Berberis' World

Saturday, 18th November, 2017.

Haydn: Te Deum in C & Motet – Insanae et Vanae Curae

Mozart: Piano Concerto No.20

Mozart: Coronation Mass

Forest Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Dan Ludford-Thomas

Piano: Nico de Villiers

Soprano: Susannah Hardwick

This went very well. The orchestra sounded fantastic – better than I can ever remember hearing them. The soprano soloist – a trainee! – was superb, and the audience was the largest I’ve seen at Goldsmiths.

It took me a while to get into the music for this. Normally, as soon as I get hold of the scores for a concert, I listen to whatever recordings I can find – as well as midi-files – to learn the part. I think perhaps the reason I didn’t do the same with these pieces is because there was nothing immediately obvious in any of them that I liked.

In almost every piece I’ve sung, there is a hook. Sometimes it’s one section, sometimes just a few bars – sometimes, it’s only a chord. Whatever it is, once I’ve found it, it’s enough to make me enjoy singing the whole thing. It took me a few rehearsals to find the hook in any of these pieces, a process not helped by uncertainty at work – not just my job, either. The end result was that I was still learning parts of the Te Deum at the rehearsal on the day of the concert.

I volunteered for the semi-chorus in the Coronation Mass, and found it instantly familiar. I like being in a semi-chorus: you have the challenge and responsibility of getting your part right, but with none of the pressure of a soloist; if you suddenly forget how to pitch the next note, you can mime (as long as you don’t pull a ‘shit-I’ve-fucked-up’ face – that’s a dead giveaway); plus, it gives you chance to show off if you’re angling for a solo/duet/semi-chorus again. That said, it didn’t work after the Monteverdi, despite Stefan’s comment.

Nico was – as always – excellent. Watching him play I usually decide to take up playing the piano again…before remembering that I don’t have a piano, have no space for a piano, and have no patience to do the 2-3 hours a day practice. Happy to let Nico do all the hard work and – along with the wonderful orchestra and soloist – take all the very well deserved applause.

Saturday, 8th July 2017, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, London.

Zoltán Kodály: Pange Lingua/Evening Song
Johannes Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79 No. 2
Ernö Dohnányi: Rhapsody in C major, Op. 11 No. 3
Arvo Pärt: Alleluia-Tropus/Which Was the Son of…
Henryk Górecki: Totus Tuus, Op. 60
Zoltán Kodály: Missa Brevis

Piano: Nico de Villiers
Organ: James Orford
Conductor: Dan Ludford-Thomas

Otherwise known as The Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity with Saint Jude, Upper Chelsea. I’d loved to have seen the Gothic original but this was demolished when it was only a few years older than I am now. Its designer, James Savage, had roughly a third of his buildings demolished which seems like quite a high ratio. Whether this was normal for the type of constructon at that time is probably on the internet somehwere. Whether the demolition of so many of his buildings was the cause, or the result, of his being a disagreeable fellow is probably also on the internet.

The replacement church has survived demolition, both proposed and actual. The former was prevented due to the efforts of John Betjamen, but even he couldn’t prevent the latter, perpetrated by the Luftwaffe during WW2.

Holy Trinity has two drawbacks: the changing room are the kindergarten, and there’s not enough seating room for the choir which means some of the tenors and basses have to stand in the trancept. However, it has splendid two features that more than make up for this: a huge east window, which we can gaze out of when not singing, and an organ that, on full throttle, makes the building tremble.

(I was unaware of Zoltán Kodály, which is to my shame as he is responsible for this, which has been beyond the wit of every education secretary in my lifetime.)

The text for Kodály’s Pange Lingua is a poem by Thomas Aquinas. I preferred Evening Song. We sang this in English instead of the original Hungarian, which would have been a challenge, but not impossible.

I’d not heard the Missa Brevis before. However, the sopranos have to hit the C two octaves above middle. That isn’t something you forget in a hurry.

Arvo Pärt’s Nunc Dimittis is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, certainly one of the most beautiful I’ve sung. Which Was the Son of… is almost comical. It’s based on Luke, Chapter 3, verses 23-38, which begins, ‘And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph,[…]’

Um…. ‘as was supposed’?

There then follows a list of 75 men – of whom any or some or all or none might have actually lived – ending in god. It’s been described as a ‘ridiculously banal text’, a comment which incurred the wrath of some botherers, one of whom asked what exactly was ‘a ridiculous text from the bible’? Apart from ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’, pretty much everything. I really do think that if we all lived by the maxim “do as you would be done by” there’d be far less aggro in the world. And, let’s be honest, most of the aggro in the world is caused – either entirely or in part – by how certain individuals/groups interpret their chosen ‘gospel’. To wit, your god imaginary friend is not as good as my god imaginary friend , therefore you – and as many future generations of your family as we think fit – must die.

