YEARS
Vivace
Orchestra: The National
Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
Baritone: Thomas Neißer
Saturday
19 Nov 2022
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Feast!
Ralph Vaughan Williams
O clap your hands
The Lark Ascending
Five Mystical Songs
Gustav Holst
The Perfect Fool (Ballet Music)
William Walton
Belshazzar's Feast
Thomas Nießer
Samuel Staples
Baritone
Solo Violin
Vivace Chorus
Vasari Singers
National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
We wish Vivace Chorus every success with their forthcoming concerts
Guildford Chamber Choir was founded in 1980 with the
intention of performing choral music from the 16th century to
today, to high standards.
This year we are the proud recipients of The Mayor of
Guildford’s Award for Service to the Community, in recognition
of our long-standing commitment to support local charities.
What we do:
•
We perform a wide range of music from the choral
repertoire, both well known and less familiar,
usually three concerts each year, all of which raise
money for local charities.
•
We sing by invitation at Cathedrals when the
regular choir takes a break.
•
We organize workshop days which are open to all,
often exploring a particular theme or genre in the
choral repertoire.
•
We tour abroad, combining singing, sightseeing
and fun. A tour to our twinned town, Freiburg,
originally planned for October 2020, will take place
in the near future.
For further information visit our website at
www.guildfordchamberchoir.org.uk
Concert programme
O clap your hands
Ralph Vaughan Williams
O clap your hands is a very appropriate opening piece for a
concert that climaxes in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. The text
of Psalm 47 praises God as King of Israel and of “all the earth”.
Fearsome and triumphant, he goes up to the Temple in
Jerusalem “with a shout … with the sound of a trumpet”, as an
earthly king might, but with the right of absolute power.
Belshazzar’s punishment, in contrast, is specifically for his
blasphemous attempt to rival and displace this true God: he
enslaves the People of Israel, drinks wine with his wives,
concubines and courtiers from the sacred golden vessels that
his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar impiously stole from the
Temple, leads the praise of the false gods of Babylon, and
arrogantly accepts his people’s adulation as a “King of Kings”
who will “live for ever”. Walton’s epic cantata sweeps him away
with a single, brutal shriek of contempt.
Vaughan Williams’s sturdy, straightforward, very “Church of
England” interpretation of the King James Bible text of O clap
your hands is scored in a bright B flat major key, opening with a
heart-lifting fanfare of royal trumpets and moving confidently
forward in a glorious homophonic texture (the harmonies
changing regularly together), and at a cheerful allegro pace. In
a slower middle section the voice parts play against each other
in a more complex and expansive pattern as God, secure on
his throne, surveys the whole earth, including “the heathen”
who will one day acknowledge his authority. The anthem ends
with the return of the resounding note of praise: “something
strong, something simple, something English” (to quote Jimmy
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Vivace Chorus
3
Porter’s rather unexpected comment on Vaughan Williams’s
music in Look Back in Anger) – although this “simplicity” is the
result of a subtle craftsmanship and sensitivity as finely tuned
to the drama of the text as is Walton’s setting of the manic
celebrations of Babylonians and Israelites in the great cantata.
O clap your hands, all ye people;
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
For the Lord most high is terrible;
He is a great King over all the earth.
God is gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises,
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing ye praises, every one that hath understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen,
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.
Sing praises unto our King. Sing praises.
The Lark Ascending
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Romance for violin and orchestra
Vaughan Williams’s first version of his famous “romance” was
conceived for violin and piano, then reworked for violin and
orchestra, reaching its final form in 1921. Essential to its
structure is the dynamic relationship between the violin, which
(as Vaughan Williams's wife Ursula said later) embodies both
the song and the flight of the bird, and the piano / orchestra
that characterises the landscape below.
In her superb recent book The Captain’s Apprentice Caroline
Davison quotes Ursula Vaughan Williams in noting how familiar
the composer was with this pattern: “Vaughan Williams’s
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Saturday
28 Jan 2023
10am -4.30pm
Guildford Baptist Church, Millmead.
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memories of the walking holidays he took with friends in
Wiltshire and Dorset were of ‘the green roads and open skies
of the Great Plain with its summer flowers, thymey smells, and
an infinity of larks rising above the bleached grass and the
pale coloured chalk country …’”. George Meredith’s poem of
1881, well-known at the time, was quoted by the composer at
the head of the score and adds the key element of symbolism:
the lark’s song, a “silver chain of sound”, instils a “love of earth”
as he hovers over his nest in the “golden cup” of the valley,
until the “wine” of his ecstatic song overflows and the listener
rises with him into a state of emotional, and even spiritual,
exaltation.
Tasmin Little, a famous performer of the piece, has said that it
allows great freedom of interpretation to the violinist and “has
a mesmeric quality that gives you space for reflection”; the
term “romance” itself suggests a suspension of mundane
reality that liberates both imagination and emotion. A lark rises
from the ground and can maintain its height for up to fifteen
minutes (which, perhaps intentionally, is about the length of
the piece) by fluttering its wings, as the ceaseless song
cascades to the earth, often while the bird is beyond sight.
The wide-ranging and flickering violin part brilliantly imitates
this, while the solid, familiar, austerely beautiful landscape of
the “Great Plain” or the downland below is evoked by the
gently sustained phrases of the orchestra, sometimes swelling
with tender feeling, sometimes reticent or playful, never just
“accompanying” but engaging with the soloist. About six
minutes into the piece, flute and oboe introduce a lovely folksong-like melody that dances through the grasslands in
delight while the lark hovers above, and it seems as if this
moment of connection-in-separation between humanity and
the non-human world will never end. At last the song thins and
fades into the distance, “lost on his aerial rings / In light”,
leaving a sense of deep fulfilment and repose.
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The Lark Ascending
George Meredith (1828 - 1909)
Read by Selam Adamu
He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake,
All intervolved and spreading wide,
Like water-dimples down a tide
Where ripple ripple overcurls
And eddy into eddy whirls;
A press of hurried notes that run
So fleet they scarce are more than one,
Yet changeingly the trills repeat
And linger ringing while they fleet,
Sweet to the quick o' the ear, and dear
To her beyond the handmaid ear,
Who sits beside our inner springs,
Too often dry for this he brings,
Which seems the very jet of earth
At sight of sun, her music's mirth,
As up he wings the spiral stair,
A song of light, and pierces air
With fountain ardour, fountain play,
To reach the shining tops of day,
And drink in everything discerned
An ecstasy to music turned,
Impelled by what his happy bill
Disperses; drinking, showering still,
Unthinking save that he may give
His voice the outlet, there to live
Renewed in endless notes of glee,
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So thirsty of his voice is he,
For all to hear and all to know
That he is joy, awake, aglow,
The tumult of the heart to hear
Through pureness filtered crystal-clear,
And know the pleasure sprinkled bright
By simple singing of delight,
Shrill, irreflective, unrestrained,
Rapt, ringing, on the jet sustained
Without a break, without a fall,
Sweet-silvery, sheer lyrical,
Perennial, quavering up the chord
Like myriad dews of sunny sward
That trembling into fulness shine,
And sparkle dropping argentine;
Such wooing as the ear receives
From zephyr caught in choric leaves
Of aspens when their chattering net
Is flushed to white with shivers wet;
And such the water-spirit's chime
On mountain heights in morning's prime,
Too freshly sweet to seem excess,
Too animate to need a stress;
But wider over many heads
The starry voice ascending spreads,
Awakening, as it waxes thin,
The best in us to him akin;
And every face to watch him raised,
Puts on the light of children praised,
So rich our human pleasure ripes
When sweetness on sincereness pipes,
Though nought be promised from the seas,
But only a soft-ruffling breeze
Sweep glittering on a still content,
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Serenity in ravishment.
