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Colosseum

Orchestra came into their own

Watford Philharmonic's spring-time concert at The Colosseum, Watford, last Saturday was a performance of Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, based on Cardinal Newman's poem.

I had invited two friends, both members of another Hertfordshire choir, to join us but sadly they declined on the grounds that this work only sounds correct in the confines of a church.

There is, of course, a lot to be said for this, having heard it in various cathedrals and churches, but I can honestly say that this performance was one where the words were clearly heard and their meaning fully understood.

This may be the fine acoustics of the venue, the changed seating of the choir and orchestra adding to the overall quality of the sound, or perhaps the power and feeling of the performance, bringing the work fully to life.  Whatever the reason my friends missed a treat.

Soloist Jeffrey Lawton, tenor, was a last minute replacement, obviously experienced in the role of Gerontius, fully expressing the anxiety of a dying man.  Baritone Gavin Carr as the priest was joined by the choir at the end of the first half, Go forth upon thy journey, Christian Soul, being particularly moving.

The ethereal introduction to the second half represented the soul of Gerontius waiting to meet his Maker as the Angel, sung by Kathleen Wilkinson, mezzo soprano, escorted him to heaven via purgatory where he had to endure the mocking of the demons.  The choir obviously relished their taunting, being no greater contrast between that and their singing as the Choir of Angelicals in Praise to the Holiest in the Height.

Although providing wonderful backing to the choir and soloists throughout, the orchestra, with leader Rebecca Boyle, really came into their own with the mighty crescendo when Gerontius finally came into the presence of God - wow.

As ever, Stuart Dunlop gathered all to himself in an exemplary demonstration of passionate but restrained conducting.  This was a stunning performance.

by Wendy Keeling Taylor

The Dream of Gerontius

Elgar was commissioned to write a major choral work for the 1900 Birmingham Festival and decided on a setting of Cardinal Newman’s poem ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ which he had been contemplating for several years. In his poem published in 1865 Newman sought to dramatise Catholic teaching about life after death. In spite of the theological setting of the poem Elgar was determined that this was not a standard oratorio. He wrote that he imagined Gerontius to be “a man like us and not a priest or a saint, but a sinner, a repentant one of course but still no end of a worldly man in his life, and now brought to book. Therefore I’ve not filled his part with Church tunes and rubbish but a good, healthy, full-blooded, romantic, remembered worldliness so to speak.” 

The poem and Elgar’s setting are divided into two parts. An orchestral prelude opens Part 1 beginning with a theme which seems to be associated with the idea of Judgement and other important musical ideas follow. We then meet Gerontius who is conscious that his end is near and begs the friends about his bed to pray for him. After this he feels strong enough to make a declaration of his faith (’Sanctus fortis’). Again his strength fails him and again the chorus of friends support him with their prayers. He realises the end has come (‘Novissima hora est’) and his spirit is sent on its way with the blessing of the Priest and his assistants.

Part 2 opens serenely and Gerontius sings ‘I went to sleep but now I am refreshed’. He finds he is accompanied and supported by his Guardian Angel of whom he has many things to ask. They hear the chorus of demons raging impotently. Then distantly at first they hear the choir of Angels singing ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height’ growing to a blaze of sound as they pass over the threshold of heaven.. When this great chorus has ended the Angel warns him that his judgement is at hand. Gerontius hears the voices of those on earth praying around his bed and the Angel of the Agony pleading for all souls. His judgement takes the form of coming into the immediate presence of God. A great orchestral crescendo ending in a mighty chord represents this. The sight is too terrible. ’Take me away’ he cries, and the work ends with the Angel taking him to join the souls in Purgatory who patiently sing the psalm ‘Lord, thou hast been our refuge’. ‘Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here’, sings the Angel, ‘and I will come and wake thee on the morrow’.

The first performance was a disaster. Elgar had only finished the work a couple of months before and the chorus were ill-prepared. However enough people recognised its greatness and a triumphantly successful performance was given the following year, albeit in German.

Watford Philharmonic Preview

Edward Elgar's popular and magnificently written Dream of Gerontius was first performed on 3rd October 1900 - shortly after his enormous success with the Enigma Variations which had premiered a year earlier.  The story is based on a poem by Cardinal Newman which describes the journey of an old man's soul after he dies.  A copy of the poem had been a wedding gift to Elgar in 1889 - 11 years earlier - and he had no doubt been considering setting it to music for some time.

The result is a marvellous musical interpretation with the intensity and swaying melodies so characteristic of Elgar.  It was performed a great deal a few years ago to celebrate its own centenary but less so recently.  Our own performance in Watford's Colosseum - with its renowned acoustics - is an opportunity to hear this work once more, performed by one of the largest amateur combined orchestra and choruses in the country under the professional direction of Stuart Dunlop.

Did you know ...  the soundtrack to The Return of the King ^TM recent film release was recorded in The Colosseum in Watford where we'll be performing Elgar's Dream of Gerontius - the venue chosen for its fine acoustics.

