The Boyan Ensemble of Kiev

We were in Bristol yesterday afternoon to hear this remarkable Ukrainian men’s choir as they come to the end of an intensive month’s tour in this country. They have been making annual visits to Britain since 1992 and although once financed by the U.S.S.R. they are now completely reliant on ticket sales and overnight hospitality from their growing number of supporters. They travel by coach and boat rather than by air, to defray costs. This was their 21st concert and with four more to go they finish their punishing tour on Thursday in Hereford. Heard yesterday in the echoing acoustics of Clifton Catholic Cathedral, the dedicated professionalism of their performance was overwhelming, and richly deserved the huge applause when the concert ended.

The first half consisted of unaccompanied liturgical chants, the twenty four members of the choir dressed in black cassocks, some of the items graced by stunning solos from the counter-tenor V.Mitryayev, the soprano B. Ivanenko and the bass V. Pudchenko amongst others, their voices emerging out of and rising above the harmonic background of sound. That distinctive sound was spine-tingling, evoking the worship of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and conjuring up the purity and austerity of that branch of the Christian Church, which for so many years has existed without reference to any other part of Christiandom.

In the second half, the choir, now dressed in informal white and embroidered clothes, sang a series of folk songs, some poignant and sad, others funny and endearing. Again the choir, now supported by musical instruments, sang with the utmost precision, clearly enjoying the music as much as we were. The solemn and moving first half now balanced by choir’s delight in showing another facet of their art.

I learn from their website that the Ensemble’s members are drawn from Ukraine’s top professional male choir: the Revutsky State Male Choir based in Kyiv (Kiev). The ensemble has toured the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Israel and Poland, as well as countries of the former Soviet Union. A tour of Canada and the United States is in their future plans.

They should come to Spain! They would be well received amongst people of very different but equally ancient musical traditions. If the choir was able to enthuse the polite English on a cold Sunday afternoon, they would certainly set alight the more extrovert audience that the Spanish would provide.

Meanwhile here in this country we look forward to their next tour in the hope that we shall be able to hear them again.

B.R.

The Glorious Halle

Ralph Vaughan-Williams once called John Barbirolli, ‘Glorious John’. In 1943 (see one of our blogs) he had returned from his six years as conductor of the New York Philharmonic to rescue the remains of the broken Halle Orchestra. With barely thirty players he built it up into one of Britain’s finest orchestras, remaining with them for most of the rest of his life. It is our oldest orchestra and now under its present conductor, Sir Mark Elder, it has risen to new peaks of excellence. I heard it last night in Bristol for the first time for a decade or more, when we used to attend their concerts in Sheffield. It is a superb instrument, refined in its precision and opulent in tone; there is a bloom in its sound that is quite unusual, at least to my ear. They have recently issued under their own label, a CD of Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’ that has been widely praised.

It’s Barbiroli’s orchestra that is now the glorious one.

The conductor last night was the Russian Alexander Lazarev, whom I heard conduct many years ago in Amsterdam. He rushed on to the platform for the overture, glasses in one hand and the other outstretched to the leader, mounted the podium, bowed hastily to the audience, stuck his glasses on the end of his nose, opened his arms (no baton) for the opening chords of Weber’s ‘Euryanthe’ Overture, and we were off! His athleticism continued throughout the concert, to great musical effect, as he gave close attention to the confused but colourful 1st symphony of Tchaikovsky (which the composer called ‘the sin of my sweet youth’) and finishing with so great a flourish that he nearly ended sitting on the front row of the stalls.

But the jewel of the concert was the performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto by the Norwegian Henning Kraggerud*. It was a sensitive and deeply felt interpretation of a fiendishly difficult work, which alternates between melody and dissonance, quiet cadenzas and a battle between soloist and full orchestra. There was a perfect understanding between orchestra and soloist that made for a memorable evening. It was one of those occasions when one feels privileged to be present.

B.R.

* Kraggerud has recorded the concerto on the Naxos label with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and it has been well reviewed. I shall look for it.