For singing till his heaven fills,
'Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup,
And he the wine which overflows
To lift us with him as he goes:
The woods and brooks, the sheep and kine
He is, the hills, the human line,
The meadows green, the fallows brown,
The dreams of labour in the town;
He sings the sap, the quickened veins,
The wedding song of sun and rains
He is, the dance of children, thanks
Of sowers, shout of primrose-banks,
And eye of violets while they breathe;
All these the circling song will wreathe,
And you shall hear the herb and tree,
The better heart of men shall see,
Shall feel celestially, as long
As you crave nothing save the song.
Was never voice of ours could say
Our inmost in the sweetest way,
Like yonder voice aloft, and link
All hearers in the song they drink:
Our wisdom speaks from failing blood,
Our passion is too full in flood,
We want the key of his wild note
Of truthful in a tuneful throat,
The song seraphically free
Of taint of personality,
So pure that it salutes the suns
The voice of one for millions,
In whom the millions rejoice
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For giving their one spirit voice.
Yet men have we, whom we revere,
Now names, and men still housing here,
Whose lives, by many a battle-dint
Defaced, and grinding wheels on flint,
Yield substance, though they sing not, sweet
For song our highest heaven to greet:
Whom heavenly singing gives us new,
Enspheres them brilliant in our blue,
From firmest base to farthest leap,
Because their love of Earth is deep,
And they are warriors in accord
With life to serve and pass reward,
So touching purest and so heard
In the brain's reflex of yon bird:
Wherefore their soul in me, or mine,
Through self-forgetfulness divine,
In them, that song aloft maintains,
To fill the sky and thrill the plains
With showerings drawn from human stores,
As he to silence nearer soars,
Extends the world at wings and dome,
More spacious making more our home,
Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.
George Meredith
Painted by G F Watts
© National Portrait Gallery
London
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Five Mystical Songs
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Poem by George Herbert (1593-1633)
Vaughan Williams was an agnostic, but he responded with
sympathy and affection to the beliefs of the Church of England
as expressed in the work of the great Jacobean/Caroline poet
and priest George Herbert. The songs are “mystical” in a
precise sense: their subject is the central doctrines of
Christianity – Incarnation, Redemption, Resurrection and the
agency of the Holy Spirit in the world – and Herbert explains
and explores them with his characteristic blend of rigour,
humanity, and the famous “metaphysical” wit of the
seventeenth century.
The music here allows verbal details to shine through in all
their clarity and complexity while reflecting and supporting
them, sometimes through a cheerful wit of the composer’s
own. A simple example is his setting of the words “… the heart /
Must bear the longest part” in the fifth song, Antiphon, where
he slips two four-beat bars into the 3/4 time scheme, so that
every performer’s “part” is briefly longer in that “part” of the
score – a joke very much in the spirit of Herbert himself.
Song I, Easter, is full of the joy of the Resurrection, beginning
with what the baritone Thomas Allen has called “a wonderful
melodic surge” which runs through the whole piece. The poet
longs to rise, with Jesus, from the “calcined” ashes of sorrow
and be transformed into the “gold” of righteousness – an
ingenious metaphor from alchemy to illustrate a spiritual
journey. The beautiful cantabile section uses the lute (Herbert
was a keen musician and played in a consort with friends) to
contemplate in fantastical terms the Passion of Christ: Jesus
“bore” (carried/suffered) the cross, which taught everything
made of wood, including the poet’s lute, to “resound” with his
praise; his sinews were stretched in agony during his suffering,
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so the cords/chords of the instrument must celebrate the
Easter triumph that followed. The composer uses the harp
here to represent the lute – a simple but touching effect.
Finally the poem points out that the basis of harmony is the
triad of the common chord: if your consort lacks a player, call
on the Holy Spirit to “bear a part” and complete the harmony
“with his sweet art”, both in the music and in the human heart.
Song II, I got me Flowers, dramatizes disappointment and
loneliness struggling with hope as the musical phrases rise
and fall. The poet wanted to bring flowers to celebrate Jesus,
but he was up too late to catch the early-rising Christ (a
characteristic “domestic” reference for Herbert), and even the
sun could not outdo Jesus’s thrifty “arising”. A magical moment
comes when the key gently changes and the chorus
wordlessly supports the soloist’s question: can any daybreak
match Easter Day? The final bars give the answer, which was
hidden all the time in the desolate harmonies of the song’s
opening: the six flats of the E flat minor key reveal themselves
to be also the six flats of G flat major, and the piece ends on an
enormously satisfying major chord. Vaughan Williams has
made the poet’s spiritual journey real in musical terms, both
witty and profoundly serious.
Song III, Love bade me welcome is a setting of what Simone
Weil called “the most beautiful poem in the world”. The
“mystical” subject here is the Communion Service that for
Christians re-enacts the Last Supper, foretells the great feast
that the blessed will enjoy in Heaven, and is related to Jesus’s
parable of the Rich Man’s Feast and the stories of the Feeding
of the Five Thousand and the Supper at Emmaus. Herbert
compares the relationship between God and mankind to the
welcome that a generous, “quick-eyed” and sensitive host
gives to a nervously self-deprecating guest, and the constant
quavers of the 3/4 accompaniment suggest the anxiety that
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needs to be reassured by Love’s steady vocal line. The crucial
musical moment comes when the old plainchant melody O
Sacrum Convivium (O Holy Feast) is sung, wordlessly and as
quietly as possible (pppp), by the chorus, making clear the
spiritual significance of this apparently commonplace,
everyday invitation to share a meal. The guest sits and the holy
feast calmly proceeds as the ancient hymn gently fades away.
Songs IV and V, The Call and Antiphon, are dramatically
contrasted. The first has a lovely lilting melody that evokes a
mind at ease, rejoicing in a confident relationship with the God
of Love. Each stanza lists and then develops the spiritual
concepts that will act as firm markers on the “Way” to God
through Jesus – Jesus who said to Doubting Thomas “I am the
way, the truth, and the life” (John 14 1-7) . They form a kind of
circling dance of meditation, and the last stanza begins in
musical exultation which then sinks to peaceful rest. The
accompaniment in Antiphon suggests the jubilant ringing of
bells, and the chorus are instructed to sing with determination
(risoluto) as they fill the world with praises that seem to re-echo
from the heavens to the earth, growing, flying, and shouted
from the church – both the building, even if its doors are shut,
and the universal congregation of the faithful. Characteristically
of Herbert, however, it is in the individual human heart that the
“longest part" will be heard, if only by its most important
auditor – God himself.
