EIF: BBC Singers
Queen’s Hall - 09/08/22
A just over half full Queen’s Hall greeted the BBC Singers for their morning concert today. I can’t say I was enormously surprised, given the esoteric nature of the programme, but those absentees missed a jolly good concert! Whoever was responsible for the programme of Frank Martin, Mendelssohn, William Harris, three unknown Baltic composers and a choral arrangement of Vaughan Williams ‘The Lark Ascending’, clearly wasn’t going for the populist audience!
The original plan had been to intersperse the movements of the Martin Mass with Six Motets by Mendelssohn, but wiser counsels had prevailed, and the motets preceded the Mass, allowing both to be heard as intended. The motets established the sonority of the BBC Singers in the hall, and they produced a very good sound indeed, smooth and even across the range, with impressive high sopranos and richly resonant bases. The Martin Mass was a revelation, a superbly constructed double choir composition, totally a capella, expertly bringing out all the facets of the text of the mass. Written between 1922 and 1926, it lay unperformed for years at Martin’s insistence, until the ageing composer was persuaded to release it to the world in 1963. A good decision!
The first half ended with a piece for double chorus and solo violin, ‘Ancient Prairie’, by the Latvian composer, Ēriks Ešenvalds. This was a fascinating mixture of styles, chorus with words (English translation of Chinese text) and without, and a haunting violin part, soaring over the top, played superbly by Laura Samuel (Leader of the BBCSSO) on a Stradivari from 1731.
After the interval, we were treated to another bizarre selection of pieces, once more wonderfully performed by the BBC Singers, directed by their excellent Swedish Chief Conductor, Sofi Jeannin. A nondescript choral setting of John Donne by William Harris, from 1939, led on to an arrangement of Vaughan Williams’ much loved ‘The Lark Ascending’ by Paul Drayton. This arrangement interspersed wordless singing with George Meredith’s eponymous poem, while Laura Samuel played the violin part beautifully. The only point of the exercise I could see was to distract the listener from the gorgeous violin playing of Ms Samuel, which seemed a shame. It was all perfectly lovely, but why?
The BBC Singers were seen at their brilliant best in the next piece, ‘Toil and Trouble’, by the Norwegian composer, Cecilie Ore, from 2012, a witty but contemplative trawl through all sorts of snippets of Shakespeare. A concert like this would not be complete without a “dum-dum-dee-dum” piece, and so we ended with Hans Gardemar’s ebullient choral version of a traditional Swedish tune by Byss-Kalle.
This was a marvellous performance by the brilliant BBC Singers, but one was left with the question, “What was that all about?” There is no doubt, however, that they are a formidable choral group, superbly directed by Sofi Jeannin.
Cover photo: Ryan Buchanan
