Guildford Philharmonic Choir
Elgar
The Dream
of
Gerontius
Jeanette Ager
Richard Braebrook
Jeffrey Carl
Vasari Singers
Guildford Philharmusica
Jeremy Backhouse
Saturday 7 March 1998
The Civic Hall, Guildford
£1.50
“This 1s the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and
drank, and slept, and loved and hated, like
another: my life was as the vapour and is not; but
this I saw and knews; this, if anything of mine, is
worth your memory”.
Quotation from “Sesame and
Lilies” by John Ruskin
inscribed by Elgar at the end of
the full score of “The Dream”
Guildford Philharmonic Choir
Edward Elgar 1857 - 1934
The Dream of Gerontius
Jeanette Ager (Mezzo-Soprano) - Angel
Richard Braebrook (Tenor) - Gerontius/The Soul
Jeffrey Carl (Baritone) - Priest/Angel of the Agony
Vasari Singers (Semi-chorus)
Guildford Philharmusica
Jeremy Backhouse (conductor)
The Guildford Philharmonic Choir would like to express its thanks to the
advertisers and sponsors of this programme, to its accompanist Jeremy
Filsell and its special thanks to its Benefactors:Sirton Computer Systems
P R R Partners
Mrs Jean Radley
Mr and Mrs J S
Mrs J S
On Saturday 2 May the Guildford Philharmonic Choir will be performing
Mozart’s Requiem in Guildford Cathedral at 7.30pm with the Guildford
Philharmonic Orchestra, and on 17 May the choir will be performing
Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” at Freiburg Konzerthaus, Germany, with the
Freiburg Bachchor.
The soloists’ buttonholes and bouquet are kindly donated by M and presented
by the Guildford Philharmonic Choir Girl of the Year, Catherine Bosher.
“This is the best of me ...”
Consider the repertoire available to choral societies at the end of the last century.
The staple diet was made up of grand performances from the Baroque era (Handel
oratorios, Bach Passions and B minor Mass), works from the high Classical period
(Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven), other German masterworks (Brahms’s Ein deutsches
Reguiem) and, of course the great ‘Victorian’ imported works by Mendelssohn and
Gounod. Rossini, Berlioz, Dvorak and Verdi also featured. But as far as British works
were concerned, the start of the twentieth century saw precious little from native
composers and much of the standard British fare for any large choir today was yet to
be written: no Vaughan Williams, Walton, Holst, Howells or Britten. Programmes
featured premieres of works by Parry which were hugely popular at the time, but
which on the whole have not withstood the test of time. Sir Arthur Sullivan scored
a success with his oratorio The Golden Legend in 1886 and other lesser composers
had works performed. Into this world where the traditions of the oratorio reigned
supreme, emerged Elgar.
It was in 1898 that Elgar sprang to the attention of many. The 41-year-old composer
was thrust from parochial renown to national fame with his Enigma Variations; the
first performance in October 1899 of Sea Pictures was to confirm his reputation as
the country’s most respected composer. His earlier attempts at choral/orchestral
writing - The Black Knight (1892), The Light of Life and Scenes from the Saga of King
Olaf (1896), The Banner of St George (1897) and Caractacus (1898) - had received a
mixed reception, yet served notice on performers, audience and critics alike that
here was a composer with a distinctive voice, and a brilliant orchestrator who would
not be bound by the choral traditions of the past. That said, it seems few were prepared
for the masterpiece that Elgar put before them in 1900.
It was also in 1898 (November) that Elgar had been asked by the Birmingham Festival
- one of the most prestigious in the country at the time - to write a major choral
work for the 1900 festival. He had already been making sketches for a large-scale
choral setting in the early months of 1898 - almost exactly one hundred years ago based on the Acts of the Apostles. These early sketches contained material for ‘Judas’
and until as late as February 1900 Elgar was corresponding with Jaeger (‘Nimrod’),
his friend and contact at his publishers Novello, still referring to his ‘Judas’ theme:
“[it] will have to be used for death and despair in this work”. Yet by the middle
months of 1899, his friend Dora Penny (‘Dorabella’) wrote that she had heard “a
good deal” of the Gerontius piano score, including the Introduction to Part II and
the nearly complete ‘Praise to the Holiest’ section. So there is some doubt as to
when Elgar finally favoured Gerontius over the more general Apostles subject - he
was, of course, to return to the latter subject for the 1903 Birmingham Festival -
indeed, the chronology of the work’s genesis is subject to the sort of mystery that
the composer adored.
