In spite of the strains between Europe and this country, the Entente Cordiale is flourishing in Bollington. The Festival Choir with some of the orchestra presented a programme of carols and works for choir, individual voices and for instruments, the music for which mostly came from France. It also became the occasion of the première of a new work by Donald Judge, the composer/conductor of the choir and orchestra.
The first half of the concert was devoted to Saint-Saëns, his Oratorio de Noël. This piece is relatively unknown, being an early composition when he was influenced by Bach whom he revered. Arias, recitatives and solos with full opportunity for massed choir are all there in oratorio style. Seven voices from the choir sang alone or with each other or with choir in varying ensembles. At once they established a delicate atmosphere of reverence and awe, evoking the rural simplicity of the shepherds and the wonder and tenderness of the birth of the Holy Child. The choir was in sweet voice for this, then altered to a quick tempo for the dramatic impact of the sudden vision of the Angels. Here was a time of calm authority and finally the brilliantness of the Glory to God. The singers responded in tone and style to the changes in the music and the Gospel text. From then on, the development in the work brought airs, duets and choral extracts from the psalms and locutions to God in a refined French musical style, elegant and unaffected, the diction clear. The three soprano voices were a delight to the ear, reaching the very high notes with gratifying ease. No less pleasing were all the male singers. They brought their strengths into a well-judged balance with choir and female voices. Among many highlights, perhaps one or two could be mentioned. The Air no. 5 for soprano and bass duet with chorus was very lovely as was the Trio no. 7 for soprano, tenor and bass. The voices here in no. 7 accompanied by a running melody on the piano was a deeply impressive and beautiful moment. The piano and four wind instruments comprised a small but very effective accompaniment for the whole work. From beginning to end, this oratorio was a refined mosaic of lovely sound from the choir especially the chorus no. 6 and from each of the soloists who were in such good voice. The woodwind combined with the choir in chorus no. 9 in noble melody and praise of God bringing the work to an impressive close.
The second half was rather a collage of carols mostly of French origin and one major piece composed by Donald Judge. It was ingenious of the composer to find the French connection with so many carols that the English take for granted as their own: O come Emmanuel; Ding Dong Merrily on High; The Twelve Days of Christmas; and many others have crossed the Channel and taken root here. But the Berlioz The Shepherd’s Farewell from L’Enfance du Christ is too well known from this oratorio for that mistake to be made. It was sung and played with firm tone and reverence – nothing sentimental or indulgent intruded. Daquin, the great 18th century organist to the French court provided Mr Judge with three piano pieces from his Variations on Twelve Noëls and each one inserted after a cluster of carols to refresh the mind. They are renowned for their brilliance and their difficulty, but Mr Judge brushed aside the difficulty and played with ease and beautiful clarity.
Then came the new work composed this year especially for the choir at this concert. The work of Mr Judge is well known now for those who are fortunate enough to hear it. His style is distinctive and attractive. He is well within the modern movement like Benjamin Britten and yet it is accessible. His harmonies are always interesting. Thus, his work is alive, ranging from haunting tenderness to full dramatic power. In his search for a French poem or text about Christmas, he found a poem by Jean-Jacques Ampère (1858). It has a very unexpected and troubled theme – an antithesis to the customary peace and joy of this wondrous feast. In three stanzas of six lines each, with a short refrain between each, it depicts a very troubled man. He is cold, he is alone, he is poor, it is Christmas. He is fighting the despair and anger to which his misery has brought him. The composer saw the drama of the poem and seized on it. He has created a ‘scena’ of powerful and dramatic texture: there is no comfort here, only the revelation of a poor man’s misery, anger and defiance. Starting with a refrain of only two lines the sound of a distant church bell emerges with the congregation within singing of the cold night air in a hauntingly beautiful harmony. It is an unspoken invitation and the man hesitates, but his battle has begun. His anger and resentment wins. In the second stanza, he remembers Christ and the offer he gives to the soul. But the music becomes very jagged, very violent as his bitter anger sweeps away and dashes his moment of hesitation. The final stanza brings the listener to feel the pity and fear that this tragedy of a man’s final rejection so openly reveals. The pity is there as he thrusts away both God and his fellow man, and in ironic refusal of prayer for himself while alive they could perhaps say a prayer, but in fear, for people such as himself who are then but dust in the grave. It is best for the reader to refer to the programme notes of Mr Judge himself. He explains the score and his own motives in writing it. What can be said here is that it could have come straight from an English opera. It is a powerful, incisive work expressing the elements of tragic waste. Mr Judge has the kernel of a chamber opera here perhaps.
The choir maintained the refrain with beautiful tone and restraint. As for the ‘poor man’ himself, the part was obviously written for Steve Thorpe who did it full justice. This was an exceptional Christmas concert.
JH