Waverley Singers

"Waverley Singers excel in Talking Newspapers concert"

The following review by Corina Larby was contributed to The Herald newspaper and published on 23 October 2009.

An almost capacity audience filled the church of St Thomas-on-The Bourne last Saturday for the Waverley Singers’ concert in aid of Farnham and Alton Talking Newspapers. The main item was Brahms’ German Requiem in the version prepared by the composer for piano duet accompaniment and used at its first performance in London in 1871.

This was preceded by a mini Lieder recital by the two outstanding young soloists, which gave them ample opportunity to display their talents. Marcus Farnsworth, baritone, singing four Schubert songs, demonstrated his versatility for fiery drama, ravishing pianissimos and a beautifully sustained and shaped legato line, as well as immediate rapport with the audience. His performance endorsed his recent winning of the prestigious Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Price. Helen Jane Howells, soprano, in her performance of songs by Richard Strauss and Mahler, spun a beautiful line and showed off her glorious top register. The pianissimo ending of Mahler’s “Ging Heut’ Morgen Über’s Feld” was stunning. Both singers were most ably accompanied in these varied and demanding pieces by the Choir's conductor Richard Pearce, who also introduced the whole concert, convincingly tying the whole programme together.

Brahms’ Requiem is quite different from virtually all other settings in that it does not employ the traditional Roman Catholic liturgical text, but instead draws together carefully selected verses from the Old and New Testaments, to offer comfort and reassurance. The choir rose magnificently to the demands of this complex and taxing work. Pianists Jakob Rothoff (the choir’s new regular accompanist) and Elizabeth Marcus (a staff accompanist and Professor of harpsichord at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) performed their part with sensitivity and huge stores of energy.

It is good to see that numbers in the choir have increased by fifty per cent recently and this enabled them to cope more readily with the wide-ranging dynamics and the sheer stamina required in this work. Richard Pearce drew from them some wonderfully hushed piano singing contrasting with solid fortes. They produce a fine sound, occasionally marred by poor intonation. There were a couple of anxious moments when the ensemble sounded ragged, largely through lack of following the conductor, and perhaps the German text could have been more crisply enunciated. However, there were some electrifying moments, notably as the pianists massively built up the crescendo for the choir’s second entrance on the words “Denn alles Fleisch”, and at the end of the third movement. Both soloists sang radiantly, and seemed to lift the choir’s performance. Thank you to all concerned for treating us to such a musical feast.