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Exciting times for St Albans Chamber Choir
Herts Advertiser 09 July
2009
John Manning
CONDUCTOR John Gibbons
deserves a huge vote of thanks for arranging one of the most exciting concerts
to be staged in St Albans for some time.
The final concert in the St Albans Chamber Choir's 50th anniversary season was
packed with musical treats not just from the choir, but also from the guest
artists who were taking part at St Peter's Church in St Albans on Saturday.
Topping the bill was internationally-renowned composer Karl Jenkins and his wife
Carol Barratt who accompanied the choir in a performance of Jenkins' own work A
Parliament of Owls.
But also adding to the riches of the evening were world-class marimba player
Daniella Ganeva and St Albans saxophone player David Wigram.
Daniella joined the choir in their first work of the evening, Oratio, by the
little-known Latvian composer Rihards Dubra. This is probably one of the most
demanding and challenging pieces ever sung by the Chamber Choir but the result
was outstanding, particularly in the way the voices blended with the marimba.
Hard on its heels came the first of two solo spots by David Wigram in which he
played three of the four movements from Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla's
fast moving Histoire du Tango, accompanied by John Gibbons at the piano.
David's performance of these delightful jazzy and rhythmic pieces just added to
the excitement of the evening.
Edward Elgar's delightful song There Is Sweet Music acted as a wonderful foil to
the fast-moving Argentinean rhythm and once more demonstrated the choir's
ability to handle difficult works.
Sweet Suffolk Owl by the 17th century composer Thomas Vautor acted as a fine
introduction to Karl Jenkins A Parliament of Owls.
Described as a "celebration of collective nouns", the work is at once witty and
entertaining but also demanding not only for the choir but also for the
accompanists - the piano duettists, saxophone and percussion.
But the huge applause of the audience at the end of the of the work should have
been enough to prove to all those taking part that the performance was hugely
entertaining.
In complete contrast, the second half began with Les Chansons des Roses, five
outstandingly beautiful songs by the contemporary American composer Morten
Lauridsen.
Daniella Ganeva's solo spot, a performance of Visio Remissionis, a piece
specially written for her by Rihards Dubra, proved to be yet another high point
of the evening. Daniella showed tremendous mastery of her instrument,
demonstrating a vast range of tonal effects in her completely riveting
performance.
The madrigals, All Creatures Now Are Merry-Minded by John Bennet and Orlando
Gibbons' The Silver Swan calmed down the proceedings before David Wigram's
performance of the third of Piazzolla's pieces and the final work of the
evening, Bob Chilcott's amusing Weather Report.
This was without doubt a great evening of outstanding - and often rare - music
sung by a fine choir and performed by outstanding musicians. John Gibbons and
all those associated with the evening deserve heartfelt thanks from all those
fortunate enough to be present at the concert.
JOHN MANNING
Partnership
Concert in a Packed Church
Big
jubilee concert St Albans Chamber Choir and Wormser Kantorei
Nibelungen
Kurier, 22 April 2009
Rudolf Uhrig
St Albans Chamber Choir and Wormser
Kantorei celebrated their 40th twinning anniversary in a joint
concert in Trinity Church led by their conductors John Gibbons and Stefan
Merkelbach and supported by the Kurpfalz Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg.
Of course it
was “more” than just a subscription concert. On Saturday evening St Albans
Chamber Choir performed in the Trinity Church. The guests from Great Britain had
gladly accepted the Worms invitation to celebrate – at the same time - the 40th
anniversary of the choirs’ partnership with the Wormser Kantorei. This
partnership was founded in 1969 by Richard Stangroom and Prof. Tobias Ihle. To
this extent of course the hosts also joined in as did the Kurpfalz Philharmonic
Orchestra Heidelberg to provide the instrumental accompaniment. The two
conductors – John Gibbons and Stefan Merkelbach – took an equal and friendly
share in waving the baton on the night. With George Dyson’s In Honour of the
City the English guests paid their respects to their capital. Toward the
Unknown Region by Ralph Vaughan Williams and a series of songs from the
Sea Pictures led to the end of the first part of the evening. Marie-Belle
Sandis who for five years has been a member of the Mannheim National Theatre was
the soloist in Elgar’s song cycle Sea Picture. Her rich and warm alto
voice beautifully “painted” the chosen images of In Haven, Sabbath Morning at
Sea and The Swimmer. After the interval outstanding voices and
elated instruments presented – intentionally - a very different concert. Stefan
Merkelbach presented texts from the Daumer collection – put to music in the Love
Song Waltzes by Brahms followed by Schubert’s Incidental Music “Rosamunde –
Duchess of Cyprus” based on the marvellously trivial texts by Helmina von Chézy;
spurned when they were first written, but today they are basking again in filled
concert halls – or churches as it were – to benevolent audiences.
