Review Details
MUSIC IN THE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN CHORAL SOCIETY SUMMER CONCERT
Alan Cooper
10 May 2009
At Andrew's Cathedral
The University of Aberdeen Choral Society’s Summer Concert turned out to be a particularly enjoyable and happy event. The programme offered a well-judged selection of serious music along with a few lighter items which seemed to relax the choir as well as the audience. One of the choir members, tenor Raymond Jappy just happens to be the illustrious winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship. His playing added an extra dimension to the programme by providing two sets of the very finest Scottish Fiddle Music played with serious commitment by a real expert.
There seemed to be a better than usual balance in the choir between male and female voices. Could this simply have been the way that conductor Roger B Williams had arranged the chorus? Anyway the sound balance was especially satisfying on this occasion.
The programme opened in fine fettle with three Motets by Italian Renaissance composers. Palestrina’s Sicut cervus began with a beautifully strong and clearly defined tenor line before blossoming into full harmony which at once established the fine choral balance. Both Anerio and Viadana were new to me but I was impressed by the way Christus factus est grew in both pace and richness of choral sound while Exsultate Justi had the fullness and joy of wholehearted choral singing throughout.
A leap to the romantic era brought us two excerpts from A German Requiem by Brahms which the chorus performed with orchestra quite recently. I have to say that today’s performance with Drew Tulloch giving nicely coloured support on the organ benefited from rather more expressive choral singing. I suspect the reason for that was that this time Roger Williams was right on top of the choir fashioning every detail of the performance without having to attend to an orchestra as well. In any case the choral singing held the attention with its colourful details of dynamics or changes of intensity. The emotional impact of Brahms’s choral scoring was driven right to the heart of the audience. The first extract, Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit, was dominated by the soprano solo magnificently sung by Amybeth Smith whose voice has developed a wonderful professional sheen along with irresistible power and projection. Her performance was a delight to hear.
Rachmaninoff’s Russian Motet Bogoroditsye Dyevo along with Stravinsky’s Ave Maria, which I would never have guessed was by that composer if I had not been told, were included as a tribute to the Gomel Choir which joined with the chorus some years ago. There was a fine attempt by the basses to capture the Russian atmosphere but we simply do not have enough voices that can reach those depths of sound that the Gomel choir had in spades.
In a lighter vein, three Scottish Songs in arrangements by composers called Williams, R. B. and Vaughan began the roundup of the concert. Loch Lomond opened with female voices only and later, there was a nice verse with a firm, smooth tenor line holding the melody. Raymond Jappy was another strong vocal soloist soloist in the Vaughan Williams arrangement of Ca’the Yowes before a rumbustious setting by Roger Williams of The wee Cooper o’ Fife.
To complete the concert with two official encores Bob Chilcott’s famous Irish Blessing was a charming addition. Finally, in memory of the late Alfie Tough, the choir concluded with one of his favourite songs, The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.
I have left Raymond Jappy till last but very far from least. When Scottish Fiddle Music is played properly by an expert it can stand proudly alongside any other music. Raymond began his first set with a particularly beautiful Slow Air, Neil Gow’s Lament for James Murray Esq. of Abercairney. As Raymond said, this was particularly well suited to the large acoustic of the Cathedral. It came across magnificently. He followed this with three lively pieces starting with Mr. Michie by Angus Fitchet and followed by Earl Grey and The Waverly Ball.
A second Slow Air, Chapel Keithack, by another of the great composers of Scottish Fiddle Music, William Marshall, opened Raymond’s second set. It was followed by Marshall’s Miss Cameron of Balvenie. Drew Tulloch provided the piano accompaniments for Raymond giving him just the right rhythmic impetus without ever getting in the way. What a splendid performance!