Someone also wondered if Pärt had set the text to music as a bet.

We’ve performed Górecki’s Totus Tuus before. As an a cappella piece, it’s challenging because, unless you’re paying very close attention, the pitch can start to drop half through the first bar.

Holy Trinity was the perfect venue for this programme, which contained a lot of high notes which echoed around the rafters very nicely.

Saturday, 27th March 2017, Royal Festival Hall, London.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV232

Soprano: Elin Manahan Thomas
Soprano: Helen Meyerhoff
Alto: Roderick Morris
Tenor: David de Winter
Bass: Philip Tebb

Hackney Singers
London Mozart Players

Harpsichord + Organ continuo: James Orford
Organ continuo: Andrew Storey

Conductor: Dan Ludford-Thomas

The B Minor Mass at the Festival Hall. What’s not to like? Well, very little. I’ve written at length about this largely glorious piece – the Credo still grates, but is more than compensated for by everything else. I’d’ve preferred a front row seat (I was in row 3 of the choir stalls), and my enthusiasm got the better of me on a couple of occasions but, this aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this concert.

Saturday, 12th November 2016, Great Hall, Goldsmiths College.

Schubert: Offertorium, Intende Voci, D963
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 21 in C, K467
Schubert: Mass in E Flat, D950

Soprano: Helen Meyerhoff
Alto: Susan Legg
Tenor: Mark Chaundy
Bass: Philip Tebb

Conductor: Dan Ludford-Thomas
Piano: Nico De Villiers
Forest Philharmonic Orchestra

According to a number of the composer’s fansites, Intende Voci is amongst Schubert’s less well known of his religious songs. I have a non-Schubertian ear, so can only guess at why this might be: is it too difficult? is it not difficult enough? too long? too short? too boring? (Oops…what a giveaway. Sorry, Franz.)

I found the Mass in E flat a bit of a curate’s egg: it wasn’t until the andante con moto at bar 145 in the Gloria that it started to appeal. It was slow and dramatic and, although a quartet sang the Miserere, the remainder – especially bars 221-224 – were more than adequate compensation. The Quoniam is over fairly (and thankfully) quickly, and the Cum sancto spiritu is very reminiscent of Bach. We interrupt the soloists every now and again during the Et incarnatus est, and they repay the gesture in the Benedictus. The Osanna gets its customary second airing after this.

By far my favourite section is the Agnus Dei. This has a lovely few (and I do mean few) bars where the altos are not completely drowned out by the brass section. Towards the end, after the Dona nobis pacem, there’s an all-too-brief reprise of the Agnus Dei but, again, the altos are up against the brass and, again, we lose.

All that said, he orchestra were very good, the soloists were on top form, Nico was sparkling in the Mozart, and Dan was as energetic and expressive as usual. However, for the few bars that I really enjoyed, I’d not rush to perform either piece again.

Saturday, 19 March 2016, Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

The last time I sung Elijah was in 2009, under the barely-moving baton of the formidable – but sadly now the late – Kurt Masur.

This time, it was under the animated baton of the equally formidable – and happily still with us – Dan Ludford-Thomas, and it was just as enjoyable to sing second time round.

The only niggle was… well, there were two niggles. Niggle one was that Dan decided we would sing it in English, not German. From the opening aliterative “Hilf, Herr!”, which can have you hyperventilating if you’re not careful, through the glorious “Aber der Herr sieht es nicht”, with its beautiful descending strings as the sopranos sing “…an vielen, vielen Tausenden…”, and the glorious, if spittle-fuelled, “Da kam ein feuriger Wagen, mit feurigen, feurigen Rosen” the English text doesn’t quite have the gutteral quality necessary for such a completely bonkers piece. That said, the descending strings are still beautiful, and you can have just as much fun with fiery, fiery horses. And I could find nothing in the preface of my Novello score that says you have to drench the front three rows with spittle.

Niggle two was the omission of No. 40. Well, 40 and 41, but 41 is a quartet so leaving it out made no difference to the choir. But No. 40 has some more gorgeous strings: have a look at the middle system on page 192 of the Novello edition – the cellos and double basses get that dotted rhythm for just three bars, but what a glorious three bars they are! Overall, it’s an uplifting sing and I didn’t understand why it was left out.

I could add a third niggle – Croydon – but I was able to drive there and, as you can park more or less underneath Fairfield Halls, it’s a very small one. The venue is actually very nice – big dressing room, a café for coffee, eateries a short walk away – with good staging and excellent sightlines. LCS numbers were bolstered by the Derbyshire Singers, and a good sound was made by all.