Whether it was his own indecision on the subject matter or that he was daunted by
the immensity of the task he had set himself, Elgar became discouraged by the project
and in December 1899 wrote to George Hope Johnstone, the chairman of the
Birmingham Festival committee, withdrawing from the commission. Johnstone
reacted by coming down to Malvern on New Year’s Day 1900 to see the dispirited
composer. By the next day, all was settled: Elgar was back at work and in the early
days of the New Year was writing to Alfred Littleton (head of Novello’s) of the
work’s progress: “I am setting Newman’s “Dream of Gerontius” - awfully solemn
and mystic ... Now I must go on to my Devil’s chorus - good!”. At the same time he
was writing from London to Jaeger: “I am sick of music and all that’s connected
with it & long for Birchwood [his Malvern cottage] & pigs & cattle ... Music is a
trade and I am no tradesman”. The contrast between buoyant high spirits and deep
depression is a paradox in Elgar’s character that remained with him throughout his
life. However, work continued apace: forty-four pages arrived at the publishers on 2
March and on 20 March a further fifty-five. This represented all the music to the end
of Part I; “The final chos. is godly effective &, I think, not quite cheap ...” Elgar
wrote. The more substantial second Part took Elgar longer and much correspondence
was had between him and Jaeger, the composer unsure and seeking reassurance, the
publisher ever encouraging. On 31 May Elgar wrote once again to Jaeger: “By this
post comes the great Blaze [Praise to the Holiest] ... There’s still some more MS to
come but not much. I can’t tell you how much good your letter has done me: I do
like to be understood.” On 6 June, his wife entered in her diary: “E. finished the
Dream of Gerontius. Deo Gratias. Rather poorly.”; and in a letter to ‘Dorabella’ on
9 June Jaeger writes: “E.E. has sent the completion of his blessed Gerontius. The
work undoes me utterly if[ am in the mood ...” He goes on to express concerns that
the audience “will not be able to appreciate Gerontius first time; too subtle & original
& too mystic and beautiful”, as well as worrying that the performers will not learn
1t in time.
The worries were well founded. Chorus rehearsals began in August for a first
performance on 3 October. For a chorus schooled in the likes of Messiah and Elijab,
this new work was a complete enigma, not helped by chorus parts being printed in
separate voices, as was still the practice at that time. At the final full public rehearsal
Elgar’s customary frustration with British choral singing became uncontrollable; he
left his seat and, in front of all, harangued the chorus, losing what goodwill the
singers retained for the composer. Hans Richter, the conductor, called an extra
rehearsal, but the damage was done and that fateful Wednesday morning premiére
ranks as one of the most infamous first performance disasters. The choir, particularly
in the Demons’ Chorus, went hopelessly wrong; the baritone soloist made his first
entry as the Angel of the Agony a semitone too low and persevered at his pitch
throughout. Few present could see beyond the appalling performance, although there
were some notable exceptions in the next day’s press. Elgar wrote to Jaeger in despair:
“I have not seen the papers yet and I don’t know or care what they say or do. As far
as I am concerned music in England is dead. I have worked hard for forty years and
B
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at the last, Providence denies me a decent hearing of my work; so I submit - I always
said God was against art and I still believe it ... have allowed my heart to open once
- it is now shut against every religious feeling and every soft gentle impulse for ever.”
Fortunately for Elgar, Novello and all, Richter and others staged further performances
at which the work was heard in its full glory and, as we now know, God has ultimately
dealt kindly with Elgar’s art.
b
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3%
Elgar had come across The Dream of Gerontius, the extended mystical verse written
by Cardinal John Newman in 1865, as early as 1885, although his intimate
acquaintance with it dates from 1889, when he and Alice received a copy as a wedding
present from Father Knight, the priest at the Roman Catholic church in Worcester
where Elgar played the organ. It seems Elgar had had several discussions before the
1898 sketches were begun concerning reducing the poem to a size suitable for musical
setting. Elgar’s own arrangement of the libretto retains substantially intact the first
of the seven sections for Part I, truncating the remaining six for Part II of his setting.