Born in Lancashire, Kathleen Wilkinson gained a scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Barbara Robotham. She won several major awards including the Webster Booth Competition and Peter Moores Foundation Scholarships enabling her to further her studies with Ludmilla Andrew and Teresa Cahill as well as in Florence. She is particularly associated with Scottish Opera. In addition to covering Adalgisa Norma, Amneris Aida and Erda / First Norn Der Ring des Nibelungen, she created the roles of Mary Lamb in Sally Beamish’s Monster! and Margaret Muir in David Horne’s Friend of the People. She also sang Nurse / Old Woman in James MacMillan’s Ines di Castro and Schwertleite in the acclaimed production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other operatic engagements have included Marthe Faust for Dublin Grand Opera Society, Nurse / Old Woman Ines de Castro at the Teatro Coliseu in Oporto, Katisha The Mikado at the Buxton Festival, Filipyevna Eugene Onegin for Grange Park Opera and Opera Holland Park and Madam By – Ends The Pilgrim’s Progress at the RNCM, a performance that was also recorded. She has also covered Mrs Herring Albert Herring and Filipyevna Eugene Onegin for Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas and appeared at the Brighton, Torre del Lago and Waterford Festivals. Kathleen Wilkinson’s concert engagements have taken her throughout the country. Major highlights have included Elijah with both Willard White and David Wilson Johnson, Elis Pekhonen’s Russian Requiem with the Birmingham Festival Choral Society and the Verdi Requiem with Jeffrey Lawton. She has also appeared as soloist with the English Sinfonia, the Hallé Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata. Her future engagements include Maid Jenufa (Glyndebourne Festival Opera).

Huw Rhys-Evans (tenor)

Born in Tregaron, Wales, Huw Rhys-Evans studies at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. He is particularly celebrated as a singer of Rossini, his engagements including Carlo / Goffredo Armida, the title-role Le Comte Ory and Torvaldo Torvaldo e Dorliska (Rossini in Wildbad Festival), Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville (Opera North, Spier Opera, Cape Town), Idreno Semiramide (Chelsea Opera Group) and Belfiore Il viaggio a Reims (Palace of Versailles, Strasbourg Music Festival). Other operatic engagements have included Vivaldo Die Hochzeit des Camacho (Flanders International Festival), Ferrando Così fan tutte (Opéra d’Automne, Tours Opera), Nadir The Philosopher’s Stone (Collegium Musicum 90), Tamino Die Zauberflöte (North Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra), Young Servant Elektra and Young Fisherman Royal Palace (BBC Proms), First Jew Salome (Bastille Opera) and Third Jew Salome (Marseille Opera). He made his Carnegie Hall début in 2001and has sung the Evangelist in the J. S. Bach Passions at performances in France and the Netherlands as well as in the UK. He has also appeared in Germany and Singapore as well as at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and St John’s, Smith Square. Huw Rhys-Evans has broadcast for BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night and his recordings include Judge Le Calife de Baghdad, Gouvy Cantate Égill and Stabat Mater, Vivaldo Die Hochzeit des Camacho and All Through the Night (Welsh Songs with Harp). Engagements this season include Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English Touring Opera, Pilade Ermione for Chelsea Opera Group and both Cecco La vera costanza and Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Gazzaniga) for Bampton Classical Opera as well as performances with choral societies throughout the UK.

We regret that Huw Rhys-Evans is indisposed.  We are very grateful to Jeffrey Lawton, who has taken over the role of Gerontius at very short notice.....

Jeffrey Lawton (tenor)

Jeffrey Lawton was born in Oldham and studied privately at the Royal Northern College with Elsie Thurston.  After several years in business, he joined the chorus of the Welsh National Opera, where he very soon became a principal contract artist.  During the ten years that he was their principal tenor, he performed over 20 roles, including the great roles of Otello, Siegfried in 'The Ring', Aeneas in 'The Trojans', and the title role in 'Tristan und Isolde'.  He has also sung many times for Opera North and Scottish Opera.  He has become closely associated with the works of Wagner, Richard Strauss and Janacek, as well as the role of Otello which he performed for the Royal Opera conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

He has been much in demand abroad and has appeared in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Belbium, the Czech Republic, Canada and Israel.  In 2000 he made his debut with Chicago Lyric Opera.  In concert he has sung with most of Britain's leading orchestras, and the major festivals such as Edinburgh and the Royal Albert Hall Proms.

He has recently been appointed Head of Vocal and Opera Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.

Gavin Carr (baritone)

Gavin Carr began his musical studies at King's College, Cambridge, and made his début at English National Opera in 2000 as Aeneas Dido and Aeneas and St Ignatius Four Saints in Three Acts returning as Figaro The Barber of Seville opposite Lesley Garrett. His other operatic rôles have included Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor (Opéra Nomade), Curio Giulio Cesare (Opera Ireland) and the title role in Falstaff (Centre de formation lyrique at the Paris Opéra La Bastille). Concert engagements have included the Aldeburgh, Brighton and Dartington Festivals, King’s College, Cambridge, the Snape Maltings, St John’s, Smith Square, and Westminster Abbey. In Germany, he has appeared with the Darmstadt Hofkapelle and at the International Handel Festival in Halle, whilst UK engagements have included performances with the City of London Sinfonia, the Manchester Camerata and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at venues including Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John’s, Smith Square, and the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. A keen recitalist, Gavin Carr has studied the song literature with some of the greatest interpreters of the post-war-era – Ameling, Cuenod, Danco, Fassbaender, Hagegård, and Vishnevskaya – and to date lists the Aldeburgh Festival, Ravinia Festival and Ganz Hall, Chicago, the Fromm Institute, San Francisco, La Monnaie, Brussels, and the International Writers’ Festival, Melbourne, among his credits. He has sung regularly on BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, and further radio work includes Christus St Matthew Passion for ABC National Radio, Australia, for whom he also premièred Smetatin’s Skinless : Kiss of Angels with the Elison Ensemble. His CD credits include Messiah with the English Symphony Orchestra under William Boughton for Nimbus.