I. Easter
Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him may'st rise;
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more, Just.
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Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The cross taught all wood to resound his name
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.
Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or since all music is but three parts vied,
And multiplied;
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.
II I got me flowers
I got me flowers to strew thy way;
I got me boughs off many a tree:
But thou wast up by break of day,
And brought'st thy sweets along with thee.
The Sun arising in the East,
Though he give light, and the East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.
Can there be any day but this,
Though many suns to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we miss:
There is but one, and that one ever.
III Love bade me welcome
Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
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From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lack'd anything.
A guest, I answer'd, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
IV The call
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, My Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joys in love.
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V Antiphon
Let all the world in every corner sing,
My God and King!
The heavens are not too high,
His praise may thither fly:
The earth is not too low,
His praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
My God and King!
The Church with Psalms must shout.
No door can keep them out:
But above all, the heart
Must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
My God and King!
Programme notes © Jon Long 2022
Interval
(20 minutes)
Vivace Chorus is proud to support the work of 'Foodwise'.
Martin Vodden will give a short talk about the charity after the
interval, and there will be a bucket collection at the end of the
concert to support its work. Please give generously to help
them give people the skills to prepare their own feasts!
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tw’nir% ard education 1 foaa( communities
The Perfect Fool (Ballet Music)
Gustav Holst
The opening ballet sequence of Holst’s one-act opera-ballet
The Perfect Fool is made up of three brilliantly scored and
contrasting movements, played continuously. It represents a
Wizard summoning up in turn the Spirits of Earth, Water and
Fire to create a potion that he hopes will win him the love of a
Princess, the main strand of the wildly eccentric plot that
follows. Portentously rising trombone phrases, closely related
to the opening bars of Uranus, the Magician in Holst’s recently
completed Planets Suite, lead straight into the pulsing
syncopations and vivid orchestral colours of the Dance of the
Earth Spirits (later specified as Gnomes and Goblins). Holst’s
music throughout is ideal for a ballet, strongly rhythmical and
with straightforward, immediately appealing melodies that
imply eloquent, muscular stage movement in a quickly
changing sequence.
The “Wizard” theme is repeated to introduce both of the
remaining scenes. The Dance of the Water-Spirits is a beautiful
example of English pastoralism, with sunlit fields, a flowing
river and sparkling fountains touchingly “painted” by harp,
celesta and woodwind (Holst notes at one point, with
characteristic precision, “the Celesta is more important than
the Harp here”). Meanwhile muted strings create the relaxed
atmosphere of a bright summer’s day. Mercury from The
Planets is recalled more directly here than Neptune, perhaps
because Holst is aiming at the glancing, quicksilver effects of
sunlight on waterdrops.
The Spirits of Fire (Salamanders) then come racing in “burning, scorching, blasting” says the libretto – riding faster
and faster on thunderous timpani and great swirls from the
string and brass sections of the orchestra, while the xylophone
and tambourine create glittering sparks and the crackle of
flames. Mars, the Bringer of War is not far away here.
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Holst’s love of the English landscape, his keen sense of drama
and even his response to the bitter experiences of the Great
War are evoked with extraordinary economy in this music, and
the ballet has a depth and seriousness out of all proportion to
its brevity – a miniature masterpiece.
Andante (Invocation)
Dance of Spirits of Earth (Moderato – Andante)
Dance of Spirits of Water (Allegro)
Dance of Spirits of Fire (Allegro moderato – Andante)
Belshazzar's Feast
William Walton
The first performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast was given
in the Great Hall of Leeds Town Hall in 1931. The magnificent
building, opened by Queen Victoria herself in 1858, was a
monument to the commercial wealth of the city, its classical
entrance-front adorned with allegorical figures representing
Industry, Science and Culture, each accompanied by attributes
that symbolised the sources of this wealth: an anvil, emblem of
iron-founding and engineering, plump bales of wool, a roll of
the fine printed linen cloth for which Leeds was famous,
scientific instruments, and a globe and compasses to represent
exploration and Empire. Inside the Hall, with its ninety-foothigh ceiling, huge golden letters were framed by massive,
marble-effect pillars whose Corinthian capitals (the most
imperial of the classical “orders”) also gleamed with gilding,
and spelled out the values that underpinned this prosperity
and enterprise: INDUSTRY OVERCOMES ALL THINGS;
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HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY; FORWARD; GOOD WILL
TOWARDS MEN - and so on. Outside and inside, the
confidence and self-belief of the mighty city and the nation
and Empire that it embodied were literally written on the walls
of the palatial edifice.
As the Queen and Prince Albert left Wellington Station, bound
for their newly-completed Scottish-Baronial castle at Balmoral
(cheered, it was said, by thirty-two thousand children), it may
not have occurred to many in the crowds to see a parallel with
“Babylon, the mighty city” in the Old Testament Book of Daniel,
whose vaunting King Belshazzar was struck down with his
kingdom in a single moment of divine revenge. Fewer still
might have remembered that the New Testament author of
the Book of Revelation had returned to the subject of Babylon,
using it this time as an avatar of the city of Rome and its
Empire under whose power he lived, and prophetically
denouncing it for its ungodly materialism, its “merchandise of
gold and silver … of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen … of
brass, iron and marble … of slaves, and the souls of men”.
Fewer again, though surely some, may have pondered
whether mid-Victorian Britain, in any sense, traded in “the
souls of men” as well as in iron, fine linen and gold, or might, in
some terrifying future, be weighed in the balance and found
wanting, and suffer a sudden and calamitous fall.
When he was working on his magnificent cantata in 1929 -31
Walton must have been aware that the confident certainties of
Victorian Britain were, to many, a distant dream. Born in
Oldham in 1902, he had left Lancashire as a boy of ten thanks
to the initiative of his music teacher father and the persistence
of his mother, and rarely returned. He was a chorister, then one
of the youngest ever undergraduates, at Christ Church, Oxford,
where he was befriended by Sacheverell Sitwell and, through
him, his well-connected and modish siblings Edith and Osbert,
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who took him up and with whom
he lived (at first in the attic of their
Chelsea house) for more than ten
years. As a member of the
loosely-defined
“set”
of
sophisticated
and
culturally
daring “Bright Young Things” of
post-World War One Britain,
Walton won a dazzling reputation
with Façade (1922), in which Edith
declaimed her bizarre poems to
the accompaniment of his witty,
idiosyncratic
music,
much
Sir William Turner Walton
influenced
by
the
jazz
craze
of
the
By Bassano Ltd (April 1937)
© National Portrait Gallery, London day.
Meanwhile the country,
especially in the Midlands and the
North, was beset by drawn-out industrial decline and repeated
economic crises, and the political threats of the 1930s
gathered force. An underlying sense of danger, even of
approaching apocalypse, was impossible to ignore, and when
the time came Walton, who had a talent for riding the wave of
cultural opportunity, produced a masterpiece that caught the
febrile spirit of the age, dramatizing in Belshazzar’s Feast not
only its enthusiasm for extravagance and risk, but also its
anxiety in the face of potentially disastrous social and political
change.