The poem tells of the death of Gerontius (Part I) and subsequent journey of the Soul
towards the throne of God and Judgement (Part II).
Elgar uses the Wagnerian technique of the leitmotiv, a musical fragment being attached
to a particular facet of the verse. This was formalised by Jaeger in his authorised
analysis of the work published by Novello alongside the first edition of the score.
Many of these leitmotivs are heard in the opening introduction: first, the most
important, ‘Judgement’. After the first pause comes ‘Fear’, a rising dotted string
passage, and ‘Prayer’, answering woodwind chordal writing (this ‘Prayer’ theme
appears in the composer’s hand in the Visitor’s Book of his friend George Sinclair,
organist of Hereford Cathedral, as early as 19 April 1898, here representing the mood
of Sinclair’s dog Dan after being muzzled!). The following triple time undulating
section with solo viola is ‘Sleep’; at the climax the chromatic downward strings are
designated ‘Miserere’. ‘Despair’ (cor anglais and cellos) leads to a restatement of the
‘Prayer’ theme, now in augmentation played by the orchestra in full voice. Finally,
we hear ‘Commital’, a typically majestic largamente melody. After appearances of a
number of these themes as well as ‘Energy’ (upward-rushing strings) and ‘Death’ (a
languid falling string tune), the voice of Gerontius is heard. Gerontius is dying and
the chorus represent the friends praying at his bedside. Elgar described his vision of
Gerontius as “a man like us, a sinner, a repentant one of course, but still no end of a
worldly man in his life”. His music was therefore not influenced by “church tunes
and rubbish but a good, healthy, full-blooded romantic, remembered worldliness”
(similarities perhaps with Richard Strauss’s dying man/soul in his 7od und
Verklirung/Death and Transfiguration written ten years earlier, in 1888/89?). The
central section is formed by the ‘Sanctus fortis’ for Gerontius and his subsequent
wild imaginings of life beyond. After his death the brass herald the Priest who intones
the ‘Profiscere’ (‘Go forth upon thy journey Christian soul’), which is then taken
up by the chorus.
6
T
T S
T R
e
e e
e
e
e G e S
et
The second part begins with the passage of The Soul through the silence of space
towards the throne of God, represented by a tempo rubato introduction for strings,
marked ppp. As The Soul, as Gerontius has now become, is commenting on the
tranquillity of his refreshed state, we are introduced to the Angel, in whose keeping
Gerontius has been on earth. Her final task is to guide him to the Judgement throne.
Their dialogue is interrupted by the appearance of the Demons who menace and
mock The Soul. He passes on and is comforted by the ravishing sounds of the
Angelicals, which in turn lead on to the great chorus of ‘Praise to the Holiest’. The
glorious climax gives way to yearning expectation as the two approach “the veiled
presence of our God”. The Angel of the Agony appears (with music of the earlier
‘Judas’ sketch) and prays for mercy, echoed by the Voices on Earth. After an ecstatic
‘Alleluia’ from the Angel the ‘Judgement’ theme is heard in its most awesome guise,
introducing at its stunning climax the moment when The Soul catches a glimpse of
his God. The moment is unmistakable: a terrifying crash from full orchestra, with
the composer’s supplication “for one moment must every instrument exert its fullest
force”. The Soul sings of his unworthiness: “Take me away that sooner I may rise
and go above and see Him in the truth of everlasting day”. The passionate outburst
runs directly into a subdued three-part chorus (no sopranos) for the Souls in
Purgatory, which in turn eases into the most sublime music of the whole work as
the Angel bids farewell to The Soul, and, accompanied by choirs of angels in Heaven
and Souls in Purgatory, the work draws to its close with a serene ‘Amen’.
