Over this 2022/23 season the choir are exploring the theme #ExpandingTheCanon,
placing established masterworks from the repertoire alongside
unjustly neglected works by women composers. In the Autumn term the
music is from the classical period (Martines and Mozart) and in the
Summer term it is from the baroque period (Handel, Leonarda, and
Vivaldi). In this Spring term the music is from the Romantic period,
with Bruch’s ever-popular Violin Concerto No. 1 being
performed alongside Dame Ethel Smyth’s remarkable Mass in D.
This juxtaposition of works is not done at random - both Bruch and
Smyth were pupils at the Leipzig Conservatory of Carl Reinecke (who
also taught Grieg, Janáček, Stanford, and Sullivan).
Dame Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D is, in the words of the 2022 BBC
Proms guide “one of the crowning glories of the British choral
tradition”; we agree! The Proms guide goes on to say “Ethel Smyth
wasn’t especially religious: the text and images of the Catholic
Mass simply thrilled her. ‘What words! What words!' she exclaimed”.
This is certainly true, and with well over an hour of music it is
certainly a test for any large chorus. She composed the work while a
guest of Empress Eugénie at Cape Martin, near Monaco, in the summer
of 1891. A private performance was given, with Smyth at the piano,
for Queen Victoria and Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, at Balmoral Castle
in October of that year, and the première was subsequently given in
the Royal Albert Hall in January 1893. It was revived in 1924 for a
performance conducted by Adrian Boult, and again in 1934 in a
performance conducted by Thomas Beecham, and attended by Queen Mary.
Unusually, the order of movements in the work is in the 1662 Book of
Common Prayer format rather than the universal one, and so the
Gloria comes right at the very end. Although the score was printed
with the movements ordered as in Catholic liturgy, with the Gloria
coming second, it included a note stating Smyth's preference for the
Gloria to be performed last; Smyth later wrote that her only reason
for it was to finish triumphantly. According to musicologist Donald
Tovey, the joyful mood sustained in the Gloria is an example of the
close attention which Smyth paid to matching the music to the
religious meaning of every part of each movement's text.
It is a huge honour to have commissioned this special arrangement by
George Morton of the Smyth’s Mass in D, which substantially
reduces the orchestral forces required to perform this work, and we
are honoured that Wise Music Classical have agreed to publish the
arrangement so that it can be accessed by many other groups who
would struggle to finance the original large orchestration.
Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 is a former No. 1 in the
Classic FM Hall of Fame, and is one of the most popular - and most
beautiful - of all violin concertos. The dazzling, virtuosic
passages, particularly in the glorious finale, make the violin sing
as it soars again and again to ever loftier heights. The second
movement is pure romance: beautiful, heart-breaking themes, woven
delicately within soulful orchestral accompaniment. And just as the
Mass in D is performed in a reduced orchestration, so is the
Bruch, thanks to Iain Farrington’s remarkable reduced scoring.
We are delighted to welcome guest conductor Laura Bailie for this
performance. Laura was born in Northern Ireland and has a
Master’s Degree in choral conducting from the Royal Birmingham
Conservatoire, and her undergraduate degree was in Classical Voice
at the Leeds Conservatoire. She has conducted a number of choruses,
and is Musical Director of Divertimento Voices in Royal Leamington
Spa and Daventry Choral Society. As an aside, we are also happy to
note that our friends at the Northampton Symphony Orchestra are
honouring Women of Note in their Spring concert, which falls just
one week after our concert, and includes works by Ruth Gipps,
Florence Price, Errollyn Wallen, and Grace Williams; great minds do
indeed think alike!Programme:
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1866) - Max Bruch
arranged by Iain Farrington
Mass in D (1891) - Dame Ethel Smyth
in a newly commissioned arrangement by George Morton
Northampton Bach Choir
Scordatura Collective
Tailleferre Ensemble
Soprano : Rebecca Bottone
Mezzo-Soprano : Rhiain Taylor
Tenor : Stephen Mills
Bass : Adam Marsden
Guest
Conductor - Laura Bailie |
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