Then as now the BBC was a force for innovation as well as
continuity, and in 1929 it was in the process of founding its own
orchestra, the BBC Symphony, under the direction of Adrian
Boult. Belshazzar was in fact the first commission given by this
major new patron. The request was for a piece for small
chorus, one soloist and a maximum of fifteen players,
essentially a chamber-work. With typical creative daring
Walton allowed his conception to develop until it required
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massive and diverse forces: a double chorus and semi-chorus;
a commanding dramatic baritone, preferably with experience
in opera; and a huge orchestra. The percussion section alone,
as the score blithely indicates, needs “3 or preferably 4 players”
and lists thirteen instruments ranging from castanets and
glockenspiel to military and bass drums by way of gong,
xylophone, slapsticks and an anvil (essential to provide just
four notes in the praise of the God of Iron).
When the work was taken on, in its swollen state, by the great
Leeds Festival, the festival’s director Sir Thomas Beecham
made a famous comment, half jovial and half brusquely
dismissive: “As you’ll never hear the thing again, my boy, why
not throw in a couple of brass bands?”. Nothing daunted, the
“boy” from Oldham took him at his word and added two brass
ensembles of seven players each to the score. In a
performance the crowded opulence of the musical forces is in
itself a kind of Babylonian excess, assembled to enact the fall
of the biblical king and illustrate what Neville Cardus called “a
clear case of a red-hot conception instinctively finding the
right and equally red-hot means of expression”.
Osbert Sitwell’s ingenious selection and arrangement of
biblical texts creates a narrative that enables Walton to
dramatize a sensational variety of moods. Doom-laden
trombones and the male chorus’s stark harmonies set up the
theme of judgement, followed by a touching sequence of
grief, indignation, despair, determination and vengefulness in
the choral exploration of Psalm 137 (By the waters of Babylon).
At every stage Walton’s choice of instruments develops the
drama: plaintive saxophone for heartbreak, pulsing brass and
strings as anger rises, and so on. The soloist emerges as a
spokesman for the people, anguished but determined,
contrasting with the arrogance of Belshazzar and the
superficial confidence of the Babylonians later. In a subtle
Vivace Chorus
25
effect the chorus in this section merges the grief of the Jews
with the pathos of the fallen city at the end of the work.
The story moves swiftly on with the denunciation of Babylon
from Revelation (Babylon was a great city), a glorious
opportunity for the baritone soloist with its sweeping,
declamatory style and relish for luxury even as it is
condemned. The description of the feast is enormously
expanded from the account in the Book of Daniel, importing a
list of instruments from the story of Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar's Feast, Rembrandt (c. 1635)
Purchased by the National Gallery with support of The Art Fund
developing the King’s character. Walton mockingly builds this
section on a repeated four-note “toppling” figure in the
orchestra that continually challenges the wildly upwardaspiring confidence of the feasters. The phrase Yea! Drank from
the sacred vessels is stunningly isolated, summing up the
blasphemous outrage against the true God. Ominous chords
accompany Belshazzar as he rises to call on his false gods,
while thunderous timpani and an extraordinary dissonant blast
from the xylophone mock his power.
26
Vivace Chorus
Walton said that at this point he had a problem: “I got landed
on the word ‘gold’. I was there from May to December,
perched, unable to move either right or left or up or down.” His
brilliant solution was to write a grand march, parodying but
also paying affectionate tribute to the “imperial” manner of
Elgar’s famous marches (Elgar, for whom Walton said that he
had “unbounded admiration.”) The God of Gold is introduced
with nightmarish magnificence by the “royal” instruments of the
brass section, plus gong, tambourine, cymbals and military
drum. Silver sparkles with triangle and glockenspiel, Iron with
clinks on the anvil, Wood naturally calls for the xylophone and
wood block, and Stone the crack of the slapstick. In music that
undeniably looks ahead to Walton’s great Coronation Marches,
Crown Imperial and Orb and Sceptre, the gods of the doomed
city strut tipsily through the score like a parade of clockwork
soldiers. The ultimate mockery is the praise of Belshazzar
himself as King of Kings.
Sitwell and Walton now compress the narrative, keeping the
focus on the avenging triumph of God. The descriptions of the
Hand of God and the Writing on the Wall are achieved with
tense economy. The soloist’s sinister narrative is punctuated by
chilling pauses, the terrified chattering of castanets, prowling
‘cellos and double-basses and a repeat of the judgemental
trombone theme from the opening of the cantata. The chorus
starkly translate the famous verdict of God (Thou art weighed in
the balance and found wanting), and after the celebrated cry of
“Slain!” the story reaches its final section, the exultant victorysong of the People of Israel.
One of the glories of Walton’s score is the variety of dramatic
effects that he packs into its thirty-five minute span. The
baritone sings for a total of almost exactly five minutes, yet
must play the part of a grief-stricken but resolute exile,
describe with ironic poise a magnificent culture that both
Vivace Chorus
27
impresses and repels him, and chill the blood with an
unearthly horror-story. The chorus provide passionate
narrative,
lamentation,
high-spirited
satire,
ferocious
denunciation and at the end a vast triumph-scene, nearly one
third of the cantata’s length and itself encompassing a grim
threnody for the fallen city at the heart of its ”ecstatic gloating”,
as The Times called it in 1931. The whole is drawn together
and driven forward by Walton’s spell-binding control of his
vast forces. No wonder that Herbert von Karajan once
described Belshazzar’s Feast as the greatest choral work of
the Twentieth Century.
Programme notes © Jon Long 2022
Text arranged from Biblical sources by Osbert Sitwell
Thus spake Isaiah –
Thy sons that thou shalt beget
They shall be taken away
And be eunuchs
In the palace of the King of Babylon
Howl ye, howl ye, therefore:
For the day of the Lord is at hand!
By the waters of Babylon
By the waters of Babylon
There we sat down: yea, we wept
And hanged our harps upon the willows
For they that wasted us
Required of us mirth;
They that carried us away captive
Required of us a song
Sing us one of the songs of Zion
28
Vivace Chorus
How shall we sing the Lord's song
In a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem
Let my right hand forget her cunning
If I do not remember thee
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
Yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy
By the waters of Babylon
There we sat down: yea, we wept
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed
Happy shall he be that taketh thy children
And dasheth them against a stone
For with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down
And shall be found no more at all
Babylon was a great city
Her merchandise was of gold and silver
Of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen
Of purple, silk and scarlet
All manner vessels of ivory
All manner vessels of most precious wood
Of brass, iron and marble
Cinnamon, odours and ointments
Of frankincense, wine and oil
Fine flour, wheat and beasts
Sheep, horses, chariots, slaves
And the souls of men
In Babylon
Belshazzar the King
Made a great feast
Vivace Chorus
29
Made a feast to a thousand of his lords
And drank wine before the thousand
Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine
Commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels:
Yea! the golden vessels, which his father, Nebuchadnezzar
Had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem
He commanded us to bring the golden vessels
Of the temple of the house of God
That the King, his Princes, his wives
And his concubines might drink therein
Then the King commanded us:
Bring ye the cornet, flute, sackbut, psaltery
And all kinds of music: they drank wine again
Yea, drank from the sacred vessels
And then spake the King:
Praise ye
The God of Gold
Praise ye
The God of Silver
Praise ye
The God of Iron
Praise ye
The God of Wood
Praise ye
The God of Stone
Praise ye
The God of Brass
Praise ye the Gods!