Elgar and Jaeger argued long about the closing minutes and in particular the climactic
moment when God is glimpsed. Jaeger here found Elgar’s conception weak, dissolving
too quickly, and asked for “a few bars [of] the Soul’s agitation with a quasi-choked,
suppressed “Take me away”...”. However, Elgar was ultimately immovable: “I won’t
alter p.159 and be darned to you ... for one semi-quaver value fffffffzzzz is the one
glimpse into the Unexpressible - then the music dies down into the sort of blissful
Heaven theme which of course fades away into nothing”. Blissful Heaven it is and
during that blissful, heavenly summer of 1900 Elgar wrote, in characteristically
paradoxical terms, of his life in his cottage retreat in Malvern while he worked: “The
heat has been really awful & upsetting everyone - I don’t like to say a word about
these woods for fear you shd. feel envious but it is godlike in the shade with the
snakes & other cool creatures walking about as I write my miserable music ... I was
out all yesterday with a sawmill, sawing timber into joists, planks, posts ... Anyhow
I got a chill over my exertions ... Now to come down to the damned music”. Yet
despite his own seemingly low opinion of his music, he was content in the knowledge
of having composed a masterpiece, writing at the foot of the full score a quotation
from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: “This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate,
and drank, and slept, and loved and hated, like another: my life was as the vapour
and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory”.
© Jeremy Backhouse, 1998
successtul evening
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Station Approach, West Byfleet, Surrey KT14 6NG Tel: 01932 351165 (24 hrs)
136 George Lane, South Woodford London E18 1AY .Tel: 0181 530 6432
Jeanette Ager, who was born in Dorset, began her singing
studies at the age of twelve with Mary Denniss. She was
awarded an Exhibition to study at the Royal Academy of
Music, also supported by the Michael James Trust. At the
RAM she won many prizes, including the Elena Gerhardt
Lieder Prize, the Jennifer Vyvyan Scholarship for Singing, the
LSaonrsu
Flora Nielson Prize for French, English and German Song,
and the Helen Eames Prize for Early Music. She is now
continuing her studies with Linda Esther Gray. In 1996
she
won the Gold Medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music
Competition, and an award from the Tillett Trust Young Artist
Platform, resulting in
two recitals at the Wigmore Hall.
Her recent work has included Britten’s Phaedra with the Brunel
Ensemble, Tippett’s
A Child ofour Time, Duruflé’s Requiem at the Queen Elizabet
h Hall, and Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis at York Minster. In oratorio she has performe
d Haydn’s St Nicholas
with the London Mozart Players and the Choir of St John’s
College, Cambridge,
Handel’s Messiab in the Barbican Concert Hall and in Bermuda
with the Bermuda
Philharmonic Society, and Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus at Winches
ter Cathedral. She
was also the contralto soloist in Anthony Milner’s Salutatio Angelico
in Truro Cathedral.
Her operatic work included Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Chorus (1997 Season) and
Kent Opera (as a soloist).
For Hyperion Jeanette Ager has recorded five pieces by Lili
Boulanger as mezzo soloist
with the New London Chamber Choir conducted by James
in a Deutsche Grammophon recording of three songs for
Crawford called 7o An Unkind God.
Wood. She was a soloist
women’s choir by Ruth
Future engagements include Shostakovich’s setting of six
poems of Marina Tsvetayeva
with the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra. She
will once again be joining
the Glyndebourne Festival Opera Chorus for their 1998 Season.
Richard Braebrook was born in Huddersfield, now lives
in Royal Tunbridge Wells, and is at present in his tenth season
with English National Opera. He studied at the Royal College
of Music, then with Gerald English, and is currently studying
with Keith Bonnington who is also a member of ENO.
In
1983 he was the first prize winner in the World Internat
ional
Festival in Rio de Janeiro.
Since leaving the RCM he has sung with the BBC Singers
and
with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company for whom
he
undertook numerous principal roles, travelling extensively
in
Great Britain, North America, Canada, Australia
and New
\
9
Zealand. With Kent Opera he performed the principal role of Anfinomous in their
production of Monteverdi’s Return of Ulysses, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (1992),
Rodolfo in La bohéme with the Singers Company, and Tamino in The Magic Flute with
the Figaro Opera Company.
He is a founder member, together with Petronella Dittmer, of the Kensington Gore
Singers with whom he has sung for HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Royal
Lodge, Windsor. He is also an accomplished pianist and conductor and was Music
Director of the Feltham Choral Society.
