The City of Glasgow Chorus: Bach Magnificat and Vivaldi Gloria

City Halls, Glasgow - 24/03/24

City of Glasgow Chorus | Orchestra of Scottish Opera | Paul Keohone, conductor | Sian Winstanley, soprano | Alison McNeill, soprano | Marco di Chio, counter-tenor | Monwabisi Lindi, tenor | Phil Gault, baritone

In a year in which they celebrate the 40th anniversary of their founding, The City of Glasgow Chorus teamed up again with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera under the direction of Paul Keohone to present a spring programme of Baroqueand Renaissance choral masterpieces in Glasgow’s City Halls on the night of Sunday 24th March.  They were joined by five vocal soloists: Welsh soprano Sian Winstanley, Scottish soprano Alison McNeill, Glasgow-based Italian counter-tenor Marco di Chio, South African tenor Monwabisi Lindi and Welsh-Irish baritone Phil Gault.  The two main works were Bach’s 1723 ‘Magnificat’ and Vivaldi’s 1715 ‘Gloria’.  Both halves of the concert opened with miniatures, the first a Purcell motet and, immediately after the interval, Byrd’s exquisite setting of the ‘Ave Verum Corpus’.  The concert was quite well attended.

Despite being fully informed and having taken note of the 7 pm start time, and indeed being in Glasgow in plenty of time to make the earlier-than-usual start time, I foolishly forgot, and by the time I arrived at the door of the auditorium, the performance had just started.  So, I missed Purcell’s motet ‘Jehova, Quam Multi Sunt Hostes Mei’.  A closed-circuit monitor outside the doors to the stalls let me see and hear at low volume and what I could hear sounded lovely, with slow and fast sections alternating between minor and major tonality, the colourful singing underpinned by continuoorgan and basso.

From the presence in the bright joyous tutti opening of the brilliant sound of baroque trumpets, I conclude that it was the 1733 version in D of Bach’s ‘Magnificat’ that we heard, and it was a thrilling sound.  All 5 soloists were involved in the Bach, with the counter-tenor singing the alto part.  The 5-part chorus were splendid in the opening ‘Magnificat’, ‘Omnes generationes’,  ‘Fecit potentiam’ and the final ‘Gloria’.  Sian’s triple-time joyous ‘Et exultavit’ and Alison’s plaintive ‘Quia respexit’, with a delicious oboe obbligato,  presented a contrast which whetted the appetite for when they could sing together, an opportunity teasingly delayed by Bach.  The fabulous baritone solo with its dancing continuo, ‘Quia fecit mihi magna’, must have been as much a delight for Phil to sing as it was for the audience to hear.  I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the counter-tenor tessitura, but Marco’s delivery of ‘Esurientes’, with two flutes and the higher register of the organ dancing attendance, was truly magical.  Marco and Monwabisi’s plaintive sicilienneduet ‘Et misericordia’was no less so, the voices weaving around each other.  Monwabisi’s ornamented solo in conversation with the violins, ‘Deposuit’, was stylish and very satisfying.  The patient wait for hearing the two sopranos in harmony was rewarded, with the added bonus of the counter-tenor in the mix, with the trio, ‘Suscepit Israel’.  The penultimate number before the final chorus gave us all 5 soloists in a scrumptious fugue, Sicut locutus est.  Top quality Bach, delivered with joy and conviction.

The Byrd motet, English a cappella polyphony at its best, was exquisite, Tallis’ pupil rivalling the master.  The choral balance was flawless, as was the Latin diction.  Unforgettable. 

I can personally vouch for Vivaldi’s 1715 ‘Gloria’ (and, to be honest, all Vivaldi’s music) as a joy to perform, though it is three decades since I played the second violin part in a performance of the ‘Gloria’ in the UAE oasis university city of Al Ain, three years before leaving my job teaching in Abu Dhabi to join the staff of UAE University myself.  An amateur choir composed mostly of University and Higher College of Technology staff and their spouses were joined by an ad-hoc instrumental ensemble, mostly from the recently-formed New Abu Dhabi Chamber Ensemble.  These fond memories of joyful music making were rekindled by the performance on Sunday.

Only three of the soloists, the two sopranos and the counter-tenor, were required for the Vivaldi, together with the chorus, strings, oboe, baroque trumpet and continuo organ.  The bright opening Gloria set a festive choral mood with dynamic contrasts and thrilling crescendi beautifully shaped by Paul Keohone.  The contrasting ‘Et in terra pax’, deliciously minor key and contrapuntal, sustained dramatic tension and elicited goosebumps with a perfectly blended choral sound.  Unlike the Bach, Vivaldi did not keep us waiting for the joyous sound of the two sopranos singing together: the ‘Laudamus te’ was very lovely, the two voices weaving around each other in imitation, answering and harmony.  After a slow instrumental introduction, ‘Gratias agimus tibi’ was a short but very satisfying minor key choral fugue, ending with a Tierce de Picardie.  ‘Domine Deus’, a major key solo for Sian with oboe and continuo, sicilienne-like though beat in 4, was as sweet as you like.  The joy was sustained by the following chorus, with tripping dotted rhythms in triple time, ‘Domine fili unigenite’.  Marco’s turn to shine came with ‘Domine Deus, Agnus Dei’, his pleading echoed by the chorus: ‘miserere nobis’.  The chromatic, dramatic chorus which followed, ‘Qui tollis peccata mundi’, amplified this plea for mercy, sandwiched between a slow introduction and a calm ending.  With a bouncy rhythm in the minor key, Marco shone again with ‘Qui sedes at dexteram Patris’.  The joyous melody of the opening ‘Gloria’ was reprised to the words ‘Quoniam tu solus sanctus’.  The final chorus, ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’, took us back into goosebumps territory and was utterly fabulous.  It always makes me think that, even though the ‘Gloria’ was written just after Handel’s time in Italy and three decades before Handel’s ‘Dettingen Te Deum’ Vivaldi’s influence on Handel can not be overestimated.  The former’s ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ and the latter’s ‘Lord, in thee have I trusted’ occupy the same space in my mental register of Baroque goosebumps.

Never missing an opportunity to restate that nobody plays for voices like the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, this was a super concert of treasured goodies, the love of music and the joy of music-making radiating from the stage from start to finish.  Full marks from me.