Bath Mozart fest

This is another of the numerous festivals that are typical of the city where we live, and perhaps - with the exception of the International Music Festival –the most prestigious. Well financed by a charitable trust and other generous donors, it attracts some of Europe’s finest musicians and is supported by enthusiastic devotees, many of whom seem to be as pleased to see each other as to hear fine music.

Last night we were present at a concert performance of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ by the Glyndebourne Touring Company with an excellent array of soloists and their superb touring orchestra and choir, conducted by Douglas Boyd. Glyndebourne is a guarantee of quality – set in the Sussex countryside and in the grounds of the 700 year old home of the late John Christie. His wife was a professional singer and they shared a love for operatic music (the two spent their honeymoon attending the Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals!). The Opera House – the second that the Christie family have built - has a summer season patronised by the wealthy; there is a dress code, and people bring their hampers and have picnics on the lawn. The London Philharmonic Orchestra becomes their resident players, but the Touring Company have their own orchestra. The company is currently singing ‘Carmen’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘The Magic Flute’, and have been on the road since mid October and continue until early December. No doubt a strange life for them, but a cultural treat for their audiences around the country.

So here they were in Bath performing Mozart’s last and surely most incomprehensible opera. I saw it once in an imaginatively staged production, but was still baffled by it. Last night it was sung in the original German, but we were helped to follow the plot line such as it is with an overhead translation, but it only served, for us two at least, to emphasise how contrived and unreal are the characters and their story.

The performance was in The Forum, originally a huge art nouveau cinema now owned and splendidly maintained by the Bath City Church. There the congregation would have been in the morning celebrating their strong evangelical faith, whilst in the evening strange musical adventures through myth and paganism, and much talk of amorous intentions and threatened suicide and with hidden Masonic messages, was entertaining us. Ironic, I thought. But we enjoyed the music!

B.R.

An English Afternoon

To Birmingham on Wednesday (‘Obama Day’) for another concert by the City’s excellent Symphony Orchestra, in their resplendent Symphony Hall. I had booked the concert some time ago because of my great respect for its conductor, Vernon Handley whose unostentatious manner on the podium revealed his dedication to music rather than to style. I have only seen him conduct once, many years ago, but have several of his recordings, notable amongst them a magnificent performance of Elgar’s second symphony which I have been listening to.

Sadly Handley died last September. Following a car crash he had been severely injured, but it didn’t stop him performing, also true of his frequent ill health, and continued to conduct, remaining a favourite of both audiences and orchestral players. He recorded more British music than any other conductor: out of 160 discs, more than 90 are of British repertoire, including many premieres.

Wednesday’s programme, characteristically, was of British music – a tone poem by Granville Bantock (whom Handley virtually re-discovered), Elgar’s cello concerto, and Vaughan Williams 5th. Symphony, all brilliantly played by the orchestra under its excellent substitute conductor, Martyn Brabbins with a sensational French cellist, Anne Gastinel. It was preceded by a talk from one of the C.B.S.O staff, enthusiastically introducing the symphony.

I have confessed on these blogs before that I find V.W.’s music hard going. I appreciate how the composer was influenced by English folk and church music and value his craftsmanship and the different voice he brings to each of the nine symphonies. But amongst English composers I find an easier connection with William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Edmund Rubbra – even Malcolm Arnold – than with Vaughan Williams. (And Elgar, of course.) But the Symphony was beautifully presented on Wednesday and the great slow movement inspired by John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrims Progress’ was deeply moving, challenging my reservations. I shall listen to my recording of the work with a new ear. Meanwhile - another concert next week, in Bristol, with another favourite orchestra, Manchester’s Halle.

B.R.

….. Because of the significance of the U.S. presidential election, I suggested to one or two people in the Hall that it might have been a good thing to start the concert with ‘The Stars and Stripes’. The only response was weak smiles and a fearful glance that they might be dealing with a dangerously deranged man. Ah well.