Berberis' World

Sunday, 2nd July 2006, London Coliseum.

This was fun. No, seriously, it was. If you ignore the after-show unpleasantness involving some alcohol, a mobile phone and a nearly deserted railway station (no, not a bad remake of Brief Encounter, just a misunderstanding) I have to say I enjoyed myself. And, despite what I might have written elsewhere, I actually enjoyed singing the new, quasi-religious work that had been commissioned for the occasion.

A bit of background. Sing! (the exclamation is obligatory, like Tally Ho!) was organised by the redoubtable Mary King, and was a day spent at the London Coliseum with some of the members of 8 other non-professional choirs and choral societies from all over the UK. The first half was the individual choirs singing works from their repertoire, and the second was all of us singing 3 pieces – ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ by Verdi, ‘The Voyagers Chorus’ by Mozart and the new work, ‘genesis’ (fashionably lower case) by Richard Taylor.

We’d had a few rehearsals of ‘genesis’ before a Saturday workshop at Goldsmith’s College, and had been provided with a score and a rehearsal CD for homework. On this were the voices of professional singers (Mary included) and 5 different versions; 1 with all the parts at the same level, the other 4 each with one voice part louder than the rest. The score had to be returned, but I still have the CD, and occasionally put it on in the car. It’s a good one to warm up to, if you ignore the odd looks you get from pedestrians.

Those of us from Lewisham Choral Society who had agreed to sacrifice this Sunday in early July had chosen to sing ‘Who is Sylvia?’ and ‘Live with me and me my love’, as we had recently performed these in concert. We were thwarted as regards the latter, however, when we found out that another choir had chosen it, and earlier. We plumped for ‘Hey, ho, the wind and the rain’ instead – no-one’s favourite, but beggars etc. In the end, it went very well, we sounded lovely, and the interval was reached without incident.

I like ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’. I make no apologies for this. However, it was treated as something less than worthy during rehearsals, which irritated me. It’s lovely, moreso than the Mozart, in my opinion. And, en masse, ‘genesis’ was superb. I have dismissed modern religious music elsewhere, but I found this much less… pretentious?… twee?… pompous?… I’m not sure any of those words are right, but I liked singing ‘genesis’ in the same way that I’d not liked the other ones.

Whatever the day’s content, it was a really good experience to sing in such a large choir – I’d not done so before: the buzz at the end is worth all the cramped dressing rooms and overpriced refreshments. It’s also great to walk amongst the general public with your badge and your score and know that you are part of the show rather than a spectator. Don’t get me wrong: I love going to concerts. Being in the audience at the performance of a favourite work is hugely emotional, but there is a special thrill from being in the cast.

Minor unpleasantness aside, a most wonderful day.

Saturday, 24th June 2006, St Mary’s Church, Lewisham.

Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of 1610)

Soprano: Emma Murphy
Countertenor: Magid El-Bushra
Tenors: Tom Raskin, Adam Tunnicliffe
Basses: Patrick Ardagh-Walter, Charles Pott

Sydenham High School Junior Choir (Director: Caroline Lenton-Ward)

Eton Chapel Cornetts and Sackbuts
Cornetti: Nigel Paul, David Staff, Daniel Weitz
Sackbuts: Sue Addison, Tom Hammond, Andrew Harwood-White
Violins: Barbara Barros, Hazel Brooks
Violas: Wendy Kelly, Alexandra Lawrence
Cello: Abigail Wall
Violone: Bill Hunt
Chittaron: Robin Jeffrey
Chamber Organ: Martin Knizia

Conductor: Stefan Reid

This was interesting. It’s a big score, physically as well as in content. Any sensible person would have cut it in half to make it easier to carry for the duration of the concert.  It’s also available in three colours: red – Lauda Jerusalem & Magnificat transposed fown a fouth; blue – Lauda Jerusalem & Magnificat untransposed; green – any other transposition you might desire. Ours was red. Nice and cheerful.

The alto part is all over the place. We start the Domine ad adiuvandum on an A (composers do like this note for altos) and get a high F# towards the end. Promising. But Dixit Dominus sees us on the tenor line, and here we stay until the end. We complained bitterly about this during rehearsals – and during the following AGM, and for some time afterwards – but, to be fair, there are still some interesting things to sing, including Ave maris stella: Hymnus a 8, which has some beautiful harmonies. There is a suspension in bar 37 – the second minim – which I would like to be able to play at the press of a button.

