30 Years at Wells Cathedral
Howells, Schoenberg, Purcell, Duruflé, Brahms
The Good Friday concert at Wells Cathedral is both a tradition for Bath Camerata and an annual highlight of the singing calendar. It is a beautiful time, a beautiful cathedral, with beautiful music to celebrate Passiontide and Easter. The choir has sung every year for the last 30 years – in all weathers from snow to bright sunshine. This year the Cathedral was packed as ever. For many people this Good Friday concert forms part of their Easter celebration and the choir has been pleased to raise over £40,000 for the Cathedral from the retiring collections.
This year’s main liturgical piece was the Requiem by Herbert Howells, a wonderfully lyrical setting based on plainchant. The programme also included ‘Friede auf Erden’ by Schoenberg, ‘Hear my prayer’ by Henry Purcell, four motets by Duruflé, and ‘Warum ist das Licht Gegeben?’ by Brahms
We started with ‘Hear my Prayer’, a choral classic, beautiful but short. I’ve always thought there must be more of it somewhere, yet to be found. Alto’s got us off to a beautiful start and we all made the most of the word ‘Crying’ – making sure it was heard and understood across the Cathedral.
‘Warum ist das Licht Gegeben’ is another favourite – one that we used as part of the interview process to appoint Benjamin as our conductor. We’ve sung it many times but with Ben we sing it differently. He hears different speeds and colours than we’ve sung previously; a different interpretation.
The Howells followed this, and then the Duruflé which allowed for a change of choir formation. Movement in a performance is important; it’s interesting for the audience, and it also allows the choir to move limbs and get circulation re-energised!
Then came the Schoenberg – intensely chromatic and gloriously evocative of the text, taking us and the audience from conflict to heavenly and earthly peace. It’s a challenging piece, both to sing and to listen to, and I suspect not all of the audience will have identified it as their favourite of the evening. I absolutely love it. I studied this piece as a student, learning about how Schoenberg was pushing the boundaries of tonal composition. It was one of the last pieces he wrote before he entered his 12-tone phase and is full of chromatic movement and drama. Not many choral pieces require basses to sing top fs at full volume. I’m delighted to report that the Camerata bass-line were more than up to the task!
We finished with ‘Immortal Bach’ – a variation by Knut Nystedt on the chorale ‘Komm süsser tod’ setting by Bach. Divided choirs sing the chorale in elongated lines delivering an arc of sound, finally arriving at the end in harmony. For many people in the audience this was a fantastic end to the concert, particularly having come after the Schoenberg. The contrast was striking and very effective.
I love the Good Friday concert. Wells Cathedral is important to me and my family, and I know many people, singers and audience, feel the same. We sang well; the audience were delighted….we retired to the pub!
Hazel Baker, Soprano