30
Vivace Chorus
Thus in Babylon, the mighty city
Belshazzar the King made a great feast
Made a feast to a thousand of his lords
And drank wine before the thousand
Belshazzar whiles he tasted the wine
Commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels
That his Princes, his wives and his concubines
Might rejoice and drink therein
After they had praised their strange gods
The idols and the devils
False gods who can neither see nor hear
Called they for the timbrel and the pleasant harp
To extol the glory of the King
Then they pledged the King before the people
Crying, Thou, O King, art King of Kings:
O King, live for ever...
And in that same hour, as they feasted
Came forth fingers of a man's hand
And the King saw
The part of the hand that wrote
And this was the writing that was written:
'MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN'
'THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE
AND FOUND WANTING'
In that night was Belshazzar the King slain
And his Kingdom divided
Then sing aloud to God our strength:
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob
Take a psalm, bring hither the timbrel
Vivace Chorus
31
Blow up the trumpet in the new moon
Blow up the trumpet in Zion
For Babylon the Great is fallen, fallen
Alleluia!
Then sing aloud to God our strength:
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob
While the Kings of the Earth lament
And the merchants of the Earth
Weep, wail and rend their raiment
They cry, Alas, Alas, that great city
In one hour is her judgement come
The trumpeters and pipers are silent
And the harpers have ceased to harp
And the light of a candle shall shine no more
Then sing aloud to God our strength
Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob
For Babylon the Great is fallen.
Alleluia!
End
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Vivace Chorus
Vivace Chorus - 75 years of music-making
Vivace Chorus at the Royal Festival Hall, May 2017
Photo © Ash Mills
The choir’s origins are a bit hazy, but after a trawl through
records at Surrey History Centre, the following seems to have
been the series of events that led to its formation.
In the aftermath of World War II, Guildford Municipal
Corporation accepted the plan of the Corporation’s newly
appointed Musical Organiser, Jack Crossley Clitheroe, to put on
regular orchestral concerts and hold a Summer Music Festival.
Integral to his vision was the formation of a choir. The Municipal
choir, which became known as the Festival Choir, gave their
first performance on 26 January 1946 as part of a victory
concert. Crossley Clitheroe didn’t hang about and the first
Summer Music Festival took place in July 1946, where the
Festival Choir brought the proceedings to a close with rousing
renditions of Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens and Handel’s Hallelujah
Chorus.
By December 1946 the Festival Choir had 190 members, and
their performance of Handel’s Messiah was a sell-out. That
year marked the emergence of a choir which would eventually
evolve from the Guildford Festival Choir, via the Philharmonic
Choir into the new millennium's Vivace Chorus.
Vivace Chorus
33
In 1949 Crossley Clitheroe formed a second smaller choir,
which he called the Philharmonic Choir to undertake shorter,
often unaccompanied pieces of music. The repertoire of both
choirs continued to expand over the years to include such
works as Bach’s Mass in B minor, Beethoven’s Choral
Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, and Delius’ Sea Drift. In 1959
there was a performance of the Verdi Requiem in the ‘New
Cathedral’ in aid of the Mayor’s Cathedral Building Fund. Every
Christmas the choir would perform The Messiah at the
Technical College, the only Guildford venue large enough to
accommodate a choir and an orchestra. The annual music
festival also continued to be a huge and increasing success,
with famous soloists, like Joan Hammond, coming to
Guildford.
Following the sudden death of Crossley Clitheroe in June 1962,
the Municipal Corporation appointed Vernon ‘Tod’ Handley to
succeed him as the next Music Director. Soon after his arrival,
the name of the orchestra changed to Guildford Philharmonic
Orchestra (GPO) and from the beginning of the 1965/66
season, the Festival Choir and the Philharmonic Choir merged
to become Guildford Philharmonic Choir (GPC). Tod, as he was
known, was keen to put on concerts of unfamiliar music, with
many pieces by English composers. He was a charismatic
conductor who modelled his conducting style on that of his
mentor, Sir Adrian Boult.
Choir rehearsals with Tod were hard work and he could be
quite demanding, but they were all laced with humour. He had
piercing eyes that seemed to penetrate you and kept you on
your toes. His exceptionally clear beat was much appreciated,
and he loved telling the choir about his experiences with Sir
Adrian Boult. One of his favourite phrases was "It’s all in the
stick, just watch". After more than two decades as Director of
Music for the Council (now Guildford Borough), Tod decided it
was time to move onto pastures new.
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Following Handley’s departure, the Borough brought in a
series of guest conductors for both the orchestra and choir.
The list is very impressive: Brian Wright, Norman del Mar, Sir
David Willcocks, Richard Armstrong, Wilfried Boettcher and En
Shao. In September 1984 Simon Halsey became the new
Chorus Master. He was also Director of Music at Warwick
University and Chorus Master of the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra. This led to two exciting excursions from
Guildford, a performance of Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle at
Warwick University’s Arts Centre in 1985, and a trip to L’Eglise
St Roch, Paris to perform Berlioz Te Deum in November the
Guildford Philharmonic Choir, St Roch Paris, November 1986
following year, with the University’s choir and orchestra. Simon
left in 1987 and Neville Creed, who had been his deputy, took
over. Neville stayed with GPC for seven years, preparing the
choir for several eminent guest conductors, but also
conducting a few concerts himself.
One of the most frequent guest conductors was Brian Wright,
who conducted the choir in eight performances between 1984
and 1995. Many of these were of monumental and dramatic
Vivace Chorus
35
works, such as the Verdi Requiem and Te Deum, Berlioz,
Grande Messe des Morts, and Te Deum, and Brahms Requiem.
Goldsmith’s Choral Union, Brian’s principal choir, joined GPC
for most of these concerts bringing the combined number of
singers to over 200. In 1989 the choir joined 33 other choirs
from across the UK to sing the Grande Messe in the Royal
Albert Hall, with Brian Wright conducting. There were 1500
voices, more than double the number Berlioz had initially
wanted, and he was notoriously ambitious where the number
of singers was concerned.
In September 1979, Guildford was formally twinned with
Freiburg im Breisgau, a delightful historic city in BadenWürttemberg (South West Germany). To celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the twinning, about 80 members of the Freiburg
Bachchor travelled to join GPC in a performance of
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in the Cathedral on 28 April 1990.
Accommodation was provided by choir members in their own
homes, an arrangement that would be reciprocated later in
the year in Freiburg.
To continue the 10th anniversary twinning celebrations, GPC
was invited to sing Handel’s Messiah on Saturday 1 September
1990 in Freiburg. Apart from the coach breaking down and a
five hour wait for a replacement, the trip was a great success
and the two choirs continued to have joint concerts for nearly
20 years.