Richard sings regularly with many of the leading choral societies in the UK. Recent
performances have included Handel’s Messiah, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Bach’s
St Jobn Passion and St Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s St Nicolas and
Verdi’s Requiem. In 1991 he made his debut at the Barbican, London, and the Royal
Concert Hall in Glasgow in Raymond Gubbay’s Mozart Festival. Most recently, he
sang the title role in 7he Dream of Gerontius (an interpretation that has become widely
acclaimed) with Sarah Walker and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and
the Choir of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, conducted by Christopher Robinson
to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Society of the Friends of the St George and
Knights of the Garter.
Jeffrey Carl is the American Express Prize Winner for
the best male singer in Holland Park’s 1997 production of
Tosca, and appears on the cover of the October 1997 edition
of Italy’s L’Opera magazine, where he made his debut in
Gershwin’s Blue Monday. Of the Tosca performances, John
Higgins wrote in The Times: “A star Scarpia in Jeffrey Carl,
who took an iron grip on the performance ... he is a natural
casting for Puccini’s bad cop, his firm baritone has enough
to cut through the evening air ...”; and in the Opera
magazine: “This role was a gift for Carl, who has a great
future ahead of him playing the ‘bad guy’, terrifying and
hugely entertaining, without oversimplifying the character”.
He has sung Nick Shadow in the Hockney production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s
Progress, Ford in Falstaff (Aldeburgh Festival), Saint-Saéns’s Henry VIII, Schumann’s
Genoveva and Smetana’s Brandenburgers in Bohemia; more standard repertoire includes
roles in Die Zauberflote, Madama Butterfly, La traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, Carmen,
|
Tannbduser, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Il trovatore, Eugene Onegin, Lucia di Lammermoor,
Faust, Hamlet, Marcello in La bohéme and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte.
He has recorded George in Kurt Weill’s 7he Firebrand of Florence with Thomas
Hampson, Sergent in La bohéme with Alagna, Hampson, Ramey and Leontina Vaduva
(both for EMI), the Duke in Lehar’s The Czarevich for Richard Bonynge and also
Lehar’s Giuditta, both for Telarc. He has also recorded Britten’s Curlew River with
Sir Neville Marriner on Philips and excerpts from Norma on RCA Classics with Anna
Moffo and James Levine.
Jeremy Backhouse began his musical career at
Canterbury Cathedral, where he was Head Chorister, and
later studied music at Liverpool University. He spent five
years as Music Editor at the Royal National Institute for
the Blind, transcribing print music into Braille, before
moving to EMI Classics to work as a Literary Editor. Since
1990, he has been working as a Consultant Editor for EMI
PGelracd
and other companies, and as a freelance musician.
He became the first Conductor of the Vasari Singers in 1981,
one of the finest and most versatile chamber choirs in the
country. From 1991 to 1995 he was Music Director of both
the Streatham Choral Society and the BBC Club Choir. With these choirs he conducted
many of the major works of the choral society repertoire and in doing so built close
relationships with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra and the Surrey Sinfonietta.
In January 1995, he was appointed Chorus Master of the Guildford Philharmonic
Choir, working closely with conductors such as Jonathan Willcocks, En Shao and
Vernon Handley, as well as conducting concerts with the choir and orchestra alike. In
November 1996 he conducted a performance of Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi and
Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater as part of the Guildford Philharmonic’s subscription series.
1995 and 1996 saw him conducting the Guildford Philharmonic in the highly popular
outdoor Summer Festival concerts in Shalford Park, complete with firework display,
and in 1997 he helped set up a competition to find the Guildford Philharmonic Choir’s
Young Choirboy and Choirgirl of the Year.
In April 1995 he conducted the BBC Singers for the first time in a programme of
music by Lennox Berkeley broadcast on Radio 3, and has since conducted them in
broadcast programmes of Holst (for the BBC’s ‘Fairest Isle’ celebrations), Rubbra,
Massenet and Delibes. Subsequent work with the BBC Singers included a programme
of music by Phyllis Tate and Arnold Bax. In 1996 he also established a close rapport
directing the Kent Youth Choir and Kent Youth Chamber Choir, with whom he
toured Italy that summer.
The Vasari Singers is one of the most versatile and popular chamber choirs in the
country. Since winning the prestigious Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition
in 1988, broadcast on BBC Television, the choir has established an impressive
reputation as a group performing to the very highest standards. Their musical and
performing ability has been further confirmed in a series of highly-acclaimed concerts
throughout the country.
