oT
Theatre arts review
Superb concert
by Vivace Chorus |}
Fantastic choir is on the hunt for some baritones and tenors
IN they clattered — handbags or
programmes in one hand,
cushions from home in the
other.
Vivace Chorus’s supporters
are clearly well-practiced in
their concert going rituals at
Guildford Cathedral. These
folks have nouse.
Had the programme nailed
me to the chair I might have
felt a hair shirt moment coming on - the cathedral’s chairs
are designed for the truly
devout - but as it was, this programme of Russian music had.
plenty to keep feet tapping and
pins and needles at bay.
And what a following; the
place was packed.
The
Russian
programme
presented by this 120-strong
chorus
proved
a
popular
choice.
Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances
launched the first half, followed by the rarely heard
choral version of Tchaikovsky’s
1812 Overture.
Some perfectly placed consonants in the 1812 proved this
—
it
S
1
to be a polished performance.
The thunderous gunfire was
particularly effective in the
battlefield cathedral acoustic;
unfortunately the string writing in the Borodin had not
fared quite so well in that cavernous space, coming across as
muddied, with a slight delay at
times between chorus and
orchestra.
It was Prokofiev’s Ivan the
Terrible where the spotlight
came to rest in the second half.
Prokofiev’s Ivan, banned by
Soviet authorities due to its
complex characterisation of
the Russian hero, provided
some intense moments for the
two soloists from the opera
course at the Royal Academy of
Music and for the chorus.
A deeply moving solo by the
young, poised mezzo-soprano
Natalia Brzezinska, Ocean Sea,
Russian Sea, revealed a treat of
a voice with chestnut tones.
She was admirably backed by
the murmuring chorus.
We had the pleasure of hearing her again in a second solo,
The Song of the Beaver in which
Brzezinska employed darker
tones to emphasise the sinister
edge to this seemingly innocent hunting story.
Vivace are capable of both a
great delicacy of colour and a
great
show
of
strength.
Adjectives to describe the
wordless chorus of benediction in Ivan’s Sickness, might
be, say, ‘sweet, ‘sublime’, ‘dulcet’ — but I'm going to go with
‘mellifluous’.
The baritone’s drinking song
in The Banquet gave: us an
opportunity at the last to hear
the surprisingly big baritone
voice of Lithuanian Vytautas
Vepstas, backed by the men’s
humming chorus, who were a
little too tentative at first, but
with
conductor
Jeremy
Backhouse’s firm lead, soon
found the right level to project
over the orchestra.
The Storming of Kazan
afforded another memorable
moment in which male voices
are
answered . by
female,
marred very slightly by Vivace’s
only real problem - a lack of
men.
There are about double the
number of women to men, and
although the men, tenors in
particular, clearly do sterling
work, at times the imbalance
showed.
This is a chorus well worth
hearing. Better still, if you're a
tenor or a baritone, why not
join? What'’s the matter with all
you chaps out there? Don’t you
like having fun?
The chorus rehearses on
Monday evenings in central
Guildford — what better way to
start the week than with a good
sing. Email for information to
membership@VivaceChorus.org
This time next year Vivace
Chorus is singing in Mahler’s
Symphony No.8 at the Royal
Albert Hall. This is a tour-deforce of the orchestral world,
with its huge orchestra, eight
soloists, two large choruses
and a children’s choir. Put May
15, 2011 in your diaries as a
date not to be missed.
Rachel Musgrove
Surrey Advertiser 28th May 2010 29