What does the Verdi Requiem conjure up? Sweeping shots of the dome of the Albert Hall as it thunders out at the Proms? The Sistine Chapel ceiling with sinners plunging into hell? Or perhaps a religious opera, or church theatre, whichever way you look at it.
It was said recently in the local paper that James Sherlock knows how to get the best out of choirs without shouting at them. With the results he managed to produce in his Scratch choir with only three hours rehearsal – and far more ladies than men – he must have murmured gently to them throughout. Sterling support came from our own David Moore on the organ and pianist Ben San Lau – they almost managed to convince us we were hearing the bass drum in the Dies Irae!
I said that the Requiem could perhaps be seen as church theatre – “Aida” was completed only three years before and here and there bits of its score are peeping from behind the scenes, as it were.
Besides the choir, an important group of soloists are needed and, unlike in some oratorios where they sit neatly like a row of brides on a bench for a lot of the time, Verdi, good opera man that he was, gives them plenty to do. Our four more than stepped up to the challenge. Augusta Hebbert and Carris Jones, both alone and together, showed off their skills and were really very moving. The “Ingemisco” is a big ask for a young tenor, but, undaunted, Aidan Coburn hit the big top note fair and square and carried it off with style. We know Martin Oxenham can be sympathetic in the bass solos, and he was. And Verdi had produced a sheaf of fine tenor and bass duets in his operas and here he does it again.
One notable feature of the choir, and the hardest to achieve, specially with such short notice, was their soft singing. Of course the Dies Irae is the section everyone knows, and for which the audience tends to wait. Pound, pound, pound – it never lets up in its apocalyptic vision, and our trusty organ was able to see that the trumpet should sound.
There are times in the Requiem when you almost expect a chorus of cowled monks to process across the stage or an unseen group of nuns to start singing. Somehow the whole atmosphere of the piece suits the sort of church building we have.
And full marks to the Scratch choir for rolling out the Latin with such gusto. Many of us did not study it at school or quickly moved on to modern languages instead. Respect, as they say!
The Parish Church cries out for full-scale music, chamber music and drama to be performed in it, and it is splendid how this keeps on happening.
And next year’s Requiem date is already settled*. You have been warned!
*November 8th
Verdi Requiem Review
Suzanne Pinkerton