Waverley Singers

Fauré Requiem

The following review was contributed to the Farnham Herald by Max Hadfield; we do not know whether it was published, and if so, when.

The Waverley Singers Spring Concert was held on Saturday, April 4^th at St. Andrew’s Garrison Church, Aldershot. Although the attendance was short of a “full house”, the audience was rewarded with a feast of music.

Vaughan Williams’ early composition Five Mystical Songs is a setting of words by George Herbert, the 17th century divine, best known for his hymn Let all the world in every corner sing. The sense of his lyrical poetry was captured by Vaughan Williams, and the choir, soloist, and orchestra combined to do it justice.

In the reflective poem Love made me welcome; yet my soul drew back, the baritone soloist Jeremy White showed a fine voice and musicianship to get to the soul of the piece. The orchestra, with sensitive muted strings and haunting echoing woodwind, reflected his deep involvement.

The choir, used largely as accompaniment for much of the work, produced a triumphal ending in the antiphon “Let all the world“. On this performance, Vaughan Williams must be due for a revival.

For the next piece, the composer needed no “revival”, being very much alive and with us for the performance. Denys Darlow has contributed much to local music over the last 20 years. As the founder of the Tilford Bach Festival, and with the Tilford Bach Orchestra accompanying the Waverley Singers as usual, it was particularly appropriate that he should be given a fine performance.

His Te Deum was written for the 250th anniversary of the Royal Society of Musicians, and like the preceding Vaughan Williams piece, was first performed at the Three Choirs Festival. The soloist at Aldershot was the very talented and popular Farnham soprano Diana Vivian.

The structure of the piece is unusual; the setting of the Latin Liturgy of the Te Deum is framed by the wonderful poem by John Donne "Deigne at my hands this crowne of prayer and praise". At the heart of the performance, Diana Vivian understood this music deeply. She produced a full tone in marvellously controlled falling cadences at “For at our end begins our endless rest”, while the choir, in antiphon, gave heartfelt cries for salvation with “Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine“.

This Te Deum was a fine work, reflective rather than triumphal, easy and rewarding for the audience, and with the technical difficulties very competently tackled by soloists, choir and orchestra. It should be performed more.

The final work for the evening was Fauré’s Requiem. This work needs no introduction to readers. Both soloists joined the choir for the full orchestral version. So many choirs perform the organ version that it was a revelation to hear a “big” performance which would not have been out of place at the Albert Hall. But then the Waverley Singers, after ten years under the direction of Malcolm Hicks, are no ordinary amateur choir; they deserve to be appreciated and supported by more local people over a wider area.