to uphold and continually renew a proud tradition of choral singing
Newsletter Issue 27
SPRING 2018
Photos: David Ward
Martyn has sent his thoughts on our efforts, which are hugely encouraging and feature later in this edition. Although too late to comment on, we will also have given a performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra in the Town Hall on 28 April.
Welcome to this spring 2018 edition of the HCS Newsletter We could also say welcome to the BBC Proms, as the secret that we have been keeping for around the past eight months can now be revealed. The Society has been invited to perform in the BBC Promenade concerts on Thursday 6 September, in a performance of Britten’s War Requiem. We shall be joining one of Choral Director, Gregory Batsleer’s other choirs, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and their orchestra, under the baton of their retiring principal conductor, Peter Oundjian. Coincidentally Peter is also in his final season as principal conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with whom we had the great pleasure of working in Canada last spring. Booking for the Proms is now open, so get your tickets organised quickly, there is sure to be great demand. The past six months have been domestic after our outings to Toronto and Gloucester Cathedral reported in the previous edition. However, there have been some remarkable concerts, with glowing reports on the Creation last October, Messiah and only a few weeks ago, Elgar’s Caractacus. Chris Robbins in the Examiner, not usually Choral’s greatest fan, was effusive with his praise of the Creation performance.
The Christmas season was soon upon us and we held our usual popular Christmas Concert with Black Dyke Band and our Youth Choirs. This was conducted and presented by Gregory Batsleer and was very well received by a capacity audience. For this concert we commissioned a new piece by Richard Shephard, Ye Nations All; Richard is seen in the photograph with the President and Gregory. We again held a competition for schoolchildren to design the front cover of our concert programme. This year’s winner was Jack Booth from Scissett C of E Academy. We thank all the schools that encouraged their pupils to take part. The main photograph shows the concert in full swing. At the second (public) performance of Messiah we had the amazing sight of virtually every member of the audience on their feet at the end with cheers and whistling in no small measure. Our Music Director, Martyn Brabbins, led that performance and was in town again last month to conduct the Society’s first ever performance of Caractacus. This was also recorded for future CD release by Hyperion. The recording engineer, Andrew Keener, left well satisfied with the work of the choir, Orchestra of Opera North and five fine soloists.
We have another hectic spring, summer and autumn schedule with extra concerts in Huddersfield and Liverpool in addition to the Prom., and another recording as we are to make a follow up to the highly successful ‘Hymns Album’. This will be recorded in July in the Town Hall. For further details see the ‘In the Loop’ section and the diary. Behind the scenes the Society has appointed its first ever professional administrator, Phil Hazelby, and I am delighted that Phil has agreed to give a pen picture of himself for this edition. Phil’s appointment would not have been possible without the financial support given by the members of the Society’s new business network, Business Voice. In each edition we are giving one of the member organisations the opportunity to give you some information about themselves and this time it is the turn of Handelsbanken, who have their local headquarters at Bradley Business Park. The Officers and Committee continue to work very hard and the professional musicians, Gregory Batsleer, Fanny Cooke, Daniel Gordon and Joyce Tindsley are producing fabulous performances from the choir. We would, however, welcome additional singers, most particularly men of either part. If you know of any potential candidates please encourage them to get in touch with our recruitment team, led by Sue Wilde. Contact details are on the website. I hope you enjoy reading this edition. If any reader ever wants to send anything in for publication (at my discretion) please send to stephen.brook1@ntlworld.com STEPHEN BROOK Editor
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Photo:David Ward
MARTYN BRABBINS Martyn has kindly agreed to contribute an article for this edition and how timely that he has been able to let us have his thoughts on the Caractacus concert and recording.
Friends Christmas
The Annual Friends’ Draw for seats as guests of the President at the Christmas Concert was won this year by Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Thewlis from Roberttown. Here is the letter from Mr. Thewlis received in appreciation. May I as the very lucky winner of The Friends of Huddersfield Choral Society Christmas Draw use the Newsletter to express the delight it gave to me and my wife Margaret to be invited by the President of the Society to the Christmas Concert in the Mayoral Box on Friday 8 December 2017. Unfortunately my wife was unable to attend but accompanied by our daughter Helen, we witnessed what must surely have been one of the Society’s best Christmas productions. We were met and welcomed by our hosts for the evening, Cynthia and Nigel Pratt, who with friendly and interesting conversation throughout the evening, attended to our every need. There were pre-concert drinks, interval refreshments and a post-concert meal with the Mayor of Kirklees and her consort. Every aspect of the concert was outstanding and the sensitivity, power and majesty of the choir and band achieved before the interval with the rendering of O Holy Night, will surely never be bettered. The Youth Choirs must also be congratulated for their exceptional contribution. The young voices eager, enthusiastic attention to Alison North’s direction and Jane Robertson’s accompaniment was a joy to watch and augers well for the future. In all a wonderful and enjoyable experience, helped in no small measure by the friendly and ever attentive hosts, Cynthia and Nigel. Maurice Thewlis The photograph shows Mr. Thewlis and his daughter with the President and Friends’ Secretary, Cynthia Pratt and her husband, Nigel, in the Town Hall.
