SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Ravel and Rutter: Joanne Lunn (soprano)/Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone)/The Cambridge Singers/City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Choir/English Chamber Orchestra/John Rutter. Symphony Hall, Birmingham 7 .6. 2008 (JQ)

Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte.
John Rutter : Requiem; Mass of the Children


John Rutter formed the Cambridge Singers in 1981, initially basing the group round a core of singers who had sung in the choir of Clare College, Cambridge during his time as director of music there. Nowadays the membership of the group has moved on and it consists of young freelance professional singers. Unusually, the principal raison d’être of the choir is to make recordings and concert performances by them are relatively rare – I think also that more of their infrequent concert performances may well take place in the USA. So it was a rare treat to hear this expert group live in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.

The programme was mainly devoted to two of John Rutter’s large-scale choral pieces. The proceedings opened with a dutiful account of Ravel’s beautiful Pavane. However, although the playing of the ECO was decent enough the performance left me unmoved. The account of Rutter’s Requiem that followed was a different matter. I’ve had the good fortune to sing this work several times and am looking forward to doing so again this autumn. It’s always impressed me as a fine and moving work and I certainly don’t subscribe to the view that a conductor once expressed to me, that it’s “poor man’s Fauré.” Actually the comparison with Fauré’s Requiem has some point for Rutter’s piece shares with that masterpiece both simplicity and directness of utterance and memorable melodies. It exists in two alternative versions, one of which requires just an organ and six instruments for the accompaniment, the other needing a slightly larger orchestra and no organ. I’ve come to prefer the intimacy of the reduced scoring but that wouldn’t have worked in Symphony Hall and, rightly, the work was given in its fuller scoring.

I’ve been impressed consistently with the Cambridge Singers on disc over the years. Invariably the choir’s tone is pure with a clear, fresh soprano line and just sufficient weight in the three lower parts without any undue heaviness. I was delighted to find that the choir sounds as impressive “in the flesh” as on disc. The composition of the choir is 10,6,6,8 and all the altos are female. Once or twice - for example, at times in the opening ‘Requiem Aeternam’ movement - I wondered if perhaps an extra tenor or two might have been advantageous. However, later on, in the exultant ‘Sanctus’, the ringing tenor line cut through just as it should do. Throughout the evening the basses made an ideal sound; giving a firm foundation to the ensemble without any hint of heavy or ponderous tone.

The Requiem, written in 1985 and dedicated to the memory of the composer’s father, is a work of great beauty and it bears Rutter’s characteristic hallmark of gratifying melodiousness. Because his music seems so effortlessly tuneful it has been disparaged in certain quarters. It’s true that sometimes there is a certain similarity to his music but at its best – and the Requiem falls firmly into that category – its accessible and often genuinely moving without ever being condescending to either audience or performers.

There were many moments to enjoy in this fine performance. The lovely melody that the ladies sing in unison in the first movement to the words “Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine” is inspired and very beautiful indeed. It was a joy to hear on this occasion. Later, in the touching ‘Pie Jesu’, soloist Joanne Lunn made a very strong impression. She has a pure, fairly light voice but there is also a nice degree of richness to her tone that enables her to warm phrases delightfully. Her performance of this delectable movement was quite disarming; she sang with simplicity yet with fine expression. What a pity that quite a number of people in the audience felt compelled to applaud at the end of the movement as this rather destroyed the atmosphere.

The ‘Agnus Dei’ begins as a sepulchral dead march over the gentle but ominous pounding of timpani and pizzicato cellos and basses. Rutter and his singers built this passage up very skilfully until a powerful climax was achieved at the last statement of “Agnus Dei”. After this, in a masterstroke, Rutter winds the music right down to a calm and beautifully harmonised passage in which the choir sings sentences from the Burial Service as set out in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: “I am the Resurrection and the Life”. Punctuated by radiant little interludes for solo flute, these are among the most consoling and optimistic bars in the whole piece.