Probably the most memorable concert was the performance
of Britten’s War Requiem in the Stadthalle, Freiburg on 14
November 1993. In rehearsals, the two choirs were sitting
mixed together. The Bachchor had been rehearsing with
choral scores which had just the choral parts, so when the
choirs rehearsed with the tenor and baritone soloists several
members of the Bachchor were hearing Wilfred Owens
36
Vivace Chorus
poems for the first time. They were very moved by the words
and realised that the work was written as a reconciliation.
When words such as “I am the enemy you killed, my friend”
were sung, they understood why one soloist should always be
English and the other one German.
In 1986 Guildford was fortunate to find a replacement for
Vernon Handley. Sir Charles Groves accepted the position of
Principal Conductor of the GPO, and insisted on performing
one concert a year with the choir. He frequently took choir
rehearsals, with his wife sitting at the back of the hall.
Unfortunately he died in 1992, and two years later Neville left
to take up the post of Chorus Director of the London
Philharmonic Choir.
The choir was very involved in choosing Neville’s successor.
The Choir’s committee sifted through the many applications
and came up with a short list of eight candidates, who each
took half of a rehearsal in January 1995. The choir chose
Jeremy Backhouse, who has been the Music Director ever
since. At this point the Borough still engaged guest
conductors, including Edward Warren, Grant Llewellyn, and
Jonathan Willcocks who conducted his own composition Great
is the Glory in November 1995. Then everything changed. The
Borough Council had supported the choir financially up to this
point, but this support was removed in 1998. The choir had the
choice of giving up or going it alone. Under the leadership of
its Chairman John Trigg, the members decided on the latter
course. The Borough funded one of GPC’s concerts each year
until 2002 but then all ties and funding from the Borough
ceased.
As the choir was now an entirely free agent, it was thought that
the choir’s name should reflect that status. Vivace Chorus was
finally chosen, and it was hoped it would portray the vitality
and enthusiasm the choir members all shared. We have been
Vivace Chorus
37
performing as Vivace Chorus since the start of the 2005-06
season, and have decided our own programmes, and chosen
the orchestra and soloists we wish to perform with.
There have been so many stand-out performances and
experiences during Jeremy’s tenure as Music Director. The
choir has sung three times at the Royal Albert Hall since the
Millennium. In October 2001 it was as the backing choir for
Russell Watson ‘The Voice’; in May 2011 the choir performed
Mahler’s Symphony No 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, with the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and four guest choirs. Altogether
there were in excess of 500 performers. Then in May 2014
Vivace Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall, May 2014
Photo © Ash Mills
Vivace was back for a for a magnificent performance of Verdi’s
Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra again. Another
memorable excursion was to the Royal Festival Hall in May
2017, where Vivace performed Brahms’ Requiem, and also a
new composition by Francis Pott, called Cantus Maris, an
atmospheric piece that really portrays a sense of the sea.
Francis has been the choir’s rehearsal pianist since 2008.
38
Vivace Chorus
As Vivace Chorus, the choir has performed a wide range of
music in Guildford, from traditional requiems and oratorios to
opera hits, programmes including Latin and Jazz rhythms and,
just before the first Covid lockdown, the incredible African
Sanctus by David Fanshawe, complete with the dancers of the
Mighty Zulu Nation Theatre Company, enthusiastically
wielding their assegais.
Vivace Chorus African Sanctus, GLive March 2020
Photo © Ben Potton
During the pandemic the choir did what many choirs had to do
– go digital - with weekly rehearsals taking place via Zoom. It
was reassuring to see other members on the screen. They also
managed to record a version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from
Carousel, a firm favourite of the Liverpool FC supporting Music
Director, and a Carol Concert to raise funds for the Mayor of
Guildford’s Christmas Appeal, both available to view on
YouTube at time of writing.
Because of the pandemic, Vivace Chorus is celebrating its 75th
anniversary a year late, in November 2022. We hope you will
enjoy, along with us, tonight's celebratory concert - a feast of
exciting and beautiful music.
Choir history notes © Mary Clayton 2022
Vivace Chorus
39
Jeremy Backhouse
Jeremy Backhouse is one of Britain’s
leading choral conductors. He began his
musical career in Canterbury Cathedral
where he was Senior Chorister.
Jeremy has been the sole conductor of the
internationally-renowned chamber choir,
Vasari Singers, since its inception in 1980.
Since winning the prestigious Choir of the
Year competition in 1988, the Vasari
Singers has performed regularly at major
concert venues and cathedrals throughout
the UK and abroad. Jeremy and the Vasari
Singers broadcast frequently on Classic
FM and BBC Radio 3 and have a
Photo © Ash Mills
discography of over 25 CDs on EMI, Guild,
Signum and Naxos. Their recordings have been nominated for a
Gramophone award, received two Gramophone Editor’s Choice
awards, the top recommendation on Radio 3’s ‘Building A Library’
and two recent CDs both achieved Top Ten status in the Specialist
Classical Charts. He is totally committed to the performance of
contemporary music and, with Vasari, he has commissioned over 25
new works.
In January 1995 Jeremy was appointed Music Director of the Vivace
Chorus. Alongside the standard classical works, Jeremy has
conducted the Vivace Chorus in some ambitious programmes
including Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi, Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater,
Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky and
Ivan the Terrible, then Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ and
Verdi’s Requiem in the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Until July 2022, Jeremy was also the Music Director of the Salisbury
Community Choir. In 2013 the choir celebrated its 21st Anniversary
with a concert in Salisbury Cathedral, premiering a speciallycommissioned work by Will Todd, The City Garden, which they
toured to Lincoln (2014) and Guildford (2015) cathedrals. A new work
from Alexander L'Estrange was premiered in Winchester Cathedral
in November 2018.
Jeremy has also worked with a number of the country's leading
choirs, including the BBC Singers, the London Symphony Chorus,
the Philharmonia Chorus, and the Brighton Festival Chorus.
40
Vivace Chorus
SING WITH THE BEST
It's official: singing
. Makes you feel happier
. Reduces stress
. Improves memory
. Strengthens the lungs and
immune system
Photo © Carol Sheppard
Singing can also release endorphins, reducing our perception
of pain and acting in a similar way to morphine — but without
the danger of addiction.
So it's not just meeting friends, the music or the mid-rehearsal
refreshments that tempt you out on a cold Monday night, but
the chance to be pain free.
Most of all, it's just great fun!
Photo © Ben Potton
Apart from singing in local
venues, we also tour abroad
and have a full calendar of
social events, including
walks and parties.
If you're tempted to join us,
just drop an email to our
membership secretary,
Becky Kerby:
membership@vivacechorus.org
Advertising in our concert programmes is an effective
and economical way of reaching a discerning local
audience. If you're interested in finding out more, just
drop an email to 'programmes@vivacechorus.org'
Vivace Chorus
41
National Symphony Orchestra
Leader: Matthew Scrivener
Principle Conductor: Paul Bateman
Photo © National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra is one of the longestestablished and most versatile professional freelance
orchestras working in Britain today. It has an impressive
recorded legacy as well as a busy diary of live concert
performances. The NSO is admired for both its versatility, its
ability to communicate, connecting with audiences with
consistent commitment and passion. The orchestra has
recently found renewed energy and direction under its
managing director, Justin Pearson.