Translation
Dorothee Nauth
A Musical Bridge
44 guests from St Albans
for a week in Worms / Important impulse for the town twinning / Big concert
tonight
Wormser Zeitung, 18 April 2009
Gernot Kirch
Mayor Georg
Büttler welcomed the British guests in the town hall. From left: Georg Büttler,
Ralph Penny (Chairman of St Albans Chamber Choir) and Hubert Listmann (Chairman
of the Wormser Kantorei)
The St Albans
Chamber Choir arrived in Worms, a group of 44 guests, to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the choir partnership with the Wormser Kantorei. After their own
concert on Wednesday evening in Liebfrauen Church the Chamber Choir will perform
today together with the Wormser Kantorei at 20 hrs in the Trinity Church.
In the town
hall on Wednesday morning Mayor Georg Büttler welcomed the 44 British choir
members as well as their German hosts. Büttler stressed in his speech the choir
partnership between the Chamber Choir and the Wormser Kantorei as one of the
pillars in the town twinning Worms and St Albans. The choirs’ partnership has
been in existence for 40 years and therefore celebrates a big jubilee this year.
The connection
between the two choirs has not only generated numerous deep friendships, but
also a German / British marriage. Dorothee Nauth from Worms and Michael Bacon
from St Albans met in 1991 when the Wormser Kantorei visited St Albans. In the
meantime Dorothee Nauth and Michael Bacon are a couple and live in Watford near
St Albans. Of course they are still active and enthusiastic members of the
Chamber Choir and were amongst the guests in the town hall.
Mayor Büttler
emphasised in his speech Hubert Listmann’s contribution to the town twinning as
well as the choirs’ partnership. Later on Büttler talked proudly about the
Rhineland – Palatinate Cultural Summer which opens on 8 May in Worms under the
heading of Cool Britannia.
Translation
Dorothee Nauth
Melodies Float
through the Space
St Albans
Chamber Choir gives an impressive concert as part of the twinning celebrations.
Wormser Zeitung
17 April 2009
Gunter Weigand
The partnership between the Wormser Kantorei
and the St Albans Chamber Choir, characterised by a lively exchange, has lasted
for forty years. On the occasion of the jubilee the English choir has travelled
once more to Worms, to engage in combined music-making and to keep up old
friendships. Before both choirs are to give a combined concert this Saturday,
the St Albans Chamber Choir has given an impressive performance in the
Liebfrauenkirche.
As Monsignore Manfred Simon said in his
welcoming address, a concert given in the Liebrauenkirche during their stay has
become a tradition close to the hearts of the congregation. This time the
ensemble presented a cross-section through its many-faceted repertoire, which
ranged from the Renaissance until the present day.
The first piece, Henryk Gorécki’s setting of
Totus Tuus, left an extraordinary impression on the listener. The singers began
in a powerful forte, then suddenly became so quiet that one almost imagined the
sound rather than actually hearing it. The sound rose to a radiant intensity
with the repeated cries of “Maria, Maria”, before ebbing breathlessly away.
Jan Sandström’s arrangement of the carol “Es
ist ein Ros entsprungen” proved to be equally fascinating. A semi-chorus of four
intoned the chorale at a very measured pace from the far end of the chancel. The
rest of the choir added ethereal chords, which created a peaceful atmosphere
despite modern harmonies with occasional grating dissonances.
Giovanni Palestrina’s “Exsultate Deo” went
at a rather hectic pace, but John Gibbons held his singers together long enough
for a sense of the Italian master’s wealth of melodic ideas to come through.
This came across even more so with the “Ave Virgo Sanctissima” from the pen of
Francisco Guerrero. The motet drew its life above all from the contrapuntal
dialogue between the women’s voices, which here had an especially full sound.
Although the beginning of Eric Whitacre’s “Lux Aurumque” was slightly marred by
occasional insecurities of intonation, this work went on to develop into a very
worthwhile “listening experience”. The delicate harmonies – so delicate as to
appear fragile - seemed to float through the nave.
The audience showed its appreciation for the
choir and conductor’s notable achievement with standing applause. There was
praise for the very varied programme, highlighting the works of less well-known
composers.
