Waverley Singers

A touch of Russia

The following review in, we believe The Farnham Herald, was contributed by RGW (Bob Warren).

St Andrew's Church, Farnham, was the setting for the first of the Waverley Singers' two autumn/winter concerts on Saturday. Rather than a single work, they chose to sing a programme of sacred pieces in Latin, German, and, unusually, Russian, spanning more than three centuries.

The concert began with “Dixit Dominus”, a setting of Psalm 109 which forms an early part of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. The opening needed a little more confidence, but following the first solo sections, sung by the full choir except for the first and second soprano lines (which were sung by individual soloists from the choir), the warm sound of the Waverley Singers, under their conductor Malcolm Hicks, became apparent.

The programme was shared with organist Paul Griffiths, who, as well as providing an able accompaniment, played five organ pieces spanning a similar period to the works performed by the choir. The first was the "Ciacona in C minor" by Buxtehude.

The choir's performance of Purcell's short "Jehoba, quam multi sunt hostes", a Latin setting of Psalm 3, was sonorous, the choir showing us its fullest tone and the basses some of their lowest notes. This might have been a good opener for the programme, allowing the choir to warm their voices and to feel the ambience of the building before tackling the Monteverdi.

Following Bach's "Fantasia and Fugue in G minor", played by Paul Griffiths, the choir gave a performance of Stanford's "Magnificat for double choir". This is a work requiring much vocal resource from each choir. Although acoustically good, the building layout is unkind to large choirs. Despite the clear effort that had been made to overcome logistical technical difficulties, the tenors and basses were not all able to see the conductor and were occasionally late with an entry. However, they made up for this with some super male voice sound, and the impetus of the work was maintained right up to the last Amen.

The first item after the interval was another work scored for double choir, Brahms’ "Fest und Gedensprüche". In this, the choir really showed that it has quality and depth, with each of the choirs balanced both within and with each other, and with crisp and clean entries on high notes from sopranos in both choirs.

In a light-hearted scherzo for organ by Enrico Bossi, Paul Griffiths was able to show not only his deft touch but a very pretty, breathy, flute stop on the organ (the kind of sound that sets the pipe organ apart from a modern electronic instrument, no matter how good the technology).

Singing in Russian is not commonly undertaken by amateur choirs. The Waverley Singers did so with four short anthems by Tchaikovsky. In such an unfamiliar language, short of learning the words by heart, singers tend to concentrate on what is on the page rather than looking for direction from the baton, and the basses and tenors being partly unsighted and some sopranos having to look sharply upwards to see the conductor perched on several boxes, led to less convincing singing. However, that is hard criticism indeed, and the overall effect was most worthwhile.

Following Boëly's "Fantasia et Fugue in B-flat" for organ, the choir ended the programme with Bach's motet "Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden". In this they avoided the trap of being too boisterous, and in the central, lyrical section, the sopranos in particular sang with great delicacy. A wonderful work, sensitively sung, and "Hallelujah", a most fitting word on which to end a concert.

"Musts" on the musical calendar are the Waverley Singers' next two performances, the Christmas programme on December 9 and Handel's "Israel in Egypt" on March 16, 1996, an opportunity to hear this most enjoyable but seldom performed work. Both events will be held at St Andrew's Garrison Church, Aldershot.