Vasari Singers at St John’s, Smith Square, London. 3rd
June 2006
The Vasari Singers is a choir clearly
enjoying riding the crest of a wave of successes that can be traced back to
their inspirational concert in May 2004, at St John’s, Smith Square. On that
occasion, the choir delivered a beautifully crafted programming structure of
linked contemporary and historical works, and the group has continued to perform
similarly well-structured, inspirational concerts.
In the following two years, that wave has
swept the choir to its current heights, via an impressive commissioning
programme in 2005 and a World Premiere performance 3 weeks earlier of the final
one of those anniversary commissions, to tonight’s performance of
Rachmaninov’s Vespers. The critics were hugely impressed with Pott’s The Cloud
of Unknowing, and the large audience were similarly impressed with this
moving performance.
Featuring a short first half, the Vasaris,
under their musical director Jeremy Backhouse, filled the auditorium with a rich
tapestry of sounds. From the familiar names of Henryk Gorecki and Sir John
Tavener, they introduced contemporary American composers Eric Whitacre and
Morten Lauridsen – the former currently receiving considerable exposure both
in the US and the UK. At the interval, the audience was left wanting more.
The second half showcased Rachmaninov’s
All-night Vigil in its entirety. Never an easy work to perform, the Vespers
requires immense stamina, dynamic control, vocal range and employs multiple
divided parts in each voice. With such a long work, there is always a risk of
failing to sustain the musical interest over 65minutes, and perhaps this serves
to highlight the difficulty in presenting a setting of a 6-hour Orthodox Church
service as a concert piece, but the Vasari Singers gave it their absolute all
and delivered a performance of genuine spirituality and verve. Of particular
note was the tenor soloist, Simon Wall, curiously under-employed by Rachmaninov.
Vasari Singers has been regularly described
in the media as one of the most accomplished choirs in the UK, and on this
evidence, that is a well-justified claim. In the coming months, they will
release a new CD of Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, in a concert at
London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields. This is another intriguingly structured
concert; titled “Radical Masses”, it will pair this jazz mass with
Palestrina’s sublime Missa papae Marcelli. If any choir can deliver a
convincing performance of two such contrasting styles of choral music, it is the
versatile Vasari Singers.
©
James Dance 2006