Translation by Abi Kirk.
Summer Blues,
5th July 2008
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
'THERE was something particularly
refreshing about the choice of music for St Albans Chamber Choir's concert on
Saturday.
Musical director John Gibbons skilfully entwined songs by Percy Grainger,
Jonathan Dove and John Rutter around George Shearing's delightful Songs and
Sonnets from Shakespeare.
And just to add an extra piquancy to the event, the Rutter work was his Birthday
Madrigals which include settings of two of the Shakespeare pieces in Shearing's
work.'
'The evening started with Percy Grainger's slightly macabre piece The Three
Ravens with choir member John Webb singing an excellent tenor solo.'
'Of the seven Shearing pieces, several have a strong jazz influence backed by
excellent piano and double bass accompaniment provided by John Byron and Andrew
Wood. Probably the best known of these are Hey, Ho, The Wind and the Rain and It
Was a Lover and his Lass but several of the other pieces such as Who is Silvia?
are more contemplative and serene. All were performed exquisitely by the choir.
The other two Percy Grainger pieces in the programme were his setting of the
folk song Brigg Fair with tenor Ralph Penny as soloist and Early One Morning
with tenor Geoff Ward and soprano Rosamund Adlard providing the solo parts.
Both are charming works which were given first-class performances.'
'In the hands of Jonathan Dove, the old nursery rhyme Who Killed Cock Robin
takes on a completely new form and the Chamber Choir extracted every nuance from
the rich sound patterns his music provides.
The work is animated and powerful and is relatively brief but at the same time
it is, for me, thoroughly entertaining and Saturday's performance was extremely
good fun.'
'Now the choir is set to begin its 50th anniversary season which will include a
concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in St Albans Abbey early next
year.'
Stabat Mater,
15th March 2008
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
'For only his third concert
since he was appointed conductor of St Albans Chamber Choir, John Gibbons showed
his ability to understand his singers with a programme of Easter music.'
'His choice for the concert at St Saviour's Church, St Albans, on Saturday was
of pieces from the 16th to the 18th century which were all ideally suited to the
choir.'
'The first was the very brief but delightful O Vos Omnes by Italian Carlo
Gesualdo. For the piece, John Gibbons took the choir to the eastern end of
the church, relatively far away from the audience, a move which added to the
effect of the piece.'
'Orlandus Lassus' rich setting of Aurora Lucis Rutilat, a work attributed
to the fourth-century Saint Ambrose, was another fine performance by the choir
which was split into main choir and sub choir of sopranos for the unaccompanied
work.'
'But the group had left their finest performance to the last. They sang
Handel's Dixit Dominus with huge enthusiasm and obvious delight. The result
was that the incredibly-showy work was packed with life and character.'
'St Albans Chamber Choir appears to have taken on a new lease of life….'
Entente Cordiale,
19th January 2008
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
'ALTHOUGH
it is only three months since John Gibbons took over as conductor of the St
Albans Chamber Choir he is already making a huge impression......'
'All Saints chapel has a rare acoustic quality with an extremely long
reverberation time which, although unforgiving, allowed the choir to develop a
tremendous sound quality which added greatly to the impact of the Vaughan
Williams' Mass.'
'There was a strong sonorous quality throughout the work and particularly fine
solo performances by individual members.'
'John Gibbons and the choir developed the full glory of the work to give an
exciting and fresh performance. But the interspersed songs, all in French, were
equally well performed and their variety was both entertaining and refreshing.
Particularly outstanding was the extremely difficult Claude Debussy song
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain.'
'The way the choir handled this and the rest of the concert brings hope that the
Chamber Choir, which has always had a high reputation, is now set to move on to
a more impressive future.'
Love &
Remembrance, 10th November 2007
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
‘…the choir gave a tremendous performance of Herbert
Howells’ moving work Take Him, Earth for Cherishing. The piece,
written for the memorial service of John F Kennedy in Washington Cathedral, is
rightly considered one of the great choral works of the 20th century
and the choir’s performance more than did it justice.
Similarly there were good performances of Robert Ramsey’s marvellous
anthem How Are The Mighty Fallen and Schütz’s Selig Sind Die
Toten.’
‘The main work of the evening was the rarely-heard Requiem
by the little-known English composer George Lloyd. Complete shortly
before his death in 1998, it is a substantial and tuneful work with some great
high points, all of which were well sung by the choir.’
‘I have a strong feeling that the new partnership is set to
be a great success’
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