According to the index, this was written for no more than 10 voices. So you can imagine that, with upwards of 140 people, some of the parts were going to be challenging to do well. Even if everyone’s paying attention, things can easily go astray if one person comes in early/late/on the wrong note. Perhaps this was why Stefan decided to divvy up some of the sections to a semi-chorus, for which I volunteered. He further divided the phrases between a couple of voices, and Kate and I got bars 46-53 in the Laudate Pueri a 8.

It went okay – I was a little nervous, but a few nerves are good to stop you getting complacent – so I was very surprised when Stefan approched me after the concert to tell me I should be singing more solos. It was heartening to have my contribution recognised and appreciated.

Saturday, 18th March, 2006, St Paul’s Church, Deptford.

Handel: Zadok the Priest
Soprano solo: Handel – Eternal Source of Light Divine
Organ solo: Bach – Prelude in B minor BWV 544
Soprano solo: Handel – Let the Bright Seraphim
Handel: The King Shall Rejoice
Liszt: Missa Choralis
Soprano solo: Burgon – Nunc Dimittis
Britten: Rejoice in The Lamb

Soprano: Caroline Lenton-Ward
Trumpet: David Clewlow
Organ: Andrew Dutson and Stefan Reid
Conductor: Stefan Reid

There were two new pieces here – Liszt’s Missa Choralis and Britten’s Rejoice In The Lamb. The Liszt starts out sounding a little derivative, but takes a lovely, ethereal turn at the Bendictus. This continues through the Agnus Dei, which contains some to-die-for suspensions that the altos (yes!) get to sing. There are some beautiful phrases in this. The other-worldly feel continues, more or less, to the end. Occasional solos – which are normally done by a semi-chorus in a choral society – punctuate this piece. It’s a little gem.

The Britten is weird. ‘For I will consider my cat, Jeoffrey.’ Eh? Words by a man with mental health issues, music by a near genius. The divide is imperceptible. Some of the Lamb is embarassing (‘For the Mouse is a creature of geat personal valour’ – really?), and some is nonsense (‘For the cymbal rhimes are bell well toll soul and the like’ – um… no.).

However, some is intensely wonderful, and it’s worth the silliness to get there. The slow build from ‘For I am under the same accusations…’ to ‘For Silly fellow…’ definitely has the the tingle factor. From figure 30, you need supreme breath control and more than a weather eye on the conductor, but it’s very rewarding.

Saturday, 17th December 2005, St Mary’s Church, Lewisham.

Magnificat – Paul Patterson

Carols for choir and audience: Once in Royal David’s City/O Magnum Mysterium (Gabrieli)/The Cherry Tree Carol/Of the Father’s Heart Begotten/Hodie Christus Natus Est/Stille Nacht/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Here We Come A-wassailing/While Shepherds Watched/The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Conducted by Stefan Reid and Andrew Dutson

Accompanied by The Aurelian Ensemble

Trumpets: Alex Cromwell, Dom Field, Giles Liddiard, Ruth Woodhams

Trombones: Lewis Edney, Robb Tooley, Robert Workman

Tuba: Simon Roberts

Timpani and percussion: Sacha Johnson, Emily Morris

The opening piece was Magnificat (Opus 75, 1993) by Paul Patterson.

The last Magnificat we sang was by Cecilia McDowall, and I’m afraid that – for me – both that and this work by Paul Patterson suffer from the same thing: trying too hard. For this Magnificat, it was the the trumpets, the syncopation, the tambourine, the lack of any identfiable melody, the overall twee-ness. None of this is the fault of the composer or the musicians – the tingle factor was, for me, competely absent. So it was a good thing we sang it first to get it out of the way, leaving the carols for the much more traditional, and peronsally enjoyable, second half.

Saturday, 12th March 2005, St Mary’s Church, Lewisham.

Matthias: Shakespeare Songs: Under the greenwood tree/Full fathom five/Lawn as white as driven snow/Sigh no more, ladies/Crabbed age and youth/Dirge/It was a lover and his lass/Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Solos by Kate Mapp: Who is Sylvia? (Franz Schubert)/Full fathom five (Robert Johnson)/Who is Sylvia? (Gerald Finzi)

Shearing: Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare: Live with me and be my love/When daffodils begin to peer/It was a lover and his lass/Spring(when daises pied)/Who is Sylvia?/Fie on sinful fantasy/Hey, ho, the wind and the rain

Solos by Kate Mapp: It was a lover and his lass (Roger Quilter)/Take, O, take those lips away (Madeline Dring)/When daisies pied (Thomas Arne)/The Compleat Works (John Dankworth)

Rutter: Birthday Madrigals: It was a lover and his lass/Draw on, sweet night/Come live with me/My true love hath my heart/When daisies pied

I preferred the Rutter to the Shearing, which was a little too ‘Sing Something Simple’ for my taste.