They perform regularly at St John’s, Smith Square, at the Barbican Centre (notably,
as part of the Hungarian and Scandinavian Festivals), the Purcell Room and Queen
Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank, at the Wigmore Hall and in the cathedrals of
Canterbury, Winchester, Peterborough, Ely and Hereford. Each year they sing the
services in Canterbury during a cathedral choir break and, also annually, they sing
Midnight Mass in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Eve. The choir revels in the
variety of venue and bookings: for example, one Christmas they joined Peter Skellern,
Richard Stilgoe, Cantabile and the BBC Big Band and BBC Concert Orchestra for a
concert on BBC Radio 2, broadcast live throughout Europe; they also featured in
the BBC’s moving Songs of Praise on the Hospice movement from Holy Trinity,
Clapham Common.
The choir has also broadcast frequently on BBC Radios 3 and 4, most recently on
Radio 3 as part of their Advent Calendar series. Their recordings, for both EMI
Eminence and United, have been widely praised by the musical press and public
alike, their CD of Howells’ Reguiem and the Frank Martin Mass being nominated
for a Gramophone Award in 1995 and being selected (along with their Britten CD)
for inclusion in the 7996 Gramophone Good CD Guide and 1996 Penguin Guide.
Recent CD releases include recordings of works by Gérecki, Ridout, Pirt and Tavener
(on EMI Eminence), which have been welcomed with unanimous critical acclaim;
from the Gramophone: “Vasari Singers are a group of the very highest calibre, but
they excel even themselves here ... the overall choral tone so perfectly blended and
exquisitely balanced that it quite takes the breath away”. Of their latest recording
released in March 1997, Parry’s Songs ofFarewell, Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor
and Frank Bridge’s A Prayer, Classical Music wrote: “...the performance of the
Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor will undoubtedly enhance their reputation as
one of Britain’s finest chamber choirs.”
e R
e
e
e
A S
o (U
R O S Sa B LT
VASARI SINGERS
Sopranos
Nicola Balzan
Altos
Janet Clucas
Salle Bark
Julia Field
Jane Beeson
Elizabeth Payne
R
EHIUEE
Victoria Cross
Anne-Marie Curror
Fiona Eldridge
T
:
Sarah Kendrick
Mark Johnstone
Peter Kerswell
Bertie Mann
Chris Riley
Christine Secombe
Basses
Andrew Yeo
{j‘lflies ICY%S_S i
SDanB
Burges
John
Hunt
Chris Hunter
Mike Sullivan
David Jackson
Simon Backhouse
alcolm
Fie
Paul Newis
Guildford Philharmonic Choir
The Guildford Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1947 by the Borough of Guildford to perform
major works from the choral repertoire with the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra. Since this
time, the Choir has grown both in stature and in reputation and can now rightly claim its place
as one of the foremost Choruses in the country.
The Choir grew to prominence under the batons of such eminent British musicians as Sir Charles
Groves, Vernon Handley and Sir David Willcocks. Sir David remains in close contact with the
Chortr as its current President.
As well as being well known in the South East for performing the set-pieces of the choral repertoire,
the Choir has developed an interesting specialisation in 20th-century British music, and has
recorded Gerald Finzi’s “Intimations of Immortality” and Patrick Hadley’s “The Trees So High”
under the direction of Vernon Handley. Notable achievements in recent seasons include an
acclaimed performance of Britten’s “War Requiem” with the Freiburger Bachchor in Freiburg
Munster in November 1993 and an invitation to take part in the VE Day celebrations performing
in front of the Queen in Hyde Park.
The Choir is currently enjoying rising to the challenge that the arrival of a new Chorus Director
of Jeremy Backhouse’s stature brings. Jeremy was appointed to the post in January 1995 and has
continued the tradition of attracting an ever wider audience to the joys of choral music with
recent memorable performances of Howells “Hymnus Paradisi” and Britten’s “St Nicolas”.
Tonight’s concert is a new venture for the Choir as it is the first time it has held its own concert
without the aid of the Borough Council. The Choir would particularly like to express its gratitude
to its corporate sponsors and to its Benefactors, whose generous support has been invaluable.
