Winchester Festival opening concert review (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Winchester Festival opening concert review

2:38pm Monday 7th July 2008 in News

WINCHESTER FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT Winchester Cathedral, 4th July 2008 Just as a good party is launched with a bang, then so a good arts festival needs a grand opening to make its mark, and the Winchester Festival has learned over its 11-year existence that a large-scale concert in the Cathedral is perhaps the best way to do this.

It was a double celebration, as not only was the evening launching ten days packed with artistic events of all kinds, but it was also marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music has made such an impact in this country. The forces were led The Bach Choir, who were once directed by Vaughan Williams himself, here by his successor, David Hill, joined by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

The choice of works centred on the composer's earlier output, but showed in just four pieces the breadth of his creativity and the astonishing variety of sounds that he explored. A fanfare was the appropriate start, with trumpets matched by voices in the anthem O clap your hands, a joyous outburst of praise that brilliantly matches words and music, placing Vaughan Williams in the line of British composers of ceremonial music that includes Elgar.

Two orchestral items provided quieter interludes, with the Greensleeves Fantasia and Norfolk Rhapsody both reflecting the strong influence of English folk music, and allowing various solo instruments to feature, as well as showing off the richly homogenous sound of the BSO, particularly its string section.

As a prelude to the main work of the evening, the setting of words by Walt Whitman in the Sea Symphony, the first part ended with Toward the Unknown Region, another setting of the same poet. This gave the Bach Choir much more substance to deal with, and displayed their immense technique and sense of ensemble, all energetically marshalled by David Hill.

For the Symphony, two vocal soloists were added, the soprano Katherine Broderick and baritone Stephen Roberts. They act as leaders to the chorus in this work, and both shone through with great clarity, with Miss Broderick's clear, burnished tone carrying all through the range of her voice, and Mr Roberts bringing all his experience to bear in projecting not just the sound of his voice but the words as well.

This is a virtuoso work for both chorus and orchestra, and neither could be faulted, with impeccable precision, tone and drama on all sides. If at times the choir was in danger of being drowned out, that is perhaps a reflection of the composer's inexperience in orchestration. There was excitement in abundance throughout the work, as well as great tenderness when required, with several suggestions of music that would work superbly for film (and this was only 1910). The telling silence at the end, when the Soul is encouraged to "farther, farther sail", was a mark of the impact that David Hill and his combined forces had brought to bear.

Another auspicious start to a Winchester Festival, and warmly received by a very large audience.

By John McCaffry