Garleton Singers: Autumn Concert
St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington - 29/10/23
Garleton Singers | Stephen Doughty, conductor | Allison Orr, flute | Nicky Long, clarinet | Barbara Crosby, bassoon | James Goodenough, horn | Sheena Jardine, violin | Malcolm Garden, cello | Stuart Hope, piano
The Garleton Singers, conducted by Stephen Doughty, delivered their Autumn Concert in the marvellously live acoustic of St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, on the wet blustery night of 29th October. The imaginatively devised programme was constructed around a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis on St Cecilia’s Day 1963, coinciding with an alignment of the 7 pre-Copernican ‘planets’, which include the sun and moon as well as the 5 true planets visible to the naked eye of a terrestrial observer on a clear night (not, ironically, 29th October 2023). For much of his later life, medieval cosmology had held a fascination for Lewis. The principal (and concluding) work in the programme, James Whitbourn’s ‘The Seven Heavens’, subtitled ‘C. S. Lewis in the planets of the middle ages’, tells the author’s life story through a series of 7 musical portraits of these ‘planets’. The sky at night was a unifying theme of most of the other works in the programme also. A septet of fine instrumentalists accompanied the singing.
The concert opened with Stephen Doughty’ s arrangement of Ken Johnston’s setting of Dryden’s, ‘Song for St Cecilia’. Atmospheric dark bass figures on bassoon (Barbara Crosby), piano (Stuart Hope) and cello (Malcolm Garden) lead to an optimistic song with light syncopation and modal harmonies, featuring a prominent melodic part for clarinet (Nicky Long). There was plenty of scope to display dynamic range and this was fully exploited before the quiet conclusion with the enigmatic words “… music shall untune the sky”. A fine concert-opener.
A pair of shorter works followed. Samuel Barber’s 1961 choral reworking of ‘Sure on this shining night’ from his 1938 ‘Four Songs’ with piano accompaniment was beautifully phrased, its flowing melody unmarred by a slight drop in pitch. The lovely lilting Larghetto ‘Pastorale’ from Louis Spohr’s 1853 Septet recalled the minuet 5th movement of Schubert’s Octet, the horn (James Goodenough) assuming the prominence that Schubert reserves for the clarinet, compensated by sweet fluid chamber dialogue between the clarinet and flute (Allison Orr) mainly, but also the violin (Sheena Jardine). I was a little surprised to see this chamber instrumental piece conducted, but it was nonetheless a delight to the ear.
The first half of the concert concluded with Stephen’s arrangement for choir and septet of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 1938 ‘Serenade to Music’, originally scored for 16 vocal soloists and orchestra, though the composer did make versions for other forces. The text, from Act V of Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’ muses on the effects of music on the human spirit and is set to some of Vaughan Williams’ most beautiful music. Chamber realisations of orchestral music present opportunities and challenges. The chief opportunity is the exploitation of limpid sonic texture to reveal the detail of the inner parts; the chief challenge must be the maintenance of dynamic balance, especially between single string and wind lines. I did wonder whether a solo violin could hold its own against a clarinet but, in the event, I felt the instrumental arrangement worked perfectly, even the surprising choice of clarinet for a fanfare to “wake Diana”, perhaps keeping the horn in reserve for when the texture broadens to the rich polyphony that raised a tear from Rachmaninov. There were a number of vocal solos in each voice also, coinciding with those of the original. All were expressive and characterful with excellent diction, though the principal soprano line shone brightest with persuasive dynamic clarity. This is one of my favourite pieces of music and it received a committed and engaging performance,
Libby Larsen’s atmospheric accompanied setting of a Vesta Pierce Crawford poem, ‘Beneath these alien stars’, opened the second half. A climax on the words, “… the courage of the mountains has bound me to this place” subsides to an evocative tenor solo, transporting us to a starry night in the Nevada desert.
But of course, this carefully curated eclectic prologue rich in cosmic imagery was effectively preparing and guiding us to a fuller appreciation of the Whitbourn. And yet, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this first hearing of such an extraordinary spirit-shocking work. The original 2014 version was commissioned for the 145th anniversary of Belfast Philharmonic Choir, when Stephen was their conductor, for performance with the Ulster Orchestra. Even in the chamber version it is pretty special. Various tuned and untuned percussion instruments have survived the trimming of the score and add a certain magic. Glockenspiel, violin solo and ladies’ vocables evoke the silvery light of the Moon and Lewis sailing by steamer out of Belfast Lough in his youth. The pacy, rhythmic martial music of Mars hints at the pandemonium of the Belfast shipyards. The pastoral winds of Mercury pair a Mendelssohnian melody with Mahlerian comments, evoking the peace of an Oxford college. A prancing dance evoked a mischievous Jupiter and the joys of learning and the academic life. A nocturne full of tenderness and devotion evoked Venus and romantic love. Saturn evoked the sense of an irresistible force, pain, loss, grief and even despair, in music with a huge dynamic range. The final movement, the Sun, brought back the glockenspiel and chimes, from a nocturnal opening, through a sunrise, with rising warmth and a sense of hope, the playful melody of “Summer is Icumen in” rounding off the journey with the sense of a life well-lived.
In conclusion, this was an imaginatively constructed programme featuring a series of picture-painting pieces culminating in a revelatory masterpiece, performed with evident commitment and joy in music-making. Full marks from me.