The RNCM Symphony Chorus, led by Stuart Overington, gave a
performance of Gabriel Faure's setting of the Requiem Mass this early evening.
Starting at 6pm it was designed to hopefully catch those leaving work and
wanting a little peace and serenity before going home to family. A short,
45-minute concert offering a diversion from the manic, stressful fast-lane of
life.
Faure's version of the requiem is one of the most popular
and well known, and it continues to endure and delight, perhaps due to it's
emotionally driven, beautifully measured, solid and lush melodic and harmonic
structure, perhaps due to the simple beauty of the piece as a whole, or indeed
it may be due to the fact that Faure composed only the parts of the mass which
he liked and therefore so much of Faure's happiness and creative spirit is
present within the tunes of this work.
This evening I deliberately decided to find the most obscure
seat I could, sitting on the outer reaches of the auditorium giving me a
sideways view of the stage. It was an experiment to see if this seat gave me
the same aural experience as a centrally located one. I am more than happy to
report that the sound quality was superb; CD quality. I didn't even mind the
side-on view.
Conductor Stuart Overington mouthing the words and
continually giving dynamic pointers to the chorus throughout, controlling them
as precisely as is possible whilst performing live, and the chorus sounding
simply magnificent. The mass was accompanied this evening by the organ. I have
only ever heard this piece sung with full orchestra before, and so to listen to
the music played on the organ instead was an unusual, but surprisingly
gratifying experience. The organ being capable of highlighting certain passages
and motifs in a way the original instruments do not, and some of the sounds
really are quite different. Very interesting. the organ this evening was played
by Tom Pieczora.
The requiem also employs two soloists. A tenor and a
soprano. It is the soprano who gets to sing the most famous of all the
movements, the Pie Jesu. The soloists today were Daniel Hayes and Olivia
Carrell To be perfectly frank, despite both of these singers having superb
voices, I don't think either of them, vocally, particularly suited the timbre of
voice necessary for this piece. Of course this is purely a subjective and
personal viewpoint, and in no way diminishes either of the singers' talent; but
for me Hayes didn't have the simple sonority and lyric quality to sound 'pure'
- his voice was very 'colourful' and 'earthy'; superb for Wagnerian opera, but
sounded ever so slightly overpowering and too 'prominent' a force for this
requiem. One time I heard a boy treble take the soprano role in this work, and
ever since I have felt that that was absolutely the correct decision. Again,
Carrell's voice was stunning, but it lacked the simplicity, the purity, the
naivety that the young treble's voice had, and this simpleness had an angelic
quality which mirrored the words and music superbly. The soprano voice is too
harsh and bombastic. Both soloists however were excellent, and of course my
opinion probably counts for nothing in the long term!
Faure's requiem is a work of simple beauty. A quiet
reflective start building in passion and emotion with thrilling choral
sequences and plaintive solo passages to its ultimate peaceful and gentle
conclusion. Wonderful.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 5/6/18
on - 5/6/18
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