Star quality
In opening
concerts
THE festival got off to
a distinguished start
with two events featuring the acclaimed Jamaican bass baritone
Willard White.
At the Civic Hall on
Saturday White was the soloist in William Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast.
With its text from the
Bible selected and arranged
by Osbert Sitwell, the music
is scored for double mixed
choir and very large orchestra. The choral forces
were provided by the Guildford Chamber Choir and the
Guildford
Philharmonic
Choir and the orchestra was
the Guildford Philharmonic
under
conductor
Brian
White. The concert was sponsored by BOC.
The lower strings set just
the right note of sinister
unease to presage the downfall of the King of Babylon.
But
unfortunately
the
choirs seemed unable to com-
municate
the
emotions
of
the text; the lament by the
waters of Babylon, the writing on the wall and dramatic
weighing in the balance, the
slaying of Belshazzar and
the final mighty hymn of
praise mostly came across as
a generalised, relentless barrage of sound.
This, augmented by the
strident brass and percussion
of the orchestra which more
than adequately made up in
volume what it might have
lacked in the numbers Walton had in mind, could be
thrilling but one longed for
a little subtlety.
Thankfully, this was provided by White, his operatic
scale voice easily riding the
combined forces of choir
and orchestra when necessary and making every word
tell.
Particularly
memorable
was the horror that the souls
of men were to be found
among the merchandise of
Babylon and the almost whispered “slain” as Belshazzar
meets his fate.
The evening began with
Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony
No 6 in B minor, the
Pathetique.
Perhaps anticipating the
field day they were to be
allowed in Belshazzar, the
horns were too intrusive in
the more lyrical, tender
movements. The strings soared but without capturing the
essential yearning, brooding
intensity, especially in the
last movement.
The most successful movement was the third where
Brian Wright struck the right
scurrying introduction and
the brass came into its own
in the jaunty march.
On Friday evening at the
University of Surrey Willard
White gave a recital ranging
from Schubert and Brahms
lieder, through opera to
spirituals.
All were a delight to hear
from an artist who not only
possesses a magnificent voice
but considerable dramatic
ability. He was ably supported by the distinguished
accompanist
Martineau.
Malcolm
Sheila SmitlL