The Hallé with Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Leeds Festival Chorus: Sofi Jeannin conductor; Claire Rutter soprano; Rosie Aldridge mezzo-soprano; Sam Furness tenor; David Shipley bass
I am currently reading and enjoying Fiona Maddock’s latest book about Rachmaninov in Exile. Rachmaninov visited Sheffield City Hall on several occasions in the 1930’s, and described it as the ‘deadest’ acoustic he’d ever dealt with. Yup, you said it, Sergei Vasilyevich………..(though it does have beautiful art deco decorations)
Another Sunday, another big choral work……I have already been to one Halle Verdi Requiem this season and in the normal run of things would probably have given this one a miss. However, I am not doing that much musically over the next few weeks, and I had also been invited to a reception beforehand, so I decided to go along.
A little more than a year ago I went to a similar ‘end of season’ big concert -Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast – in Sheffield which was dismally attended. Someone somewhere had clearly decided it was going to be different this year. The big reception beforehand had free booze, the Lord Mayor and his consort of Sheffield were in attendance, and there were speeches about the next Sheffield classical music season. I wasn’t quite sure why I had been invited there, in truth – maybe as a Halle ‘friend’ with a Sheffield post code or maybe because I’m a trustee of the Sheffield Music Academy. Anyway I had a free beer and enjoyed the speeches while the concert itself was well attended, the hall as full as I remember it pre-pandemic, and the audience relatively diverse (for Sheffield concerts) and enthusiastic
This was a straightforward, well executed performance. I am not really a huge fan of the work, though the opening of the Dies Irae, the sound of the Last Trump and some of the lyrical passages are always affecting, and (as I’ve probably said before) the Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis! section of the Sanctus is one of the most beautiful sounds in all music (the melody, the fluttering flutes) – I am always moved to tears by it. The best elements in this performance were the chorus and orchestra. Sofia Jeannin is a choral specialist and it showed in the precision and class of singing from two groups that I would normally judge to sound less impressive than say the Halle’s or one of the London big orchestra choruses. There were none of the usual over enthusiastic tenors getting a bit out of synch or ragged sopranos. The orchestra sounded in good form – plenty of bite in the noisy bits and e.g. a lovely bassoon solo in the Dies Irae sequences plus the fast breakneck downward string passages between the bass drum thumps were both clear and powerful. The off-stage trumpets were very much on-stage and created a strong sound. Of the soloists Rosie Aldridge impressed with a very powerful lower register of the sort that.one had assumed died with Kathleen Ferrier. The soprano had some beautiful moments but also some points where you wondered whether she would make or sustain some high soft notes; however she also phrased the music beautifully at times. Similarly the tenor made me nervous at times in his higher register. But these criticisms are minor and assume what this group of soloists undoubtedly were – at an international level
John's musical journey 