Edinburgh Royal Choral Union: ‘water psalms’
Greyfriars Kirk - 19/03/23
Billed as a winter concert, but scheduled for the day before the Spring Equinox, this concert by the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU) in the historic Greyfriars Kirk was something of a curate’s egg, good in parts. Fortunately, the good parts were superb, and thus the concert can be deemed a success.
Originally planned as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Kirk in 1620, but postponed due to Covid, the central part of the programme was the premiere of Thomas LaVoy’s choral piece, ‘water psalms’, commissioned by ERCU. The American composer, Thomas LaVoy (born 1990), has written a very approachable work, based on the Latin paraphrases of the Psalms of David by George Buchanan, translated into English prose. Buchanan was an immensely influential figure in the 16th century, a scholar and a humanist, tutor to James V, Mary, Queen of Scots and her son, James VI and I, whose works, particularly De Jure Regni apud Scotos in 1579, advanced the notion that the source of all political power is the people, not kings and tyrants. This was sensational stuff, and indeed it was condemned by Act of Parliament in 1584, and again in 1664, and publicly burned in Oxford in 1683!
His Latin style was much praised and his paraphrases of the Psalms were very famous. Thomas LaVoy has used the translated paraphrases of three psalms to create a superb work for mezzo-soprano, chorus, piano and organ, exploring both the history of the Covenanters (religious and political extremists who signed the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk in 1638 against religious changes forced on the church by Charles I) and the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Massachusetts in 1620, the year of the founding of Greyfriars Kirk.
‘water psalms’ is a very evocative piece of music, and it sounded excellent in the rich acoustic of Greyfriars. We were privileged to have Beth Taylor as the mezzo soloist, fresh from various triumphs in continental Europe. EMR readers will know of Beth from an interview I did with her last year, and reviews of various recitals we have sung together over the past few years. She is without doubt one of the finest young mezzo-sopranos on the international circuit at the moment, and her warm, deeply expressive voice was perfect for the solo sections of ‘water psalms’. Her ability to move smoothly through the registers from rich contralto to thrilling high notes marks her out as an outstanding prospect, and we wish her well as Scotland’s representative in this year’s Cardiff Singer of the World.
Sam McLellan (piano) and John Kitchen (organ) provided the accompaniment for Beth and the ERCU, and the whole piece was sympathetically conducted by musical director, Michael Bawtree. It is always a joy to hear a contemporary piece of music which one would like to hear again, and I am sure ‘water psalms’ will find its way into modern choral repertoires.
The rest of the programme was somewhat bitty by contrast, but the massed ranks of the ERCU sang with gusto and no little skill in a mixed bag of Haydn and James MacMillan, ending with a few snippets from Haydn’s less well known oratorio, ‘The Seasons’. The programme, which was extremely helpful with regard to Thomas LaVoy’s piece, was less useful for the rest of the programme, and we could certainly have benefited from the words of the other choral works, as the warm acoustic of Greyfriars is not conducive to an understanding of the text!
The chorus was given an occasional rest by superb playing of the Greyfriars organ by John Kitchen, who yet again demonstrated that he is one of the finest organists in the country. His rendition of Cecilia MacDowall’s ‘Church Bells beyond the Stars’ was fabulous, showing off the organ to fine effect, especially the trumpet stops.
It was a shame the young tenor, Grant Haddow, was under the weather, as his two solos were underpowered, but Beth Taylor showed again what a fine singer she is with a rendition of a very early song by Gustav Mahler, both singers accompanied at the piano by Michael Bawtree.
So, despite being rather a mixed bag, this concert, which was very well attended, can be judged a success, and it was certainly splendid to hear a new work that I predict will become a staple of choral societies in the future. The Choral Union was in fine voice, and it was good to see so many young singers taking part.
