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Colosseum

Orchestral concert offered audience many highlights

Perhaps the hot summer night was to blame for the unusually small audience at Watford Philharmonic's concert at The Colosseum last week.  A great pity, as this was a delightful evening of music by Puccini and Mahler, with the ghosts of Wagner and Verdi looking on.

The orchestra at Watford Philharmonic Society's last concert was in fine form
From: Watford Observer, Jane Parr, ref Y243433

The concert began with the orchestra, lead by Rebecca Boyle and conducted by Stuart Dunlop, performing Puccini's Preludio Sinfonico.  It is a student work written in 1876, obviously under the influence of Wagner.

Whatever its origins, this charming work deserves to be heard more often.

The whole orchestra, which was in fine form, was involved and it opened gently with the woodwind echoed by the strings, in turn echoing the Lohengrin Prelude.

After this ten-minute introduction, the orchestra was joined by baritone Adrian Powter pining for his lost love in Mahler's Leider Eines Fahrenden Gesellen - Songs of a Wayfarer.  This was also very enjoyable, with expressive singing and, on the whole, sensitive accompaniment by the orchestra that once or twice slightly overwhelmed the soloist.

This cycle contains some of Mahler's most accessible music, particularly the second song that includes music familiar from the First Symphony.

Although the choir had been on stage throughout, after the interval they had the opportunity of coming into their own with Puccini's wonderfully theatrical Messa di Gloria.

Another student work, which remained unpublished until 1951, this was obviously written under the influence of Verdi with a nod to Beethoven with a fugue worthy of the Missa Solemnis.

This must be the least religious setting of the Mass and there can be very few that can sit through smiling broadly in recognition of what the composer is getting up to.  The baritone was joined by Icelandic Tenor Gardar Thor Cortes and the singers were both given adequate moments in which to shine, but the real star performance of the evening was by the choir.  Everyone from the audience to the singers themselves visibly enjoyed the performance.

The Gloria lived up to its name, it's jaunty theme recurring throughout and surely leads one to praise God with a happy heart.  The "qui tollis peccata mundi" section is pure Verdi, owing not a little to the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.  At the end of this movement we instinctively wanted to applaud but good concert etiquette prevailed.  Ending on a quiet note the Agnus Dei was almost an anti-climax but nevertheless very satisfying.

And so ended another excellent Watford Philharmonic season, with this last concert being dedicated to the memory of Alan Laws, who died last November having served as Treasurer of the Watford Philharmonic Society for 25 years.  We look forward to their performance at the Peace Hospice Concert on Saturday, October 23rd. 

by Wendy Keeling Taylor

... to see details of the aforementioned Peace Hospice Concert, click here. 

PROGRAMME NOTE

In spite of the obvious contrasts there is a surprising homogeneity about the pieces in tonight’s programme. They were all written during the same four or five years and the composers were both in their early 20s. Puccini had not yet written a single opera and Mahler had not yet begun the great series of ten symphonies for which he is chiefly famous. Parts of all three works however did reappear in subsequent operas or symphonies.

GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 - 1924)

Preludio Sinfonico

Puccini was born in Lucca where his family had been prominent musicians for over 100 years. His father was organist and choirmaster of the cathedral and a prolific if undistinguished composer. The young Puccini duly started musical life as a chorister and went on to study at the local Institute of Music. Later he moved to Milan to study at the Conservatoire and it was there in 1882 that the Preludio Sinfonico was composed. Not one to waste good ideas Puccini used some of the music again in two of his early operas.

The piece starts very quietly on the woodwind, echoed by the strings. It expands with long melodic lines and gradually builds to a big climax, after which it subsides to a quiet close. It lasts about 10 minutes. 

GUSTAV MAHLER (1860 - 1911)

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)

Mahler’s father was a Jewish inn-keeper and distiller in Bohemia. The young Mahler’s musical ability was early recognised and encouraged by family and neighbours and like many young Czech musicians he made his way to Vienna to study at the Conservatoire, alongside Hugo Wolf. After graduating he took conducting jobs and this became his career. He later conducted the Vienna Court Opera and the ‘Met’ in New York.

One of his early appointments was in Germany at the Royal Theatre at Kassel. An unhappy love affair with one of the sopranos there prompted him to write six poems, four of which he set to music, originally just for voice and piano but later orchestrated.

The poems, particularly the first, owe something to the collection of German folk-poems called ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’, many of which Mahler later set. They form a miniature song cycle on the theme of unrequited love in the tradition of Schubert’s two great cycles. Mahler clearly thought of himself as the Wayfarer.

In the first song his beloved’s wedding day causes him special grief. In the second he finds that the beauty of the countryside, its flowers and birds, brings him no joy. In the third the constant vision of her blue eyes and golden hair torment him, and in the last he sets out at night on his wanderings and eventually finds resignation and rest.

