The Bridgewater
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March 2011 Issue 36 Hemiola St George’s Singers INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BACK TO THE BRIDGEWATER St John Passion—preview 2 Nicholas Kraemer interview 3 The home of St George‘s Sing- work to such a large audience, marketing team, a seriously ers is the parish church of that and with such an amazing line passionate and dedicated cho- Triple concert reviews 4 name in Poynton, a lovely, up of soloists. However, hiring rus, and a commitment to cho- Music for your wedding 5 welcoming space in which to world-class venues, soloists and ral and performance excellence. Monteverdi in Pisa 6-7 sing, but which has room for orchestras does not come According to Manus Carey, Yoga for singers 8-9 only about 200 audience mem- cheap, and we do not take on Head of Artistic Planning at the bers. So for many years, we events like this without careful Camerata, ―We have a relation- St George’s Singers News 10-11 have been ‗peripatetic‘, per- consideration, budgeting and ship with St George‘s Singers forming in different venues planning, or without many going back many years, and it‘s Summer tour 12 around the Manchester area. sleepless nights! very exciting that we have the Elgar—footie fan! 12 In many ways this is an ad- opportunity to collaborate once Our 19th April St John Passion is vantage: we can choose the again at the Bridgewater Hall Charity swimathon 13 different. For the first time, we venue to for this suit the great, Making Music—Chinese 14-15 music we central style are perform- work in ing. Thus, the reper- ST GEORGE’S SINGERS Gorton toire.‖ Monastery PRESIDENT: Perhaps in was abso- the current Brigit Forsyth lutely the economic VICE PRESIDENTS: right place climate, Sue Roper to present with budg- Mark Rowlinson Rachmani- SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:Stephen Threlfall et cuts Stephen Williams nov‘s Ves- Briefly highlight your point of interest here. dominat- pers; the MUSICAL Briefly highlight DIRECTOR: your point of interest here. ing the Briefly highlight your point of interest here. Cathedral headlines, Neil Taylor Briefly highlight your point of interest here. lent itself superbly to the sacred have embarked on a joint pro- working in partnership with ASSISTANT MUSICAL DIRECTOR: music of Gabrieli and Schütz; duction with Manchester Cam- others will become an im- and St George‘s Church in Calum Fraser erata, sharing the costs, risks portant strategy in allowing Stockport provides the family ACCOMPANIST: and rewards with the orchestra. music groups of all kinds to ambience for our traditional The Choir benefits from the continue to put on rewarding Jeffrey Makinson carol concert. orchestra‘s contacts with solo- and stimulating programmes in This year we return to the ists and musicians and their full venues worthy of staging them. Registered Charity no 508686 -time resources, and of course Bridgewater Hall, perhaps the I hope you enjoy the result of Member of Making Music, the National has the opportunity to be con- most exciting of all our venues, this very special partnership on Federation of Music Societies ducted by Nicholas Kraemer. for Bach‘s St John Passion. No- 19th April. www.st-georges-singers.org.uk where else in Manchester ena- The Camerata gets a ready- bles us to present this seminal made 100+ strong sales and - Anne Francis Page 2 Hemiola Tuesday 19th April, 7.30 pm ST JOHN PASSION— Bridgewater Hall T HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHANN SEBASTIAN with Martin Luther believed that tion would therefore have been es for a way to release Christ St George’s Singers profound contemplation of the used to hearing music in mod- while the high priests (the cho- Manchester Camerata sufferings of Christ in his trial ern styles alongside traditional rus) scream for his death. conductor Nicholas Kraemer and death was the only way to hymns and recitations. What Throughout the work Bach Soloists: experience God, and the only they would not have been ac- pairs off choral movements that Julia Doyle, Clare Wilkinson, route to faith. The passion customed to would have been share similar texts or senti- (suffering) of Christ thus be- the supremely inventive, ex- Andrew Staples, Mark Stone, ments. The soldiers mockingly came a central theme in the pressive harmonisations of the Matthew Hargreaves hail the King of the Jews to the devotional art of the German hymn tunes, the virtuosity de- same music as the priests de- Baroque, in passion plays such manded of singers and orches- manding that Pilate does not Tickets: £9 to £34, discounts as that from Oberammergau, tras, and the highly dramatic write ‗King of the Jews‘. More for concessions and groups