United Kingdom Three Choirs Pageant [5] – Whitacre, Stanford, Mealor, Chilcott: Florence Worth (soprano), Three Cathedral Choirs / Samuel Hudson (conductor). Worcester Cathedral, 1.8.2024. (JQ)
Eric Whitacre – Lux aurumque
Stanford – The Bluebird (from Op.119)
Paul Mealor – Ringed with the Azure World (4 Madrigals on Birds) (Pageant fee, premiere)
Stanford – Three Motets, Op.38
Bob Chilcott – The Offended Planet. An Environmental Cantata (2012)
Every year, the Three Cathedral Choirs unite to carry out a significant live performance on the Three Choirs Pageant. This 12 months, underneath the route of Samuel Hudson, they provided a night of a cappella works, most of which fitted in with the idea of the pure world, which is a key theme on the Pageant this 12 months.
They started with Eric Whitacre’s Lux aurumque. This, I assumed, provided an early and wonderful instance of the way in which the mixed choirs – some sixty voices in all – blended. Whitacre’s music was very effectively sung and Hudson formed the piece effectively. Stanford’s beautiful half track, The Bluebird (1910) has a significant prime soprano line; tonight, this was delivered by native singer Florence Worth. She is a former chorister at Worcester Cathedral and I realized from the programme biography that she has been provided a spot to learn music with a choral scholarship at Trinity Faculty, Cambridge. It will likely be a beautiful expertise for her to sing with that fantastic choir and on the proof of what we heard tonight, I’m not shocked Trinity Faculty need her. She sang her half within the Stanford with pure tone and readability. She was positioned proper on the prime of the choir staging and when she was singing the melody line in verse 1, I puzzled if it might need been a greater thought if Hudson had positioned her just a few rows additional down on the staging; she would nonetheless have been above the choir however her pretty sound might need carried even higher down the nave. This was a fantastic efficiency by all involved of Stanford’s miniature masterpiece.
Subsequent got here the premiere of a Pageant fee: Ringed with the Azure World (4 Madrigals on Birds) by Paul Mealor, who was current for the efficiency. Mealor has chosen 4 poems with avian themes. First comes ‘The Eagle’ by Tennyson. Right here, Mealor’s sluggish, dark-hued music evokes very efficiently the brooding presence of the raptor as he surveys the ocean under, locates his prey and strikes. The subsequent poem is the nameless ‘The Silver Swan’. Once more, the music is darkish and sluggish, which isn’t inappropriate for the reason that poet is describing a mute swan. When the fowl lastly finds its voice the trebles carol whereas the decrease voices proceed with their darkish, chordal music. ‘The Nightingale’ is one other nameless textual content. Mealor units this to swift, nimble music. A characteristic of the setting is cheeky little interpolations from a cuckoo; the one on the very finish of the piece provoked audible chuckles from the viewers. The concluding ‘The Blue Chook’ makes use of the identical poem by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge which Stanford set; it was fascinating to match and distinction the approaches of the 2 composers. Mealor’s response to the poem is somewhat solemn and darkish in colouration. In its personal means it’s spectacular however I can’t assist however marvel if it was Stanford who caught Coleridge’s temper higher; I missed mild and airiness in Mealor’s music. I favored a lot about Ringed with the Azure World, which appears to be effectively written for voices. If I’ve a criticism, it will be that three of the 4 settings have music which is predominantly sluggish and somewhat dark-hued. I’m positive the composer may have been delighted by the assured first efficiency which Hudson and his mixed choir gave.
To shut the primary half, we returned to Stanford. His Three Motets might not be the obvious ‘match’ with the theme of the pure world however it’s all the time welcome to listen to these splendid items, whether or not individually or, as tonight, as a set. These motets are a lot sooner than The Bluebird; in his programme notice, Jeremy Dibble informed us that they most likely date from the late Eighteen Eighties. These items are meat and drink to cathedral choirs and I obtained that sense from the efficiency tonight. ‘Justorum animae’ flowed properly, although there was applicable power within the singing of the motet’s center part. The Ascension motet ‘Cœlos ascendit hodie’ is a jubilant piece and I admired the wonderful assault within the choir’s singing. Lastly got here my private favorite, ‘Beati quorum through’. This can be a gem of a chunk and I actually loved its efficiency through which all of the completely different vocal elements registered effectively; the ensemble was very well balanced by Hudson.
After the interval got here a single work, Bob Chilcott’s The Offended Planet. This was commissioned by the Bach Choir; it was first carried out on the 2012 BBC Proms. Subsequently, in 2015, a studio recording was made, which was my introduction to the rating. The thought, together with the title and the involvement of younger singers, was David Hill’s. He proposed, in Chilcott’s phrases, a chunk ‘with reference to the fragility of our world and on our must respect and take care of the environment.’ This composition, lasting some 45 minutes, for unaccompanied choirs, is the consequence. For his libretto, Chilcott turned to his buddy and frequent collaborator, the poet Charles Bennett.
