Royston Choral Society

May 15th 2010

Thaxted Church

The Society performed Verdi's Requiem with the Bishops Stortford Choral Society and Hertford Symphony Orchestra in Thaxted parish church.

The feedback has included lots of superlatives from people who are not always easy to impress - here are just a few.

"...a truly wonderful performance ... very very special evening and we shan’t forget it, nor will anyone who was part of it, either performing or listening. I can’t list all the things that were so outstanding – it would take too long ... Fantastic."
"....It was very special to be involved in, and my family were really wowed by it"
"...everyone I spoke to afterwards was full of praise, including my 24-year old daughter who has never even listened to classical music!"
"... I thoroughly enjoyed myself ....I'm still a bit deaf in my right ear from standing next to the drum and tuba..."
"..a magnificent concert ...so much delighted feedback from audience and choirs – a tour de force."
"...my jet-lagged friend from Sydney couldn't nod off!" Christopher Bayston, Musical Director of Bishop Stortford Choral Society, wrote of the performance,

Saturday 15th May saw a memorable gala concert performance of Verdi’s Requiem before a large and enthusiastic audience at the magnificent Parish Church at Thaxted. It involved Choral Societies of Bishops Stortford and Royston, the East Herts Youth Choir, the Hertford Symphony Orchestra and the East Herts Youth Orchestra, all separately trained by the conductor David Boarder – a defining moment in the career of a very busy man.

He moulded them into a seamless ensemble of over two hundred musicians and controlled them with effortless precision, shaping the nuances of tempo to achieve a compelling structure surmounted by great climaxes, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of self-indulgence which can so easily spoil this wonderfully colourful and Romantic score.

Verdi’s Requiem was written soon after his opera Aida and he gave both works a similarly melodramatic treatment: virtuoso singing for chorus and soloists alike requiring stamina that the choristers eagerly demonstrated; a huge range of dynamics; a rich pallet of orchestral sound in which the players revelled; the constant juxtaposition of major and minor describing the cataclysmic clash between good and evil; extremes of ferocity, tenderness and pathos.

This concourse of performers was fronted by a solo quartet; Claire Seaton (soprano)’ Janet Shell (mezzo soprano), Paul Badley (tenor) and Jamie Hall (bass). Verdi worked alongside Italian opera stars and his Requiem requires soloists as individually striking in range, timbre and personality as the beloved cartoon caricatures of Gerrard Hoffnung. Not only did these four singers live up to our wildest expectations in this respect. They had clearly been drilled musically as well as a first rate string quartet. No singing competition here! Throughout their extensive contribution each one of them reinforced the others’ performance in balance, blend and expression. I seriously doubt whether Verdi himself would have experienced from the soloists of his day such an impressive purity of intonation as that which we enjoyed on Saturday.

In the choral singing too, intonation was of an excellent standard and some of the softest moments breathtakingly dramatic. In the jollity of the final Libera me Domine de morte aeterna fugue, however, members of the chorus did not seem to be entirely clear about just what they were begging God to deliver them from. This slightly blunted the edge of intensity at the end of an otherwise riveting evening.

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Choir performs Verdi’s Requiem with the aid of a grant

A grant of £4,450 helped the society realise a musical ambition – to recruit and rehearse 120 singers over a four month period for the biggest concert in the choir’s 35 year history – a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in Thaxted Parish Church.

For the May concert, Royston Choral Society performed with the Bishops Stortford Choral Society and Hertford Symphony Orchestra – another ‘first’ for the choir.

Photos from Rehearsals

The grant came from the Hertfordshire Community Foundation under the government’s Grassroots Grants initiative. Verdi’s Requiem is a great work, but it’s rarely sung by amateur choirs because of the costs involved. This grant gave singers who may not have sung for a while an exciting opportunity to ‘have a go’. We welcome new singers to join us and, as with most amateur choirs, we’re always on the look out for men!

 

 

  © Royston Choral Society 2010
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