21st February
It sounds like the perfect Victorian ballad – ‘Dear congregation do not grieve, The time has come for me to leave’ etc. etc., sung by that nice young man who works in the haberdasher’s, in a rather quavery tenor, accompanied by the Headmaster’s eldest daughter, who is so nervous, and hopes nobody notices that wrong note in the second verse……
But with our bunch of tough professionals, there would be no such problems! There they were, booted, suited, and elegantly gowned. What a line-up! We were so pleased to welcome back Jonny Beatty, our piano/orchestra, and Ed Price, Nicholas’ predecessor.
We set out with Bruckner’s “Ecce Sacerdos” for the full choir. Known for his monumental symphonies, Bruckner, a real Austrian son of the soil, also wrote fine church music – music which suggests those great baroque abbeys, which loom over the Austrian countryside – and our singers let go and produced, as ever, an amazing volume of sound, under James’ never-failing direction. Very sensibly, they sang from the choir-stalls. They then moved forward and got down to business with the song repertoire.
Some of those songs I have reviewed before, and the first, “Abschied” (Farewell) sung by Paul Robinson, is one of them. It’s a winner for Paul, and it was interesting to hear Jonny’s version of the accompaniment, having heard James before. The trotting horse lost none of its verve!
On to Schumann, and here we were on fresh territory. It was a good idea to have Kathy Nicholson sing “Widmung” (Dedication) as she has such a warm personality, and this is such a warm, loving song. Nicholas Mogg has recently made an excellent impression at a Master Class with Christian Gerhaher at the Wigmore Hall, representing the RAM and his interpretation of “Schöne Wiege” by Schumann, which I know to be a favourite of Stephen’s, showed why.
Some of you may remember a concert organised by Jonny a long time ago, where Ed Price and other singers sang Brahms’ lengthy set of “Schöne Magalone” songs, and it was good to hear Ed, now a mature singer, bring out one of the songs, which is quite a show-piece, again. Martin Oxenham followed with “Zueignung”, one of Richard Strauss’ best known songs. Strauss’s love-songs always have this flavour of rich chocolate and lilac in full bloom – you identify with them at once as by him.
And then, such fun! – to hear Paul give us another go at “Adieu” from the operetta “White Horse Inn”. It’s charming, the tune is catchy, and we all hummed along on request. Give that man a gig at the Komische Oper!
Next, the English Department.
Ed sang “Silent Noon” by Vaughan Williams which happens to have a lovely poem by Rossetti. We’re very good at good diction at this church, and he, and Martin, who sang “Love bade Me welcome” also by Vaughan Williams, demonstrated it too. He’s been at it a while – he told us this was his Third Vicar!
Aidan Coburn then repeated the very poignant “Choirmaster’s Burial” from Britten’s “Winter Words” with poems by Thomas Hardy. It’s a lovely idea that when the current Vicar wouldn’t allow any music at the funeral, music was played – was it angels? – round the grave at night. “Such the tenor man told”. Aidan was our tenor man.
Rachel Ambrose Evans then sang a setting of an Irish folk song I had never heard. It’s called “The fields of Athenry” and tells the heartbreaking story of the young wife having to see her husband transported to Botany Bay for a minor theft of some corn in a poor country plagued by famine. It made me cry!
The whole company then joined to sing “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen” from Tippett’s “Child of our Time”. The very fast, very intricate unaccompanied version is a test for any choir, and they came out with full marks.
And there’s more!
Now we were in France. Rachel sang Fauré’s “En Sourdine” charmingly and Kathy, who is noted for her French, sang “Mandoline”, a favourite of mine, with its Watteauesque characters dallying in a garden, and the very difficult “Après un rêve” with its long lines, which must be uninterrupted. They were. I sang then all, so I appreciate all the challenges!
Not many men at the RAM tackle French song. But Nicholas does, and I have mentioned his work before. Here he sang the exquisite “L’Invitation au Voyage” by Duparc, and proved an operatic voice can indeed negotiate this kind of music. In the famous line “Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté” he brought it down gradually so “volupté” was a seductive whisper. There was a tiny smudge in the French in one place, but that can easily be corrected.
Are you still with me? Then we had an interval!
All this time Robin Tyson had been patiently sitting, or joining in the ensembles. Now, out he came to sing a couple of classics. “Lascia ch’io piango” from Handel’s opera “Rinaldo” came first. The tune had done good service for Handel already, but it reminded us that between all the whirling and twirling of his showpiece arias he could suddenly turn on something hauntingly touching. Robin then sang “Amarilli” by Caccini. May I just peep out from behind the screen for a moment and say I learnt this when I was only about 18, and was delighted to know “Amarilli, my beauty” is still serenaded as much as ever, and beautifully here.
What about opera? Well, what about it? We couldn’t have had an Italian section without it! Our tenor man was very much to the fore when Aidan launched into Alfredo’s big piece (he didn’t just sing the Drinking song!) From “La Traviata”. And he sang the Cabaletta! Alerted in advance, I’d been waiting for this! We got joy – we got fury – and Aidan had a great time! So did we!
I have to say I was much intrigued by the idea of two baritones singing a duet from Bellini’s “I Puritaini”! But, as I think one baritone = good ∴ 2 baritones = even better! I was all for it. Step forward those doughty warriors of the Protestant cause, Nicholas and Martin! What was so great about it was first one had a solo, then they sang together, and then the other had a solo, and then they sang together – and so on. It nearly lifted the roof! Martin is later in his career, but if anything proved that, in about 10 years time, Nicholas will be soaring his way through the Italian repertoire, that did!
Just to calm us down, the choir sang “Steal Away” ever so gently, also from “Child of our Time”.
And then we stole away too.
The Vicar’s Farewell
Suzanne Pinkerton