The NSO was founded in the 1940s and immediately became
a significant recording orchestra. From the 1980s the
reputation and standing of the orchestra surged
forwards, successfully performing and recording for audiences
in a dynamic range of genres: Classical, Film and TV scores,
West End and Broadway musicals, accompanying celebrated
international singers, all of which it continues to do to this day.
42
Vivace Chorus
The NSO has recorded more than 40 complete major classic
musicals. This significant legacy means that the NSO is one of
the most recorded orchestras at EMI Abbey Road
Studies. These musicals, marketed mainly in the USA, often
sold more than 1.5 million discs, including recordings of
Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story. The Leonard
Bernstein Estate remarked: ”There is no finer recording of West
Side Story than that which was laid down by the NSO”
Though based in London, the NSO performs throughout the
United Kingdom, drawing its fine players from all round the
country. The NSO prides itself on the huge audiences that
regularly support its concerts. The orchestra has performed
Opera Evenings with artistes such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and
Lesley Garrett.
NSO has toured to Spain with Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe,
and was proud to play at the ceremony marking the handover
to the nation of the new Defence and National Rehabilitation
Centre in Loughborough in the presence of Prince William and
the Prime Minister.
Viennese Nights, Tchaikovsky Galas and programmes of
popular classics have been performed to capacity houses at
prestigious venues including The Royal Festival Hall, Barbican,
Royal Albert Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham to name but
a few.
In 2018, NSO topped the classical charts for weeks
collaborating with presenter Alan Titchmarsh and composer
Debbie Wiseman for a project named “The Glorious Garden”.
The orchestra was chosen to record the scores for Queen
Elizabeth's 90th birthday celebrations and recently performed
on ITV for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 at Windsor
Castle.
Vivace Chorus
43
Thomas Nießer - Baritone
Welsh-German baritone Thomas
Nießer was educated at the
University of Bristol and the
Guildhall School of Music and
Drama, where he studied under
Professor Janice Chapman and
graduated with Honours. As part of
his undergraduate degree, he
spent a year in Heidelberg where
he studied under Ashley Prewitt at
the Staatsoper Stuttgart.
He is now making a name for
himself both in the UK and on the
continent, and has been praised for his ‘powerful but richly
toned voice’.
Photo © Ben Tomlin
Recent opera roles include Dr Falke in Johann Strauss's opera
Die Fledermaus (Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen), Don Giovanni in
Mozart's opera of the same name (Berlin Opera Academy),
Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte (Love Opera) and Alfio in
Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana (North Wales Opera).
He is also in demand on the concert stage; his solo oratorio
roles have included Bach Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas
Oratorio), Handel Messiah, the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms,
Duruflé and Fauré, and (with Vivace Chorus) Elgar The Dream
of Gerontius,
A proud Welsh speaker, Thomas has a passion for Welsh song
and enjoys bringing this lesser-known repertoire to a wider
audience.
He looks forward to returning to sing with Vivace Chorus once
again in tonight's concert.
44
Vivace Chorus
Samuel Staples
Solo violin
British violinist Samuel Staples was
born in London to a musical family
and began playing the violin when
he was five after a short-lived but
enthusiastic career as a 'cellist.
Aged eight he was awarded a place
at the Yehudi Menuhin School where
he studied with Natasha Boyarsky.
His teachers and mentors since have
included András Keller, Boris Kucharsky, Vasko Vassilev, David
Dolan, Pavlo Beznosiuk, Andriy Viytovych and Pavel Fisher.
As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed across
France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Japan and the USA,
as well as in many major UK venues including the Wigmore
Hall, St. John's Smith Square, Purcell Room, Kings Place,
Menuhin Hall, Windsor Castle and Milton Court.
He is a regular guest at many festivals worldwide.
A keen orchestral musician, Samuel is in increasingly high
demand as both a leader and director.
He has performed as concertmaster with Orpheus Sinfonia,
Outcry Ensemble, Sinfonia One, AIMS Chamber Orchestra,,
Agora Festival Orchestra, Bloomsbury Opera and the Orion
Orchestra and enjoys collaborating regularly with groups
including the Locrian Ensemble, La Nuova Musica, Collegium
and City of London Soloists.
Vivace Chorus
45
Vivace Chorus Patrons
The Vivace Chorus is extremely grateful to all patrons for their support.
Honorary Life Patrons
John Britten
James Garrow
John Trigg MBE
Life Patrons
Joy Hunter MBE
John and Jean Leston
Platinum Patrons
Robin & Jill Broadley
Roger & Sharon Brockway
Richard & Mary Broughton
Amanda Burn
Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson CBE
Norman Carpenter
Tony & Sylvia Chantler
Andrea & Gunter Dombrowe
Rosemary & Michael Dudley
Susan & Cecil Hinton
Stephen Linton
John McLean OBE & Janet McLean
Ron & Christine Medlow
Lionel & Mary Moon
Peter Norman
Robin Privett
David & Linda Ross
Geoffrey Johns & Sheila Rowell
Jonathan Scott
Catherine & Brian Shacklady
Prue & Derek Smith
Dennis & Marjory Stewart
Idris & Joan Thomas
Pam Usher
Rob and Susie Walker
Anthony J T Williams
Bill & June Windle
Maggie Woolcock
BECOME A VIVACE PATRON
If you have enjoyed this concert, why not become one of our patrons? We
have a loyal band of followers whose regular presence at our concerts is
greatly appreciated. With the valued help of our patrons, we are able to
perform a wide range of exciting music, with world-class, professional
musicians in venues such as G Live, Dorking Halls, the Royal Albert Hall
and the Royal Festival Hall. If you are interested, please contact Mary Moon
on 01372 468431 or email: patrons@vivacechorus.org.
46
Vivace Chorus
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Jeremy Backhouse
There never needs to be any excuse for recording the music of
Ralph Vaughan Williams, but his 150th birthday anniversary most
certainly deserves marking. Featuring Vaughan Williams’ masterly and
intensely personal Five Mystical Songs in a version with organ, this is indeed a
programme that satisfies at every level. Vasari Singers’
new album reflects a wide-ranging mixture of popular and less familiar choral
anthems from the British Isles, featuring Roderick Williams and Martin Ford.
AVAILABLE FROM 14 OCTOBER
|
Vasari Singers
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
Photo © Paul Ridout
Vasari Singers was founded in 1980 and is regarded as one of
the leading chamber choirs in Britain. Under the direction of its
founder-conductor Jeremy Backhouse, Vasari Singers
performs a wide range of repertoire from Renaissance to
contemporary. The choir sings regularly at major concert
venues and other locations in London and elsewhere,
including abroad, having enjoyed tours to Spain, the Baltic
states and Italy in recent years. Cathedral residencies are an
important part of the choir’s year and it is heard frequently on
Classic FM and BBC Radio 3.
Two crucial foundation stones of the choir’s history have been
the commissioning of new choral works and making
recordings: Vasari’s extensive discography includes a large
collection of premiere recordings, many of which are of works
commissioned by Vasari Singers, as well as two collections of
Christmas music. Most of the choir’s recordings feature 20th
and 21st century composers and many have received high
acclaim,
achieving
chart
successes
and
similar
recommendations.