The construction of The Offended Planet is worried with a forest at evening over a twelve-hour interval, starting at 6pm. The work’s 4 sections every relate to a three-hour phase of time, although there isn’t any narrative of time passing; somewhat, what Bennett does in his poems is to stimulate the listener to look at and mirror upon the forest at varied factors within the evening. Really, we’re contemplating a threatened forest as a result of the first thrust of Bennett’s poems is the harm that man has performed and will proceed to do to the pure atmosphere of the forest. This explicit level is emphasised at a number of factors within the rating by the youth choir who ‘in an exaggerated spoken fashion’, as Chilcott describes it, enunciate the names of varied animal species that are both prone to extinction or which have handed the purpose of no return. For this efficiency, a small group of choristers (junior choristers, I feel) acted because the youth choir. There have been 9 of those singers and each time they had been concerned, they got here onstage and stood in line in entrance of the remainder of the choir. They delivered their elements clearly, confidently and from reminiscence. It by no means ceases to amaze me that younger singers like these so usually participate in complicated choral works singing from reminiscence (whereas all us grownup singers use a rating). It isn’t a lot the truth that they will commit the phrases and music to reminiscence however, much more impressively, entries and notice values are spot on. That, I’m positive, was the case tonight and these 9 younger musicians did a first-class job.
Chilcott set 13 poems in The Offended Planet. The music is diversified and, I feel, suits effectively with the phrases. Those that know his music via his mellifluous Christmas items could also be shocked by the higher darkness and grit on this music however I feel that’s totally applicable to the subject material. He divides the primary choir (in different phrases, all of the singers aside from the youth choir) into three completely different teams and makes use of a number of group for every poem; at occasions the complete ensemble comes collectively. That could be a good choice as a result of it produces number of texture, one thing one appreciates much more when one can see the efficiency.
It struck me tonight that The Offended Planet is one thing of a sluggish burner. I had the impression that Elements 1 and a pair of, although necessary, appear to put the bottom for Half 3. The music acquires higher depth in Half 3, and particularly in third and fourth poems in that part. ‘3am’, the penultimate setting in Half 3, is a sluggish, sorrowful episode; it’s an more and more intense elegy for the pure world. Considerably, the Latin phrases ‘Requiem æternam. Lux perpetua. Sempiternam requiem’ run like a vein all through the setting, these phrases set to chant-like music. This is among the most shifting, memorable elements of the work. Within the setting which follows, ‘Sorry too late’ Bennett weaves into his poem some phrases from the Common Confession (E-book of Widespread Prayer). Chilcott units this explicit poem to highly effective, pressing music.
Earlier within the piece we had one other alternative to listen to soloist Florence Worth. In ‘Midnight’ she has the principal function – the supporting choral writing suggests, somewhat successfully, deep evening. I assumed she sang very effectively; her tone was clear and pure and he or she carried out confidently. Her voice carried effectively to my seat midway down the nave. Her contributions to this live performance had been utterly assured.
The fourth and final part of The Offended Planet concludes with a poem entitled ‘Maybe’, through which all of the choirs be a part of. Right here, neither phrases nor music give us a ‘pleased ending’; that might be facile and too simple. Perhaps, although, Chilcott and Bennett conclude on a notice of cautious optimism.
The Offended Planet acquired an assured and efficient efficiency this night; I’m positive Bob Chilcott, who was current, was delighted. In contrast to the Stanford Motets, this isn’t the form of music – or subject material – that cathedral choirs will usually encounter. The lay clerks, who’re skilled singers, are extra possible to take action however not, maybe, the choristers. However, after all, younger musicians are so adaptable.
Once I first encountered the work on CD, again in 2015, I favored it (evaluate right here). The efficiency now left me a bit extra considerate; I hasten to say that this by no means pertains to the standard of what I heard. I ponder, nonetheless, if The Offended Planet is a bit an excessive amount of of a very good factor. It’s fairly prolonged – the efficiency took about 47 minutes – and that’s fairly a very long time for unaccompanied voices to maintain, although the Cathedral Choirs did so very effectively, by no means flagging in power or approach. It crossed my thoughts that some instrumental colouring might need been welcome however, having stated that, Chilcott’s skilful use of various choirs provides textural selection.
On reflection, I feel the problem is that an terrible lot of ideas are addressed on this work. Although the 2 items are very completely different in fashion there may be, I feel, some similarity with Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered, which I heard earlier within the week (evaluate right here), in that the libretto is wordy and there may be somewhat an excessive amount of of it (although Bennett’s poems per se are excellent and I a lot choose them to the poems set within the Snider work). Maybe setting one poem much less in every part would have been useful. As we walked again to the automotive, I talked about what we had heard with my visitor, a really skilled newbie singer. She agreed with me and used the phrase ‘congested’, by which she meant that there have been too many phrases and concepts, resulting in somewhat an excessive amount of music. I feel there’s loads in that; there may be an excessive amount of packed into the rating. That stated, The Offended Planet and the performers had been warmly applauded by the viewers.
John Quinn
