Three Choirs Festival 2007: John Quinn looks forward to the programme in Gloucester (JQ)

 

The Three Choirs Festival, which can trace its origins back to the early eighteenth century, is probably the oldest musical festival in the world and the 2007 Festival will be the 280^th meeting of the Three Choirs. Each summer the festival rotates between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester and  this year it’s Gloucester’s turn to be  host. The Festival  runs from 4 to 12 August.

With this Festival Andrew Nethsingha will bid farewell to Gloucester for he relinquishes his post as Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral this summer. He’s moving on to another very prestigious post, succeeding David Hill as Director of Music at St. John’s College, Cambridge. Mr Nethsingha has drawn up an ambitious and varied programme for his Three Choirs swansong, including several events that mark the 150^th anniversary of the birth of a composer whose name is inextricably linked with the Festival, Sir Edward Elgar.

The major works by Elgar to be heard include the First symphony in a concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins (5th August), which will also offer a chance to hear Tippett’s Triple Concerto. Andrew Nethsingha himself conducts The Dream of Gerontius (7 August) with James Gilchrist in the title role and with Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams completing the line-up of soloists. One Elgar work to which I’m looking forward especially is The Spirit of England, which Adrian Lucas, Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral, conducts on 10th August. This magnificent triptych of settings of poems by Laurence Binyon is Elgar at his finest and its relative neglect never ceases to amaze me. Holst’s Planets completes this exciting programme.

There’s one other major Elgar work in the Festival, the ‘Enigma’ Variations. This appears in a programme conducted by the doyen of English conductors, Vernon Handley, on 9th August. Handley also offers Vaughan Williams’s serene The Lark Ascending (with James Clark as solo violinist) and a rare opportunity to hear Bax’s First symphony in concert. But inexplicably – and maddeningly for those of us who will be at work during the day – this concert has been scheduled for the afternoon, starting at 14.30. I find it amazing that the Festival should engage such a distinguished conductor to lead such an enticing and important programme and yet not make the event one of the high-profile evening concerts.

Before leaving Elgar I must mention another very enterprising programme on the opening afternoon of the Festival (4th August) when Mark Finch will conduct the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra in a programme that opens with Anthony Payne’s recent reconstruction of the march Pomp and Circumstance No. 6. I heard the broadcast première of this piece last year and felt that, while it was interesting, the musical material wasn’t a patch on Payne’s superb realisation of the Third Symphony. Nonetheless, it’s good to see the piece get a Three Choirs airing in a programme that also includes Ivor Gurney’s War Elegy, which these same performers premièred in 2003. They also perform music by Delius and Howells as well as Bridge’s wonderful The Sea.

That same evening Andrew Nethsingha directs Britten’s War Requiem with Judith Howarth, James Gilchrist and Stephen Roberts as soloists. This is a piece that has always sharply divided critical opinion but I’m firmly in the camp of those who admire the work and I’m sure it will be one of the festival's “hot tickets”. I hope audiences will also flock to hear the evening concert on 6th August when  the fascinating programme includes Vaughan Williams’s radiant Serenade to Music, happily in its original version for 16 solo voices. This will be followed by a première – the only one in this year’s Festival. Robin Holloway has orchestrated Debussy’s piano work, En Blanc et Noir and it receives its first UK performance at this concert. And as if all this were not enough, there’s also a welcome chance to hear Herbert Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi. I regard this as one of the most ecstatic and richest of all English choral works and this will be an unmissable event for me. The guest conductor then  will be Christopher Robinson,  no stranger to Three Choirs, having been Organist of Worcester Cathedral in the past. Since then he’s pursued a distinguished career as a choral conductor and this programme should be very safe in his experienced hands.

Other major evening events in the Cathedral include a performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers by the crack Birmingham-based choir and period instrument ensemble, Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore (9th August). There’s also the closing concert (11th August) when Andrew Nethsingha will direct Mahler’s massive Eighth Symphony.

For lovers of chamber music there are some enticing prospects. There’s a late night recital by guitarist Craig Ogden (6th August) and the Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo will perform Robin Holloway’s Gilded Goldbergs, a work they’ve recorded for Hyperion, at St Mary de Lode church (7th August, 14.00).

There are several organ recitals, including one by John Scott (11th August 10.30). In addition each of the Assistant Organists of the three cathedrals will give a recital at different stages during the week.

Solo song recitals include an appearance by tenor Andrew Kennedy (9th August 10.30) and one by Roderick Williams (11th August 14.30). Both of these fine singers will benefit from partnership with Iain Burnside. Another notable pianist, David Owen-Norris will join Soprano Amada Pitt for a programme of songs and piano pieces by Elgar entitled ‘The Unknown Elgar’. (10th August 10.30)

Finally, a mention of two other choral concerts. Michael Brewer will bring the National Youth Choir to the Cathedral for a wide-ranging programme that goes from Josquin to John Joubert, whose 80^th birthday falls this year. The Festival pays a visit to Tewkesbury Abbey for a recital by the superb Rodolfus Choir under their director, Ralph Allwood (8th August 11.00) They too will sing a very varied programme, including pieces by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Parry and the contemporary American composer, Eric Whitacre, whose music has attracted a good deal of favourable attention recently.

It’s a varied and attractive Festival programme and in this note I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s on offer. The Philharmonia Orchestra is in residence throughout the festival and, unless otherwise stated, they and the Festival Chorus, the lynchpin of any Three Choirs Festival, will be involved in all the major concerts in the cathedral. I’m looking forward immensely to a feast of music in Gloucester.  

Full details of the Festival are available at http://www.3choirs.org/  Bookings can be made either online or by contacting the Box Office at 7c, College Green, Gloucester, GL1 2LX United Kingdom. Telephone 01452 381638   

 

John Quinn