Travers-Brown
Baritone: Alex Ashworth
Percussion Leader: Matthew Turner
Violin: Paula Muldoon
Pianos: Nico de Villers, Jakob FichertSydenham High School Voices
Director: Caroline Lenton-WardConductor: Dan Ludford-Ward
The Joubert was new to me. It came first out of 235 entries in the 1952 Novello Anthem Competition, and was described at the time as a ‘fine piece, dignified and ecclesiastical in style’. I thought it was fine until the ‘in heav’n and yearth’, when you really couldn’t hear anything except the sopranos.
The NAC runner up (My soul there is a country by John Graves) was described as ‘charming and effective […] well-suited for the averagely good choir and organ’. However, its success seems to have been eclipsed by a piece of the same name by the much more famous Charles Hubert Parry. Some of the entries were criticised as being too modern – ‘modulating too freely and unconvincingly’ – but, according to some, this may have been a result of Novello tending towards a more conservative style in an attempt to sell more music scores. I mention this only because goodness only knows what the judges – W. H. Harris and E. Thirman – would have made of some of the pieces by Rutter, McDowell, or Patterson, that we’ve performed recently.
Anything by Eric Whitacre is always welcome. The Five Hebrew Love Songs were no exception.
I’ve sung Carmina Burana several times, either extracts or the whole thing. In November 2005 with the LCS, in November 2009 and October 2010 with the LPC, and again with the Really Big Chorus. There are a few things I expect from a performance: the timpani should sound like thunder, the tenor should completely ham it up, soprano should be able to hit that stratospherically high D, and my voice should last to the end. To date, I’ve not been disappointed.
