Saturday 14th November 2009 at 7.30pm
| When: | Saturday 14th November 2009 at 7.30pm |
| Where: | St. Matthew’s Church, Kettering Road, Kingsley, Northampton, NN1 4RY |
| Concert Title: | Requiem & Reflections |
| Programme: | Gabriel Fauré: Requiem Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Ricine Craig Phillips: Dies Gratiae |
| Performers: | Katy Crompton - soparano Rodney Clarke - baritone Solo Violin - Peter Thomas Northampton Bach Choir Queens Park Sinfonia Lee Dunleavy – conductor |
| Notes: | This concert will include two beautiful choral pieces by the French composer Gabriel Fauré, the miniature Cantique de Jean Racine and his Requiem. The former is a setting of a devotional poem by that great French tragic poet, Jean Racine, and the Requiem inspired by the death of his parents and using a non-liturgical text. The orchestration consists on lower strings, a small wind section and a solo violin gives the music a warm tine colour. Coupled with the Requiem, the Choir will give the UK Premiere of Craig Phillip’s Dies Gratiae – Requiem Reflections. This was written as a companion piece to Fauré’s setting of the Requiem and is scored for exactly the same orchestra, soloists and chorus. The original text by John Thornburg uses six sections of the Requiem Mass, each being set firstly as a short statement for soloists, followed by a reflection on those words for the chorus. Craig Phillips is Associate Director of Music and Composer in Residence at All Saints’ Church, Beverley Hills, and holds a Doctorate in Composition from the prestigious Eastman School of Music, Rochester in New York State. The soprano soloist will be Katy Crompton, and the orchestra the Queens Park Sinfonia. |
Audience Feedback
Many Congratulations! The new Philips work was absolutely sensational. Everyone I have spoken to who heard it was bowled over by the suberb rendition and balance of choir orchestra & organ which all reflected the composers intended mood. A triumph for the choir and I am so glad I didn’t miss the concert.
JM Earls Barton
What a splendid concert on Saturday - my guests and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Obviously I know both Fauré pieces well, but I thought the Craig Phillips work most interesting - exhilarating at times and tender at others. Congratulations to all the Bach Choir members for a first-rate performance - some of the harmonies must have seemed a little daunting at first!
DW Hollowell
On Saturday I came to St Matthews Church for the very first time and heard the Northampton Bach Choir, also for the first time. I have heard a lot of choirs perform whilst living in London, Brighton and York, and when I moved to Northamptonshire I was surprised to see very little musical activity. So when I heard talk of the concert on the radio on my way to work I decided I had to come – I love the Faure Requiem. Although the Church seemed a bit small for the choir’s large sound it is a great venue for a concert of Requiem and Remembrance. I wasn’t very sure about the strange flimsy wooden Christ hanging from the ceiling! Anyhow, I was immediately impressed by the way the choir made it onto the stage and there was professionalism evident in everything they did. They stood up together, they sang together, and that really connected with me. They could have been a professional choir. I enjoyed the concert opener, the Cantique of Jean Racine which immediately showed great dynamic contrasts and a real attention to detail. Hearing the Faure again reminded me of my own Father’s Funeral when we played a recording of In Paradise as we left. You could see that the choir were watching you all the time – though I am pleased to report that the women were much better at this than the men! The real star, though, was the Bass who commanded everything around him. No music either! For me I could have left then, but, how pleasantly I was surprised when the second half presented something even better than the Faure. The Philips piece was a real winner. The choir sang brilliantly, the orchestra added wonderful colour and the soloists really brought out the passion of the music. I am so pleased that choirs like yours do new music – every time I see another Carmini Burana or a Verdi Requiem or Handel’s Messiah I get so bored. If choirs want an audience in future years they have to engage with real people, and real people want not only the old but the new. Same things over and over and over again anyone can do, but only your choir pulled off this wonderful piece on Saturday. Where would Bach be unless someone had done his music, or Handel, or Mendelssohn? You directed the choir with real flair and charisma and we saw you put your heart and soul into the performance, and in response the singers and players did the same. If I could put one thing above everything else it was that first part of the Philips which emerged out of some odd sounds, with a fabulous melody. The choir showed real commitment to the score and their singing blazed like on open fire on what was a wet November evening. Well done to all!
NC Northamptonshire
From the Composer, Craig Phillips
I finally had time to really sit down and listen to the recording of the concert on the 14th November, and it's absolutely a wonderful performance!
You're tempos were right on, and the choir and orchestra were first rate. It was musical, lyrical and quite exciting in the big places. It seems like everyone really got what the piece was all about. So thank you for all the care you took with this performance.
Many thanks for your outstanding work.
With best wishes,
Craig
From Cynthia and Adrian Wilson
We drove from Leeds for this concert, and to say that it was worth the journey would be a huge understatement. We were simply enthralled by the whole evening – especially the Phillips Dies Gratiae, which not only complemented Fauré’s Requiem highly effectively but also, we felt, stands as a very fine work in its own right. (And we’d like to say that we found the programme notes helpful and the physical programme well produced.)
The soloists were impressive – Rodney Clarke has a wonderful voice and is of course well-established on the national scene, and Katherine Crompton though more junior was, we felt, his equal on the night. But they were very much part of an ensemble performance in which choir and orchestra, as well as singing and playing beautifully, displayed remarkable integration. For this, conductor Lee Dunleavy must take great credit. (His efforts were apparent to the eye as well as to the ear: this choir, to an outstanding degree, kept their eyes on the conductor rather than their noses in their books.)
We thoroughly enjoyed Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Requiem, but as we’ve said it was the Phillips work which swept us away. From the opening horns that introduced “A day once dawned”, through the many mixtures of vocal, choral and instrumental forces that followed, all the way to the final massing of the choir in “How weary you must be / O God of every dusk”, the music was beautifully attuned to the Thornburg text and to the preceding Dies Irae lines. The work was approachable yet complex and interesting – something to hear again and again, finding new layers to appreciate and enjoy. We hope to do so, and we expect also to return to Northampton to hear more from what is clearly a very special choir.