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well chosen music
IT is no easy task to choose.
musi¢c suitable to the mixed
acoustics of Guildford Cathedral. Rarely have I heard any -
: orchestral concert - and never
‘any choral - which entirely
: satisfied the ear.
But Vernon Handley and the
Guildford
Philharmonic
Orchestra and Choir came as
near to it as anyone in their
utterly satisfying programme o6n
Saturday.
Apart from Britten's Sea
Interludes from Peter Grimes,
which of
course have
an
essentially open-air atmosphere
of their own, the music was for
those initiated into the sacred
mysteries of the freedom
acquired by composers of the
early part of the century,
liberated from the shackles of
their maudlin Victorian predeCcessors.
Vaughan Williams's Fantasia
on a Theme of Thomas Tallis is
not really at home anywhere
outside a cathedral. It is music
one does not want to analyse,
but to relax and bathe in the
glories of modal harmony. so
discreetly mixed with” what
must be called V.W.’s natural
folk idiom.
Despite its name, there is
nothing rhapsodical about it (in
Tallis's
days
Fantasy
meant
something different), but its
smooth gravity never palls. As
played by the G.P.O. strings,
with the guest leader, Bernard
Partndge in splendid tone,
heading the quartet, this won-
derful transcription of the
| simple tune written in 1567 by
Tallis for the Archbishop of
Canterbury, seemed as wedded
to our modern cathedral as it
was to Gloucester’s in 1910.
College of Music. had much in
common with Vaughan Williams. although
20 years
younger. Both were pupils of
Stanford. but in his Hymnus
Paradisi Howells seems to have
absorbed more of the traditional oratorio theory than his
older contemporary.
It is, nonetheless. an impor-
tant
and.
stirring
in
work
places.
of
highly
decidedly
Christian conviction. It has the
mood
and. purpose
of
a
Requiem. having been written
as a memorial after his only
son’s untimely
death.
But.
though starting and ending with
a. solemn chanting of
the
Requiem. it does not follow the:
orthodox Mass, being based on
the Psalms, the Book of Common Prayer and the Salisbury
Diurnal.
The contemplative beginning
gives way to radiant confidence
in the setting of Psalms 23 and
121 and tranquillity leads. with
gradual certainty. to a dynamic
outburst of splendour.
dying
with Alleluias tenderly away to
the final calm Requiem aeternam.
There is nothing in the way of
arias for the two soloists - they
are well co-ordinated with the
chorus throughout most of the
work
- but Meryl Drower gave
graceful, yet well-projected
clarity to her soprano part,
generally well pitched. Robin
Leggate was sometimes 100
metallic in partnership, but
produced some appealing lyrical tenor tone in his opening of
The Lord is My Shépherd.
The choir was always well
co-ordinated
-
and
well
managed by Mr. Handley - and
the female voices merged quite
beautifully in the intricate
texture of the Sanctus. Most of
the words were inevitablylostin
It might be carping to
complain that with such space
+ available the division between - the great heights, but the choi
certainly achiéved
ther
the split orchestra might have
expressively.
:
] been wider to give true echo
effect..
Herbert Howells, who at &5
still teaches at the Royal
Sur nsmgly, Britten’s Se
Interludes- the finest evocatio
of Britain’s heritage ever com
s
R
e
e
OSed came over very wellin
the lofty nave. thanks to a most
understanding performance by
the orchestra. Dawn and Moonlight may have been less misty
than usual. and the tympanists’
thunder
in
the
Srorm
too
insistent for the turmoil of the
waves, but the eternal surge of
the North Sea on Britten's
beloved East Coast was ever
present.
,
John C. Dodds.
SNER
.