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Our Next Concert
Saturday 28th April 2012
7.30 pm
Beethoven Choral Fantasia
Mozart Requiem
***
Saturday 10th December 2011
7.30 pm
Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle
* * *
Saturday 2nd April 2011
at 7.30pm
Gabriel Fauré
Requiem
Cantique de Jean Racine
John Rutter
Feel the Spirit
* * *
Haydn – Missa ‘in Angustiis’
Bernstein – Chichester Psalms
Sunday 28th March 2010
Emily Phillips – soprano
Daniela Thomas – contralto
Tim Ward – tenor
Martin Oxenham – bass
Oliver Kossoff – treble
The Centenary Choir & Orchestra
Conducted by John Bradbury
Haydn’s Missa ‘ in Angustiis’ is more popularly known as The ‘Nelson Mass’. No-one seems to know how or when it acquired this latter title or how Nelson’s name became associated with it. However, it is probably the most popular of Haydn’s many settings in this genre.
It was good to welcome Emily Phillips, Tim Ward and Martin Oxenham back to the platform at UCS, though an especially warm welcome this time to Daniela Thomas who was singing contralto at UCS for the first time. This mass allows the choir centre stage most of the time with huge swathes of choral writing. Haydn uses the soloists to interject and they often appear in ensemble rather than in virtuoso arias. That said, the soprano soars above the chorus in both Kyrie and Gloria movements.
The choir acquitted themselves well and appeared to enjoy Haydn’s clever choral writing. For this performance we used the slightly larger orchestration with more woodwind, which seemed to work well with a choir of 120.
The Bernstein Chichester Psalms is no stranger to UCS, having been performed several times, including our last tour to Poland. This work is not to be undertaken lightly and several members of the choir wondered whether we really had bitten off more than we could chew! Not so judging by the very exciting performance on 28th March 2010.
The performance used the chamber version of harp, organ and percussion. We are very lucky to be able to engage such consummate professional musicians as Imogen Barford, Gavin Roberts and Matt West. It is never easy in the Great Hall keeping such forces together, especially as the organist, who plays such an important part in this work, is so far away. It was an electrifying performance and special congratulations must go to Oliver Kossoff, our treble soloist, who gave an exquisite performance of the haunting Adonai roi.
Johann Sebastian Bach – Christmas Oratorio
Saturday 5th December 2009
Emily Phillips – soprano
Morag Boyle – contralto
David Knight – Evangelist
Marc Finer – tenor
Lynton Black – bass
Conducted by John Bradbury
I’m not sure that Tim Ward realised what he was saying, when, at a committee meeting some months before, he suggested Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for the next concert. At the first rehearsal in September suddenly everyone realised what they were up against. Bach’s difficult vocal textures are a challenge for any singer, let alone the unwary amateur. The hard work – and it certainly was – finally paid off. From the first down-beat at the final rehearsal, everyone realised what a sublime musical experience we were all about to encounter. Hugh Davies’ and David Shead’s superb trumpet playing in the opening chorus gave both audience and choir a taste of things to come and the choir rose to Bach’s taxing first chorus Jauchzet, frohlocket.
Similar to Bach’s settings of the Passion, the Evangelist tells the story using familiar texts from the gospels of St Luke and St Matthew. David Knight gave a sensitive and moving account as the Evangelist, narrating the Christmas story with a keen sense of drama. It was a delight to welcome him to UCS and hope that we are able to work together again. The sense of drama is further enhanced by the other soloists performing, among others, the roles of the Angels and Herod whilst the chorus sing the parts of the heavenly host, the Shepherds and the Wise Men. All the other soloists need no introduction to UCS having either performed or been a pupil here. Emily Phillips gave a delightful performance in both arias and ensemble numbers and Morag Boyle on a night off from ENO gave great character to her reflective arias. It was a particular pleasure to welcome Marc Finer back to UCS in a solo capacity and his aria towards the end of Cantata VI provided us with a vocal firework display. Lynton Black delighted his audience in both the more reflective ariosos and in his role as a menacing Herod.
Special mention must be made of one of Bach’s most inventive arias Flöβt, mein Heiland in which he makes use of dialogue between the soprano soloist, an ‘echo’ soprano – Debra Brunner and the first oboist.
The Centenary Orchestra was led by Caryn Cohen, and was made up as usual, of a combination of professional musicians, Old Gowers and current UCS students.
The performance was one of the most thrilling and moving musical experiences I’ve had at UCS and will remain in the memory of all those who took part for some considerable time to come.
Carl Orff – Carmina Burana
17th December 2008
Emily Phillips – soprano
Patrick Craig – counter-tenor
Martin Oxenham – baritone
Malgorata Czapor – piano
Susi Morrow – piano
John Bradbury - Conductor
After the huge success of Handel’s Messiah we decided to ring the changes and began rehearsing Carmina Burana in September 2008. The challenges for the choir were in Orff’s quirky rhythmic writing, the pronunciations of medieval Latin and German and the split-part choral textures. The enthusiasm was overwhelming and with a regular chorus of some 86 singers and Tim Ward’s imaginative warm-ups and superb piano accompaniment, we had fun getting to grips with Orff’s demanding writing.
