An Early Christmas Treat
Hastings Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra performed Benjamin Britten’s St Nicolas, Finzi’s Romance for Strings and Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, at Christ Church, St Leonards
Reviewed by Ben Bruges
No complaints about the main attraction – Britten’s St Nicolas – which has everything: a rollicking good birth-to-death life story, including overcoming temptation, sea storms, rising to the bishopric, being jailed, rescuing boys from cannibalism and a final death scene; to a vaguely, but not cloying, Christmas theme; a superb tenor part; not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house parts for a solo chorister; even audience participation in being allowed to sing along in a couple of familiar hymns that are woven into the overall piece.
PIC: Peter Mould
St Nicolas was written for a Sussex boys’ school and Britten carefully combined amateur (and professional-level) parts seamlessly, such that the whole works superbly well. The stand-in for Peter Pears (who of course was in role for the first performance) was the superb tenor Jonathan Cooke who more than held his own, supported by a very full Philharmonic choir and a strings-only orchestra. The only professionals Britten demanded are a string quartet to lead the strings, the percussion section (who did a superb job), the tenor, and, of course, a conductor to hold the whole thing together; but having a full professional string section and choir as well as a church organist added a lot to the well-rehearsed performance, led well by the Phil’s maestro, Marcio da Silva. Powerful stuff.
So why was it in the middle of the programme? Beforehand, Finzi’s Romance was a somewhat underwhelming piece, albeit played perfectly well by the strings. Afterwards, the Mozart was surprisingly uneven, and had been stripped of brass and wind parts: the four soloists at times struggled to make themselves heard and the whole had a feeling of a run-through. However, the beautifully lyrical ‘Laudate Dominum’ showed off soprano Sophie Levi’s soaring tones with simple accompaniment, filling the Christ Church, St Leonards’ stunning Victorian gothic revival surroundings, before the full choir joined in. An effect reversed as the ending slowly reduced to a single soprano line in the ‘Magnificat’.
While the programme didn’t really hang together, the St Nicolas on its own would have been well worth the entrance price. Highly recommended.
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