One such recent review by Choir and
48
Vivace Chorus
Organ described Vasari Singers as ‘outstanding, gifted and
deeply musical’.
During the moratorium on live choral singing in 2019 and 2020,
Vasari turned its attention to online activities, successfully
engaging with a worldwide audience through virtual
performances and choral workshops. Notable amongst these
was a film on French composer Marcel Dupré, praised as ‘one
of the best pandemic-driven virtual performances’
The choir’s latest recording released last month on the Naxos
label features a celebration of the music of Ralph Vaughan
Williams (in this, his 150th anniversary year). Its centrepiece is
a recording of the Five Mystical Songs with acclaimed baritone
Roderick Williams.
It also includes many other choral
favourites by Elgar, Wesley, Patrick Hadley and Harold Darke.
First Soprano
Elena Carlton Jones
Victoria Cross
Harriet Gritton
Kate Jurka
Elizabeth Limb
Second Soprano
Rachel Holmes
Elizabeth Isherwood
Rachel Robinson
Jess Stansfield
Laura Stephenson
Susan Waton
Vivace Chorus
First Alto
Elizabeth Atkinson
Julia Field
Stephanie May
Second Tenor
Paul Bradbury
Roger Carpenter
Rihards Saknītis
Second Alto
Alison Benton
Bridget Coaker
Sarah Mistry
First Bass
John Hunt
Richard Semmens
First Tenor
Daniel Burges
Paul Robertson
Julian Washington
Second Bass
Imants Auziņš
Simon Backhouse
Malcolm Field
Keith Long
49
Vivace Chorus Singers
FIRST SOPRANO
Olwyn Westwood
Andrea Dombrowe
FIRST BASS
Sandra Adamson
Christine Wilks
Sheena Ewen*
Paul Barnes
Sel Adamu*
Eiri Williams
Valerie Garrow
Phil Beastall
Pam Alexander
Fiona Wimblett
Liz Hampshire
Pauline Higgins
Richard Broughton
Mark Brown+
Amelia Atkinson*
Jane Barnes
FIRST ALTO
Penny Macfarlane
Brian John
Mary Broughton*
Barbara Barklem*
Lois McCabe
Jeremy Johnson
Jo Haviland
Jackie Bearman
Kay McManus*
Andrew Linden
Becky Kerby*
Marion Blair
Catherine Middleton
Jon Long
Fran MacKay
Monika Boothby-Jost
Mary Moon
Malcolm Munt
Suzie Maine
Judy Brewster
Pamela Murrell
Chris Newbery*
Michelle Mumford
Jane Brooks*
Sonja Nagle*
Robin Privett*
Sue Norton*
Amanda Burn
Sheila Rowell
David Ross*
Robin Onslow
Philippa Curtis
Jo Stokes
Gillian Rix
Fiona Davidge
Rosey Storey*
Andrew Skinner
Ben Smithies+
Sarah Smithies
Valentina Faedi
Pamela Usher
Phil Stanford*
Barbara Tansey
Sheila Hodson
June Windle
Rob Walker
Joan Thomas
Jean Leston
Hilary Vaill
Lis Martin
FIRST TENOR
Anna Wili
Penny McLaren
Bob Bromham*
SECOND BASS
Christine Medlow*
Bob Cowell*
Peter Andrews
SECOND SOPRANO
Rosalind Milton*
Owen Gibbons
Norman Carpenter
Jacqueline Alderton
Lilly Nicholson
Nick Manning*
James Garrow*
Anna Arthur
Jackie Payne
Barbara McDonald
Stuart Gooch*
Sarah Badger
Mary Brown+
Catherine Shacklady
John Trigg*
Nick Gough*
Marjory Stewart
Susie Walker
Mike Johns
Scarlett Close*
Julia Stubbs
Ann Fuller*
Sue Thomas
SECOND TENOR
Chris Peters*
Isobel Humphreys*
Hilary Trigg*
Peter Butterworth
Phil Tudor
Isabel Mealor
Maggie Woolcock*
Simon Dillon*
Richard Wood
Alex Nash
Kieron Walsh*
Neil Martin
Geoff Johns
Gill Perkins*
SECOND ALTO
Stephen Linton*
Kate Peters*
Geraldine Allen
Charles Martin*
Mary Somerville
Evelyn Beastall
Peter Norman
Valerie Thompson
Mary Clayton
Jon Scott*
50
* = Semi-chorus
+ = Guest singer
Vivace Chorus
Vivace Chorus presents
RISTMAS
"CHCONCERT
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
f
iR
in aid of
The Mayor’s Local
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F PR ¢ £ £
Vivace Chorus dates for your diary
The Mayor of Guildford's Carol Concert
Sunday 11th December 2022 7:00 pm Holy Trinity Church, Guildford
One of the highlights of the Christmas season in Guildford is the
Mayor of Guildford's annual Carol Concert, in support of this year's
selected charity. As always, there will be your favourite audience
carols, plus a wonderful selection of traditional and contemporary
carols sung by the choir. With wine, soft drinks and mince pies in the
interval, this is the perfect way to start your countdown to Christmas.
Come & Sing!
Saturday 28th January 2023 10am Guildford Baptist Church, Millmead
What better way to warm up on a chilly Saturday in January than
singing some of the most joyous music in the repertoire? Join us for
our always-popular Come & Sing day on January 28th, where we will
be singing Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Pergolesi’s Magnificat and
Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir. The day will be held at Millmead Church, our
regular rehearsal venue, and will be led by Jeremy Backhouse with
Francis Pott at the piano. We’re excited to be bringing our full-day
Come & Sing back to Guildford after a couple of years – book now to
secure your place!
Duke Ellington Sacred Concert
Saturday 18th March 2023 7:30 pm
GLive, Guildford
It’s not often you get to hear Duke Ellington in Guildford! Join us for
his toe-tapping yet moving Sacred Concert for jazz band and choir,
alongside Bob Chilcott’s highly popular A Little Jazz Mass and
Guildford-based composer Will Todd’s Songs of Peace, all
accompanied by our specially-created jazz band.
Further details at vivacechorus.org
Printed by IMPRINT COLOUR LTD
Pegasus Court, North Lane, Aldershot GU12 4QP. Tel : 01252 330683
Vivace Chorus is a Registered Charity No. 1026337
52
Vivace Chorus
SACRED
CONCERT
Bob Chilcott:
A Little Jazz Mass
Will Todd:
Songs of Peace
Conductor:
Jeremy Backhouse
Vivace
e
Tickets: Book online GLive.co.uk
or phone 01483 369350
Season A5-2023.indd 1
Saturday
18 March 2023
at 7.30pm
Guildford’s state-of-the-art
entertainment venue
24/10/2022 17:01
FUTURE CONCERTS
SACRED
CONCERT
Bob Chilcott:
A Little Jazz Mass
Will Todd:
Songs of Peace
Conductor:
Jeremy Backhouse
Saturday
18 March 2023
at 7.30pm
Vivace
Guildford’s state-of-the-art
entertainment venue
Feast-Programme.indd 1