The performance on 17th December 2008 was full of verve and vitality and coupled with Orff’s chamber accompaniment of 2 pianos and percussion, sounded crisp in the sometimes over-generous acoustic of the UCS Great Hall. Emily Phillips, no stranger to UCS, stunned the audience with her beautiful rendition of the ‘Cours d’amour’, and a frisson went around the hall as she soared up to her top D in the ecstatic ‘Dulcissime’. Patrick Craig, who incidentally, performed this role for us at the Barbican in 2000, amused everyone with his acted-out roasting swan ‘Olim lacus colueram’ – replete with white dress suit! Martin Oxenham played to his audience as very convincing drunken abbot and again gave a lovely performance of a part which is hugely demanding of the singer’s technique.
The Centenary Choir was joined on this occasion by the trebles of the Choir of University College School who gave a superb account of themselves, not only in the Ragazzi part for children's’ choir, but adding their voices to the stratospheric soprano lines in the main choruses.
Orff’s demanding piano writing was magnificently executed by Malgorata Czapor and Susi Morrow, who accompanied the soloists exquisitely and sensitively and also added to the rumbustious nature of the choruses yet were never overpowered by the 6 excellent percussionists.
Mozart Mass in C minor KV. 427
& Symphony No. 40 in G minor KV. 550
28th March 2009
Ruth Gomme – soprano
Elisabeth Meister – soprano
Tim Ward – tenor
Paul Grier – bass
The Centenary Choir
The Choir of University College School
The Chamber Choir of University College School & South Hampstead High School
The Centenary Orchestra – Leader Thomas Gould
Conducted by John Bradbury
It is always good to be able to invite Old Gowers back to perform at UCS and we were very privileged to have several playing in this concert – not least it was lovely to welcome Thomas Gould back to lead an orchestra of professional musicians, Old Gowers and some current pupils.
I said in the programme notes that this concert was surrounded in mystery. The Mass in C minor was left unfinished and there has been much conjecture as to why. A certain air of mystery also surrounds the composition and first performances of Mozart’s most well known Symphony No. 40 in G minor.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 occupied the first half of this concert and was an absolute delight to hear. Despite its popularity, Mozart makes great technical demands of his players in this work and on only one rehearsal seemed somewhat daunting. However, from the first down-beat it was obvious that we were in for a treat. The energy of the playing and the musicianship of the performers shone through from the outset. The first movement, with its well-known first subject had clean, well-shaped phrasing and a sense of forward propulsion, whilst the slow movement contained some beautiful cantabile shaping in its languid melody. The minuet’s measured pace was in contrast to the exciting presto finale.
After the interval, the orchestra was joined by the Centenary Choir, the Choir of University College School and the Chamber Choir of University College School and South Hampstead High School and soloists for a performance of arguably Mozart’s finest choral work, the Mass in C minor.
Mozart’s choral writing in this work is essentially operatic and his use of double-choir texture as well as intricate counterpoint makes huge demands of both soloists and choir.
Mozart’s wife, Constanze, for whom one of the soprano parts was written, was no mean singer, and Ruth Gomme and Elizabeth Meister, no strangers to UCS, gave stunningly beautiful accounts of themselves, individually and in the wonderful duet ‘Domine Deus’.
It was a delight to welcome our own Tim Ward to the platform as tenor soloist, who gave a superb account of himself in the trio and final quartet. His singing continues to inspire us at UCS, whether as members of the choir or as individual singing pupils.
The bass soloist remains seated until the final ‘Benedictus’, when he joins the other soloists in a quartet which could be taken from any opera by Mozart. Paul Grier added gravitas to this final movement in his usual inimitable way.
The augmented choir excelled itself on this occasion, rising to Mozart’s challenges with courage and conviction. If one were to highlight two features of their singing, they would have to be the dramatic subito piano effects in the ‘Qui tollis’, which were executed with precision and musicality, and the spirited singing in the fugal textures, especially in ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ – not easy by any account!
How fortunate were are to have so many parents, ex-parents and members of the local community who are so enthusiastic and dedicated to this venture so that we are now able to provide three concerts a year - one of these devoted to a charity.
Elgar - Songs 'From the Bavarian Highlands'
Tim Ward - piano
John Bradbury - conductor
25th June 2009
After the unanimous decision taken at the final choral rehearsal of the Mozart Mass, the choir resumed rehearsals in May for a more light-hearted term's singing. However, the Elgar 'Songs from the Bavarian Highlands' still provide the choir with some challenges.
During the 1890s Elgar and his wife, Alice spent several holidays in Bavaria both enjoying the countryside and the relaxed atmosphere of the area. Here they saw the Schuhplattler dancing and in 1895, he wrote a suite of six 'choral songs' - settings of words by his wife, which tried to conjure up the spirit of these dances. Five of the six songs are in triple time, most are exuberant, and number two, False Love is the only one to strike a sad note.
The choir provided the finale to the 'Evening with the Music Department' this year and gave a spirited performance of The Dance (No.1). In False Love (No. 2), the sustained phrases were supported well and the subtle rubatos were treated with care and musicianship. The Lullaby (No.3) gave the alto section their opportunity to shine in the beautifully written solo lines, whilst the rest of the choir enjoyed Elgar's homophonic textures in the choruses. In Aspiration (No.4), Elgar demands careful treatment of the dynamics and tempo and here there were some exciting moments in the hall's resonant acoustic. In The Marksmen (No.6), Elgar treats us to one of the finest build-ups to a 'big tune' that we have come to associate with his style of composing. The demands here, especially for the accompanist are particularly evident and Tim Ward coped admirably with Elgar's very demanding piano writing.
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