and the rich musical tradition of musical setting of the gospel ironically, the same chorale Tel: 0161 907 9000 passion settings for the Good text, as interpreted by Bach. tune contemplates Peter‘s deni- Friday liturgy. This tradition www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk Although the gospel accounts al of his master (‗Petrus der reached its zenith in the music of the crucifixion are unchang- nicht denkt‘), and then Jesus of Bach. ing, interpretations of their providing for his mother (‗er In 1723 Bach moved to Leipzig, meanings are far more diverse. nahm alles‘). to take up the post of Cantor of Bach does not change the text There is no record of the reac- the Thomasschule, the school of John‘s gospel, but does add tion of the first audience in attached to St Thomas‘ church. two dramatic episodes from 1724, but they must have real- As well as teaching music and Matthew—Peter weeping after ized how extraordinary the Latin to the 50 or 60 boys at the he hears the cock crow thrice, composition is. Whether heard school, Bach was responsible and the veil of the temple being as a dramatic story of human for the music at four Leipzig torn in two after Jesus‘ death. emotion, a theological exposi- churches: St Thomas, St Nicho- He also inserts extra texts in the tion, a challenge to improve las, St Peter and St Matthew. form of chorales and arias, one‘s life, or a masterpiece of His musical forces included the providing points of reflection musical invention, it still grips schoolboys (divided into his and challenging the congrega- the audience 300 years later. principal choir and three less tion to respond personally. talented), a few professional One of the most intri- musicians, and some university Bach’s manuscript of the St John Passion guing aspects of the students. work is the ingenious, Bach spent most of Lent in palindromic structure. St Nicholas Church, Leipzig— venue of the first performance 1724 preparing for the biggest The work is flanked by musical occasion of the year, two massive choruses, the passion service at Good the first a complex and Friday Vespers. Sung passion compelling invocation, When eminent biologist settings are an ancient tradition the last a sweet graveside in Christian liturgy. There are parting. Within this and author Lewis Thomas accounts of visitors attending framework Bach arranges was asked what music he them in Jerusalem in the 4th musically similar chorus- would send from Earth century AD, but they were only es symmetrically around into outer space on the introduced to Leipzig by a central chorale, ‗Durch Kuhnau, Bach‘s immediate dein Gefängnis‘— Voyager spacecraft, he predecessor in 1721. The cen- ‘through thy prison‘. replied, “ I would send tral element of the passion was Nine choral movements, the complete works of a musical setting of one of the the last four mirroring Johann Sebastian Bach.” gospel accounts, plus chorales the first four, revolve (Lutheran hymns). Arias and around the pivotal point After a pause he added, choruses employing non- of the drama, the height “But that would be biblical texts would also be of the psychological con- boasting”. incorporated. The congrega- flict, when Pilate search- Issue 36 Page 3 INTERVIEW WITH NICHOLAS KRAEMER What does the St John Passion either on what has happened or mean to you as a musician? what is to come. Even though It‘s a piece that has grown on they seem to stop the drama, in me over the years. It used to be fact they actually thrust the a tougher prospect than the St drama forward, albeit in a very Matthew Passion because that is straightforward musical way. a much richer work, full of fa- In Bach‘s day, of course, every- mous and beautiful obligato one would have known the arias which you come away chorales and joined in with singing. In the St John the arias them. Even if modern audienc- are few and far between, and it es don‘t join in, there is still a has a much more austere feel. feeling of audience participa- You don‘t have as many mo- tion. Many of the tunes are hymns that anyone who has ments of repose and contempla- Nicholas Kraemer - equally at tion. But what you do have is a ever been to church will know. I‟ve read that Bach kept tinkering home in front of modern and much more tangible dramatic with the St John? period orchestras. He began his Have you worked with St George‟s momentum, with a real sense Yes, he made big changes. He career as a harpsichordist, and Singers before? that the crowd (ie the chorus) borrowed the original opening now enjoys a busy schedule con- are ever present. You cannot No, never and I‘m looking for- chorus of the St John to close ducting throughout Europe, North ward immensely to our rehears- Part One of the St Matthew.