Those familiar with the 1st Symphony will recognise some of the music, particularly the second song.

GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 - 1924)

Messa di Gloria

Lucca, where Puccini was brought up, had a strong tradition of church music and theatre, but not of opera. It was not surprising then that this was the piece he chose to write for his graduation from the Institute in 1880. It was not published however until 1951.

It is scored for tenor and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra. The ‘Kyrie’ starts very softly on the upper strings, a gentle movement with touches of traditional church music in the choral writing. The brass section is hardly used. The ‘Gloria’ opens with a vigorous tune which recurs from time to time. The tenor soloist appears in the ‘Gratias’ section and the chorus basses introduce the ‘Qui tollis’ with a broad operatic style melody . Puccini shows that his time at the Institute was well spent by providing the traditional fugal ‘Cum sancto spiritu’. The ‘Credo’ begins with a strong unison statement and the movement contains dramatic contrasts. Each of the soloists is allotted a section. The ‘Sanctus’ starts, quietly growing to full force at ‘Pleni sunt coeli’. The ‘Benedictus’ is a solo for the baritone. The ‘Agnus Dei’ is largely a duet for the two soloists with the chorus responding with ‘Miserere nobis’ and ‘Dona nobis pacem’.

Though Puccini never published the Mass he used the music of the ’Kyrie’ again in an early opera and the ’Agnus Dei’ turns up later (as a ’madrigal’) in ’Manon Lescaut’.

Lyrical music for a summer evening at Watford Colosseum

On Wednesday 16th June 2004, at 7.30 pm, Watford Philharmonic Society will be staging the last of this season’s classical concerts at the Watford Colosseum. Devoted to the music of Puccini and Mahler, the programme promises to give concert-goers a feast of lyrical, romantic music.

The orchestra begins the concert with Puccini’s Preludio Symphonico, and is then joined by soloist Adrian Powter, baritone, for a performance of Mahler’s quartet of songs, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, also known as Songs of a Wayfarer, which expressively tell of unrequited love.

The second half of the concert is devoted to Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, a beautiful setting of the Latin mass in operatic style. For this performance, the Society’s choir and orchestra will be joined again by soloist Adrian Powter, baritone, and by Gardar Thor Cortes, tenor, all under the baton of the Society’s regular conductor, Stuart Dunlop.

Tickets, priced £12.50 and £10.50 (children half price) are available from the Watford Colosseum Box Office (tel: 01923 445000).

The Society is always pleased to hear from singers and orchestral players who would like to join them in rehearsing and performing to a high standard. For further information, contact the Choir Membership Secretary, or the Orchestra Membership Secretary.

Adrian Powter studied at the RNCM where roles included Tarquinius The Rape of Lucretia and title role in Werther. He began his career at Glyndebourne and in 2000 created Philip in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper at the Staatsoper Berlin, a production repeated by Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas as well as on the South Bank. Other roles have included Jupiter Peleus and Thetis and Lion Pyramus and Thisbe (Opera Restor’d), Forester The Cunning Little Vixen (Surrey Opera), Guglielmo Così fan tutte (Opera Project), Figaro The Marriage of Figaro (Palace Opera) and Dr Falke Die Fledermaus, Giuseppe The Gondoliers and Pish-Tush The Mikado (Carl Rosa Opera). Concert engagements have included performances with the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, the English Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé and the RLPO as well as at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and St John’s, Smith Square, and a wide range of oratorio work throughout the UK. TV credits include Opera Works for BBC 2. He recently made his début on BBC Radio’s Friday Night is Music Night and his future engagements include Figaro Le nozze di Figaro (Longborough Festival), Marullo Rigoletto (Mid-Wales Opera), Orsino Rienzi (Palace Opera), The Kingdom (Ripon Cathedral), Haydn The Creation (Midland Festival Chorus and St Germans May Festival), A Sea Symphony (Tonbridge Philharmonic Society) and Belshazzar’s Feast (Arundel Cathedral).

Gardar Thór Cortes (tenor)

Born in Iceland, Gardar Thór Cortes studied at the Reykavik School of Singing, the Hochschule für Kunst und Musik, Vienna, and London’s Royal Academy of Music.

At the Royal Academy of Music, his roles included Florville Il signor Bruschino and Fenton Falstaff and his other engagements have included Joe Carmen Jones, The Young Man Dokaðu við and Italian Tenor Der Rosenkavalier for the Icelandic Opera, Raoul The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, Ferrando Così fan tutte for Co-Opera Ireland, Rinuccio Gianni Schicchi for Nordurop Opera and Curly Oklahoma! at the National Theatre, Reykhavik.

His concert repertoire includes the B Minor Mass, St Nicolas, the Dvorak, Liszt and Verdi Requiems, Messiah, Elijah, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio and Les Noces.

His recordings include Elijah with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and future engagements include Gaston La traviata for Savoy Theatre Opera.