I was moved by that passage and again by the final movement, ‘Lux aeterna’. Here again, Rutter displays his great and natural gift for melody, most notably when, against a gently rippling harp, the sopranos spin an enviable line of long-breathed phrases at “Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine.” Then the whole choir takes this up before a reprise of the other lovely tune heard at the start (“Requiem aeternam”) brings the work to a pacific close. Maddeningly, as the last chord died away, the audience began to applaud, overlooking the fact that the conductor’s arms were still raised in a bid to hold the moment. Thus was dispelled the atmosphere that Rutter and his singers and players had worked so hard to build. I can well understand that the audience were keen to show their appreciation of a fine performance but the greatest compliment would have been even just a few seconds of silence.

After the interval we heard Rutter’s Mass of the Children, written in 2002 to an American commission. I’m familiar with this work, both through the composer’s own recording (see review) and a later one on Naxos, which I myself reviewed. I’ve always thought that this is less inspired a piece than the Requiem but in some ways this live performance worked better for me than the recordings have.

I think that in part this was due to the contribution of the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Choir. This fine group of young singers has been in existence since 1994 and I’ve heard them several times, particularly in Mahler performances. What I didn’t realise until now was that there are two elements to the choir and that I’d previously encountered the Senior Chorus. On this occasion, however, the Junior Chorus was on parade. This comprises children in school years 4 to 8. I was enormously impressed. Not only was their singing splendid but, if I may say so, their platform behaviour was as disciplined as their singing and in this respect, quite frankly, they put to shame many an adult choir. I loved the freshness and enthusiasm with which they sang. Particularly impressive was the fact that, with the exception of the last movement, where the ensemble gets relatively complex, they sang everything from memory. This was no small feat since Rutter gives them some testing music to sing. They get top marks too for their clarity of diction. At the end of the performance the composer made a beeline straight for them to give them a special bow and he was right so to do.

The Mass consists of five movements, though there is no Credo. The whole ensemble is involved at various times in the opening Kyrie, which begins brightly with the children singing words by Thomas Ken (1637-1711): “Awake my soul…” The music for “Kyrie eleison” itself is quite extended and I do wonder if the material isn’t stretched just a bit further than is wise. The Gloria shows Rutter at his most exuberant. Once again the children launch the movement, the outer sections of which are characterised by bouncy irregular rhythms. These were crisply delivered. A more reflective central section features the soloists. Interestingly, both of the soloists have taken part in recordings of the work: Joanna Lunn was the soloist on Rutter’s own recording while baritone Jeremy Huw Williams features on the Naxos version. Williams sang quite well, both here and elsewhere, but I felt he seemed less at ease than did Miss Lunn. He appeared to make less eye contact with the audience and she certainly struck me as much the more involving and communicative of the soloists.

The Sanctus is quite gentle at the start, the airy textures emphasised by the prominent flute part. Later the music becomes more powerful and Rutter inspired his performers to sing and play with great excitement. The children lead the Benedictus and sang quite beautifully; here, as elsewhere, their involvement in the music was quite palpable. It was interesting to hear the Agnus Dei so soon after the equivalent movement in the Requiem. The two settings have some similarities. In particular both feature quiet pounding by timpani and lower strings. However, the addition of a gently tolling tubular bell is an interesting addition to the orchestral palette here. The movement includes a setting of William Blake’s poem, The Lamb. This is given first of all to the children, joined for the second stanza by the adults. I’m afraid I still find this part of the work too precious for its own good. I’m bound to say, however, that the fresh innocence with which the Birmingham children sang went a long way to disarming criticism – I think it’s to do with seeing the children singing and realising how much pleasure Rutter’s tune is giving them.

The finale consists of two prayers and then, intoned by the children, an evening hymn by Thomas Ken. Throughout its course “Agnus Dei” recurs also. I think this movement contains the best music in the whole work. First the baritone sings words based on a prayer by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626). Then, using the same melodic material, the soprano sings words taken from the medieval St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Here, once again, Joanne Lunn was particularly impressive. The work ends quietly with some effective and unexpected harmonic touches.

I enjoyed this performance of Mass of the Children very much – more than I expected, to be honest. I still feel that Requiem is the finer, deeper work but the Mass impressed me in performance. The audience clearly enjoyed it and accorded the performers a very warm reception, richly deserved. The warmth of applause for John Rutter himself was very noticeable. It showed, I suggest, how much people appreciate his accessible, skilfully written and, above all, tuneful music. The hall was very well filled and I’m sure every member of the audience left this most enjoyable concert in a cheerful frame of mind, as I did.

John Quinn


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