Monteverdi Vespers Success!
2 April 2017
St Matthew's Church was packed last night with both audience (our
largest in recent years) and performers! Nearly 110 members of the
Northampton Bach Choir were joined by the 25 members of the Malcolm
Arnold Academy Chapel Choir, 6 soloists, and the 12 players of the
period orchestra Charivari Agréable - that's over 150 musicians.
The concert began in dramatic style with a solemn procession of
soloists from the rear of church, accompanied by a marching drum
beat and drones in the orchestra ... the tenor soloist Gwilym Bowen
made his way to the very top of the choir staging, turned round, and
on the loudest stroke of the drum, the drones were silenced and we
began. Singing the first movement from memory the choir gripped the
audience from the very moment they began to sing.
110 members of the Northampton Bach Choir
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Using our own Musical Director's edition of the score, we were
able to weave plainsong into the performance, sung by the men of the
choir, and many of the choruses used our six soloists in ensemble,
to create dramatic tension between smaller and larger groups of
singers. Indeed, the Director of Charivari Agréable wrote to say:
What an evening of
revelation it was for me,
Lee! I thought I knew the
work like the back of my
hand, but you showed us how
to make the quirky and
uneven Vespers work for a
large choir. And it was a
stroke of genius to give the
semi-chorus elements to the
soloists. Please thank the
Northampton Bach Choir for
the very many
beautifully-shaped phrases,
exquisite pianissimos,
raging fortissimos ... the
gentle ebb and flow of the
Ave Maris Stella was
particularly memorable,
especially the lozenge
dynamics at the closing
Amen.
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Monteverdi Vespers Success!
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After the Interval the second half began in silence, with tenor
Gwilym Bowen on stage, and the echo tenor Robert Anthony Gardiner,
accompanied by chitarrone in the far distance by the High Altar. The
drama continued right through the remainder of the concert, not
least with the addition of both the full chorus and a superb soloist
from the Malcolm Arnold Academy Chapel Choir in both the Sonata and
the Magnificat. A member of the audience wrote to say:
What a fantastic
performance which I enjoyed
almost more than any other
Bach Choir concert despite
my misgivings about this era
of music. I am full of
admiration for the way in
which you can put together
such a complex performance
with soloists (all
excellent), the specialist
orchestra and the choir.
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The choir now have a well-earned break before beginning
rehearsals next term for both our July concert performance of the
Requiem
settings by Maurice Duruflé and Gabriel Fauré, as well as for our
tour to Venice at the end of
May. |
