Haydn and Mozart at Christ Church
VICTORIA KINGHAM returns to Christ Church in St Leonards to appreciate the Philharmonic Choir in full voice.
Assiduous followers of this newspaper will have noticed, back in cold February, these words in an article about the Hastings Philharmonic Choir: “A good choral leader will not only conduct time … but will add voice balance, timbre, style, enunciation, dynamics, expression, musical education.”
It was with special interest then that I returned to Christ Church last Saturday to watch the concert which was the result of this rehearsal work. The now superior choir, the orchestra and two sublimely gifted soprano singers, Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada and Helen May, and an excellent tenor, Kieran White, amply fulfilled this blueprint.
It was entrancing. An orchestral conductor is necessarily a skilled musician, but it is unusual for their musical specialism to be the voice. Da Silva’s enormous competence in this area gives him unusual ability to blend choir and orchestra in these beautiful pieces composed to be sung, in churches, to uplift the souls of the listening congregation.
Te Deum laudamus, we praise thee, Oh God, traditionally sung on Catholic occasions of rejoicing.
A fine balance was maintained between the choir and orchestra, and the acoustic of Christchurch is such as to enhance the nobility of this popular Haydn piece with its dominant C-major, its harmonic splendour, its transition to the minor prayer Te Ergo Quaesumus and then back to the major key in a glorious fugal ending. The enthusiasm of choir, orchestra and conductor imbued this compact piece with the joy it was intended to bring.
The final piece of the evening was Mozart’s enthralling C Minor Mass, called the ‘Great’ mass for reasons which became obvious. It is, by any standards, an eternally gorgeous work: structurally balanced, profound in places, resolute in others. It calls for a complex division of voices in the Sanctus and the final Benedictus, extremely well sung by the choir, and coloratura soprano work in the Et Incarnatus.The Benedicitus also incorporates a quartet section, and at this point the conductor put down his baton, joined the soloists and produced an impeccable baritone, then returned seamlessly to conduct the finale. Mass is designed to reinforce the fervour that embraces Christ’s grace on the cross, pouring out his blood for his followers. Both Haydn and Mozart were devout Catholics, and you could not fail to recognise their devotion both in the music itself and in this careful and moving rendition.
The entire Mass was a triumph, not least because of the quality and skill of the choral singing. In the vocal ensembles the two soprano voices blended beautifully and circled around each other like a DNA molecule – Kieran White was a sterling tenor. The fine choral part singing and the sensitive standard of orchestral and vocal interplay, the dynamics, the general exuberance, indicated not only the talent of the choir but the strength of Da Silva’s leadership.
Between the two choral pieces we heard Mozart’s Bassoon concerto. The piece calls for two solo cadenzas which Ben Exell, the (Tonbridge-based) soloist, wrote himself, taking his favourite themes from each movement and, he told me, “glueing them together with a bit of flair”. They were definitely the highlight of an impressive performance. A cadenza is a short, brilliant solo interlude, sometimes improvised or composed by the soloist and written in, a kind of 18th century jazz break. It is humbling to think that Mozart was just 18 years old when he composed this concerto.
Not only was this an enthusiastic, accomplished concert, but the atmosphere in the church brought home to me the strong support this relatively small local community gives to talent in all kinds of musical spheres. Emanating from the packed-house audience was warmth and friendliness and an almost family atmosphere, and there was an unpretentiousness in the whole presentation which completely belied its collective technical accomplishment. I look forward greatly to the next choral performance in July, Mendelssohn’s Elija, which will form part of the orchestra’s Open Doors festival. Go and see it for yourselves.
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