Thoroughly Good recently attended the Three Choirs Festival to hear performances given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, organist Olivier Latry, Flowers Band, and Festival Youth Choir.
In addition there was an opportunity to speak to composers Richard Blackford, Gavin Higgins (who had just been announced as Three Choirs Associate Composer) and Three Choirs Festival CEO David Francis for the Thoroughly Good Podcast.
The following review summarises three of the key performances amongst a host of joyous experiences.
Richard Blackford’s ‘The Black Lake‘
Featuring soprano Elizabeth Watts, Stefan Rhoddri, Betsan Llwyd, Festival Chorus, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by David Hill
Blackford’s ’The Black Lake’ feels like a labour of love for the composer in the pre-performance talk that also introduces Gavin Higgins as Three Choirs Associate Composer. Drawing on Caradog Prichard’s novel One Moonlight Night, Blackford’s setting combines chorus, soprano solo and spoken word dramatising a young boy’s coming of age story in a remote North Wales community. Blackford’s writing is tonal, rooted in a contemporary-romantic style with evocative orchestral and chorus material underscoring the drama enacted by Betsan Llwyd and Stefan Rhoddri.
It’s a poignant tale, sometimes painful, anguish expressed in the fierce consolation of the Festival Chorus’ compelling sound, and Elizabeth Watts precision vocal line. A cramped handful of standout moments: glorious sounds from the chorus singing ‘I am learned in the chemistry of tears’, uplifting and strong; ‘A yfodd’ combines a gorgeous soft bedded chorale cut through with a poignant clarinet line; and, the end of scene two where touching horn and bassoon solos root the audience in the locale of the drama; and the poignant line ‘I don’t want to be godly, I just want to be good.’ Rarely has a premier resonated quite so immediately. A rewarding listen.
Festival Youth Choir, Helen Charleston and Bob Chilcott’s Mass for Peace and Reconciliation
J.S Bach’s Jesu, meine Freude was an ambitious choice for the Festival Youth Choir, met with confident entries and lines from key voices in the work throughout. Sometimes the counterpoint suffers slight in the larger ensemble where the focus slips and the detail wavers a little. Those movements where the voices are pared back to a quartet the detail returns. Es ist nun nights saw a magical moment of connection, so too in Ihr aber seid nicht.
Vaughan Williams Lord, Thou has been our refuge opens the second half with an understated anthem for choir, organ and trumpet, setting Psalm 90 and weaving in Isaac Watts’ hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past. Imagination makes the idea of Vaughan Williams once being in this cathedral give the moment poignancy. This is music that has come to resonate at different times for different reasons, music that is rooted in this building. Those who come after are contributing to the fabric of this community. We all bear witness. In this way, Vaughan Williams sound feels so measured, that the concision is sharp. It never outstays its welcome. Basses console in the most anguished of moments. The trumpet player’s tone is gorgeous and the top notes from the young tenors are an epic achievement.
Given world events there was a good deal of anticipation surrounding the premiere of Bob Chilcott’s Mass for Peace and Reconciliation. Harmonically speaking, Chilcott’s is the present-day national-treasure-in-waiting, certain to inherit the title after John Rutter. His language combines pop sensibilities in a way that still draws a sharp edge. Though at only 23 minutes long, one wonders whether the work needs to be more substantial to meet the demands of the day. In a world where we are subject to more information, the situation feels so complex in our minds as to make something so concise feel as though it only touches the surface. The Festival Choir settled comfortably in to a far more navigable score after the complexities of Bach’s Jesu mein freund before the interval, accompanied by Gloucester’s Flowers Band who added a melancholic air with its brass accompaniment. A mournful reflective Kyrie precedes a Gloria which moves at pace through a variety of vibes, in places the brass detailing channelling Edward Gregson. This in particular demonstrates how the work can clearly work with only an organ accompaniment. The following subdued Sanctus pursues a tried and tested path with a cornet descant adding a mildly sentimental air. I can feel my interest slide a little in the Benedictus where the syncopations feel a little easy and unearned. In a similar vein, the Agnus Dei platforms Chilcott’s sophisticated mix of pop and musical theatre, reminiscent of Tony Hatch and Simon May. And while the length of the work as a whole makes the arrival at the Agnus Dei similarly unearned, the vibe works simply because of the self-assurance and polish in the writing. The return of the material first heard in the opening Kyrie placates with a hint of the bleak(ish) reality we started with.
Olivier Latry
Mid-morning concerts aren’t an issue for the Three Choirs core audience. This was certain the case for organist Olivier Latry’s ‘celebrity’ must-attend appearance that was if not at capacity, very well-attended.
The finale from Guilmant’s first organ sonata provided a rousing opening, Latry’s own transcription of the Ritual Fire Dance from Falla’s El amor brujo an ideal link for the more subdued, pinpoint sounds in Isoir’s transcription of Bartók’s Romanian Dances. As each element in the programme became more expansive so listening attention lapsed. Duruflé’s Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du ‘Veni Creator, though epic, perhaps stretched focus, suggesting that a short break of 10 minutes might have been favourable. Nonetheless, Latry’s final improvisation on Hansel’s See the conquering hero brought knowing sniggers at the sound of the opening theme and threatened to reduce the cathedral to a pile of rubble come the thunderous conclusion.
