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A Christmas Fantasia marred by
appalling acoustics.
Chapter House Singers at
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh
James Irvine
Editor: www.land-care.org.uk
Filed 15 Dec 07
©www.land-care.org.uk
It held great promise. An interesting programme
of Christmas music and readings, varying from the traditional to
the more modern. It was held in the impressive and deeply historical
building, the Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh. It was performed by
the Chapter House Singers under the direction of David Goodenough.
Their website informs that the Chapter House Singers
consist of around 35 amateurs based at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral,
Edinburgh. And that they present two or three concerts a year in
the Cathedral, as well as a Christmas carol concert. In addition
they also sing the Cathedral services about six times a year when
the Cathedral Choir is on holiday. Past concerts have included
performances of Un Soir de Neige by Poulenc; Trois chansons de Charles
d'Orléans, Debussy; Handel's Dixit Dominus; Britten's Hymn
to St Cecilia; Bach, St John Passion; Copland's In the Beginning;
Randall Thomson, The Peacable Kingdom; John Rutter, Requiem; Mass
in G, by Schubert and more recently Lo, The Full Final Sacrifice
by Finzi and the Mozart Mass in C.
The Music Director of the Chapter House Singers
since autumn 2006 is David Goodenough, but he is due to move on
next year. He is a noted organist and used to be the head of the
music department at Fettes College, a top independent school also
located in Edinburgh. He continues there as a member of the music
staff.
In the event, this amateur choir was somewhat
seriously imbalanced, with 13 sopranos, 7 altos, 3 tenors and 3
bases. But added to that, the acoustics of Greyfriars Kirk were
simply appalling. So appalling were they that one wonders how Dunedin
Consort, another choir based in Edinburgh, succeeded in making a
recording within this same venue of the Dublin version of the Messiah.
The recording achieved a top Gramophone award in its category this
year.
The situation was exacerbated by the organist,
Nicholas Wearne (who is assistant organist at St Mary's Episcopal
Cathedral), having a preference to use his instrument to produce
overbearing growling noises when given half a chance. Yet he was
capable of sensitive playing when accompanying some of the individual
choral pieces. A growling organ was perhaps the last thing that
was needed in the presence of such echoing acoustics.
For the second half of the concert I moved from
about two thirds back to the front of the auditorium - just behind
the conductor and close to the soloists - to listen to the rendering
of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols. The baritone
soloist was Philip Blackledge, who gave a most impressive performance.
Together with cellist Shona Jones, the choir performed well but
within the limits of what was possible in the building and the lack
of balance amongst their number.
But this was followed, as the concert drew to
a close, by a cacophony created by the choir singing at full pitch
against an overbearing organ, creating a painfully disagreeable
mulch in the acoustic emulsifier of the Kirk. I don't suppose the
music director could do much about it. Presumably, he must have
heard much the same as I did.
OK, it is Christmas and it was an amateur choir.
But then Fettes College gave a far superior performance at their
Christmas Carol Service a few days before at St Mary's Cathedral,
again with an interesting diversity of traditional and modern pieces.
And I don't think all of their beautiful singing was down to better
acoustics. Their singing was superb.
It would be great to have Vaughan Williams'
Fantasia on Christmas Carols performed by the Fettes Choir under
its Musical Director Joanne Armstrong, with Philip Blackledge as solo
baritone. I would not be surprised if Fettes could not also have
a good shot at providing a solo cellist. I only hope the College
has a good concert hall: they certainly deserve it.
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