The Choiris constantly searching for new members to maintain its high standard, and auditions
are held throughout the year. For further details aboutjoining the Choir please contact Noreen
Ayton- Tel No (01932) 221918. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings throughout term time
in central Guildford and prospective members are most welcome to attend rehearsals on an
informal basis before committing themselves to an audition. The Choir’s rehearsal pianist is
Jeremy Filsell, himself a notable organist and concert pianist.
If you would like to find out more about how you can support the choir by becoming a Benefactor,
please contact Susan Ranft - Tel: (01306) 888870.
Sopranos
Altos
Tenors
Jacqueline Alderton
Marion Arbuckle
Joanna Andrews
Noreen Ayton
Sally Bailey
Iris Ball
Penny Baxter
Mary Anne Barber
Sally Bayton
Evelyn Beastall
Elizabeth-Claire Bazin
Iris Bennett
Douglas Cook
Bob Cowell
Leslie Harfield
Andrew Reid
Chris Robinson
John Trigg
Maggie van Koetsveld
Laurence Welch
David Brown *
Richard Long *
Steve Brelsford *
Mary Broughton
Viv Chamberlin-Kidd
Elaine Chapman
Debbie Dring
Rachel Edmondson
Angela Hand
Jenny Hasnip
Susan Hinton
Nora Kennea
Jane Kenney
Mo Kfouri
Barbara Lack
Judith Lewy
Jacqueline Norman
Susan Norton
Robin Onslow
Penny Overton
Margaret Parry
Vivienne Parsons
Jessica Pires
Rosalind Plowright
Susan Ranft
Kate Rayner
Joan Robinson
Maureen Shortland
Judy Smith
Kathy Stickland
Carol Terry
Enid Weston
Chirstine Wilks
Elisabeth Willis
Lucinda Wilson
Frances Worpe
Tamsin Bland
Jane Brooks
Amanda Clayton
Mary Clayton
Margaret Dentskevich
Andrea Dombrowe
Valerie Edwards
Celia Embleton
Rebecca Greenwood
Karen Halahan
Ingrid Hardiman
Jo Harman
Lucy Hatcher
Carol Hobbs
Sheila Hodson
Joy Hunter
Helen Lavin
Kay McManus
Krystyna Marsden
Christine Medlow
Mary Moon
Brenda Moore
Jean Munro
Anne Philps
Lesley Scordellis
Catherine Shacklady
Gillian Sharpe
Prue Smith
Rosemary Smith
Hilary Steynor
Hilary Trigg
Janice Wicker
June Windle
Maralyn Wong
Beatrice Wood
Accompanist: Jeremy Filsell
Mathew Raynor *
Bass
Peter Allen
Peter Andrews
Roger Barrett
John Paul Bland
Michael Bradbeer
John Britten
Norman Carpenter
Neil Clayton
Rodney Cuff
Philip Davies
Michael Dawe
Simon Doran
Michael Dudley
Terence Ellis
Geoffrey Forster
Michael Golden
Nick Gough
Peter Herbert
Laurie James
Michael Jeffrey
Stephen Jepson
Tony Macklow-Smith
Neil Martin
Maxwell New
Barry Norman
John Parry
Roger Penny
David Ross
Philip Stanford
* guest singer
NN _m\&
PRR Partners
i
v
JOHN HARWOOQOD
Management Development
—— Optometrists —
and Training
Contact Lens Practitioners
Richard Broughton
FBCO DCLP
Optometrist
Contact Lens Practitioner
1 Wolsey Walk, Woking
Surrey GU21 1 XU
Telephone: 01306 888870
Facsimile: 01306 742460
e mail: PeterRanft@aol.com
Tel: Woking 766800
*WITHERS
Withers is delighted
to support
The Guildford Philharmonic Choir
Withers Solicitors
12 Gough Square London EC4A 3DE
Tel: 0171 936 1000 Fax: 0171 936 2589
15
eirron
compuler systerms
are pleased to be associated with
The Guildford Philharmonic Choir
and wish them every success with
"The Dream of Gerontius".
We supply, install and repair
personal computers, networks,
printers and other peripherals.
Telephone
0181 640 6931
Sirton Computer Systems Ltd, 7 Greenlea Park,
Prince George's Road, London, SW19 2PT.