During my blogging absence I managed to attend a range of
concerts. Normally, I’d have mentioned them on the go, but here’s a catch up
for you.
Barts Chamber Choir - Dixit Dominus (Handel) and the Vivaldi
Gloria at St James Piccadilly
This is a fabulous venue with a great acoustic. The concert
was on the night of the England Italy world cup match so with an English
(nominally) first half and an Italian second half, there was something for the
conductor to link in to. In art, as in real life, Italy won. I didn't know the
Handel at all prior to the gig. It was a lot more intense than I associate with him generally –
I know he does powerful stuff, but this had an urgency beyond what I had
expected.
On the other hand, I know the Vivaldi very well, and love it. Sitting
in a beautiful church as the Cum Sancto Spirito fugues its way to the end was
the highlight of the evening.
Barts Chamber Choir is probably about forty strong, and drawn from the wider Barts choir - clearly comprising some extremely talented singers. They got that balance/mix that smaller choirs can find (which is harder for the choral leviathans I guess). And one of the soloists - Grace Davidson I think, is just angelic. The most amazing voice, with seemingly no effort (or need to breathe). To balance the review, there was also some counter-tenor stuff in the Handel.
Crouch End Festival Chorus Tallis and Others at Southwark
Cathedral
Bit of a last minute one for me this – having had a
Voxcetera rehearsal cancelled at the last minute, I Facebooked something like “A
free evening – what am I going to do?”, and this was suggested. The lead piece
was Tallis’s Spem in Alium*.Which is in 40 parts – 8 five part choirs.
Also
performed, in an entirely unaccompanied programme was the Vaughan Williams G
Minor mass, some Bruckner, a rendering of the Buddy Holly song “It doesn't
matter anymore” by Orlando Gough and the premier of a “Salve Regina” by Hughes.
Crouch End is a very high quality choir, and I was impressed
by what they did. I didn't quite 'get' the Buddy Holly thing, but liked the
Salve. Vaughan –W is what it is. Which leaves the Tallis. I was near enough the
front to have the choirs wrapped around me, so I got a placing effect in the
music that you would miss from the back. And it was clever. But it left me
feeling that it was done in 40 parts to impress, and that perhaps that got in
the way of the music a little. Not my favourite.
Chas ‘n’ Dave – St George's Beckenham
Well – what is there to say? I don’t think CnD’s music
particularly suits a traditional church setting – for me they will always be
better hear in the low-ceilinged social club. Perhaps on a holiday camp in
Camber Sands. And incongruous only begins to describe the dancing and drinking
(strictly BYO – the communion wine was safely locked away).
If I was looking for words to describe Chas n Dave’s music,
I would certainly go for ‘fun’ but also ‘efficiency’. You probably can’t be in
the game and touring every five minutes for five decades without getting it
down to a fine art. But they are a tight band, doing things well, but with real
economy of effort – songs are incredibly well drilled, and I felt that if I had
seen them any other night, the performance would have been the same. I don’t
mean this as a criticism – but it’s as near to one end of the spontaneity
continuum as it is possible to be without a backing track. (The other end –
Dylan – about a mile further along than anyone else!).
My other key observation – Chas Hodges sits really high up
to play the piano – if I invoke the spirit of Peter Hook here some of you will
know what I mean. I don’t know why – but it interests me.
But it was tremendous fun anyway – how can you pass on Chas ’n’
Dave?
There’s a bit of a hole in my gig diary over the next month
or two, so feel free to draw my attention to anything that is interesting.
*I know it’s silly, but Spem in Alium still sounds like a
dish from a menu in a Monty Python sketch to me