Cutting down on paper and postage The Society is trying to reduce its costs, both monetarily and environmentally, by sending out fewer paper copies of the newsletter. If you would be willing to receive the newsletter by email from now on, please send your name, address and category (ie Associate Member, Subscriber, Sponsor or Friend) to our editor, Stephen Brook at stephen.brook1@ntlworld.com NB. If you have already informed us due to reading this in a previous edition, there is no need to get in touch again.
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The Caractacus project has been one of the most rewarding of my time with the HCS. So many disparate, and unexpected elements came together to ensure a musical result of the highest calibre. And central to this excellence has been the work of the members of the choir themselves. Seldom have I witnessed such a desire to produce a brilliant end result, nor have I witnessed the members work so hard in order to achieve their goal! With top class preparation over a long enough period the Choral can match any choir, especially in the music of Elgar. Greg Batsleer was crucial to the delivery of the quality we all knew we needed to achieve. After all, this wasn’t simply a Subscriber Concert. It was a CD recording as well, and for Hyperion, the most important British recording company, whose artistic values and credentials, are second to none! Greg took the project to heart, and worked brilliantly with the choir. The members responded accordingly! Occasionally some may have felt somewhat out of their comfort zone in the demands Greg was placing upon them, but each and every member knew the significance of what we were involved in. Caractacus in many ways lives or dies by its team of soloists. How fortunate were we to secure such a fabulous line up? Elizabeth Llewellyn, Roland Woods, Chris Purves and Alastair Miles - joined at the very last moment, by the extraordinary ^ Thomas. They all delivered fantastic Elgan Llyr results, and appeared to be swept along with the music in just the same way the Choral were. Likewise the OON. A new piece to them, but one they relished getting their teeth in to - no surprise perhaps, as Caractacus is surely Elgar’s most dramatic of Choral works!! All in all a memorable three days in Huddersfield, crowned by a superb concert for our Subscribers. I can barely wait to hear the first edit of the recording which will be delivered to me a few months hence by the remarkable and brilliant recording producer Andrew Keener. He, the sound engineer Simon Eadon, and I have made scores of recordings together over the years, and we are unanimous in thinking that the Caractacus project will be one to savour and relish long in to the future.
Martyn Brabbins
DO YOU REMEMBER... - 40? Friday 17 March 1978 Psalm 13 – Liszt A German Requiem - Brahms BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra Raymond Leppard – Conductor Elizabeth Gale – Soprano Robin Leggate - Tenor Thomas Allen – Baritone A positive plethora of critics turned up for this performance, including Malcolm Cruise who, writing for the Huddersfield Examiner, stated... The chorus under his (Leppard’s) hand were magnificent in all their moments – none more so than in the well loved How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place. Here there was great beauty of tone both from the chorus and the excellent BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. The fluency was repeated in the penultimate chorus with the words ‘Death, Oh Where is Thy Sting’. So ends the Choral Society’s season – a pity that the Principal Conductor and Musical Director (John Pritchard) has not been seen at any of the concerts. Ernest Bradbury writing of the Liszt in the Yorkshire Post stated… The solo line is something of a godsend for tenors, and the ringing tones of Robin Leggate expressed in full measure the opening despair resolving in trust and faith, of the text. Even that 19th century fugato choralism at the end seemed to go beyond convention and the entire performance justified both the composer and the adventurous choice of this opening item. Of the Brahms he wrote….. The choralism all through was thrilling, with the choir always light and lively, yet capable of producing that sudden tone of sheer velvet, which is presumably a Huddersfield secret. Leppard’s tempi were always too fast for these old ears, his Denn Alles Fleisch missing the feel of dragging solemnity and the famous heavenly chorus apparently in a hurry to get there Gerald Larner reporting for the Guardian wrote of the Brahms... It (the choir) was the right instrument for Leppard’s dramatic interpretation. Perhaps it lacks the kind of flexibility and subtlety needed to make the most of the inspired change to a hopeful D Major in the third movement. But it has the security for the following fugue and even more impressive for the corresponding ending of the sixth movement. After that the last movement was an anti-climax. Paul Dewhirst for the Daily Telegraph again relating to the Brahms, reported... Helped by some fine full blooded singing, the great dramatic outbursts in the third and sixth movements made their point. There was also an admirable, forthright baritone soloist in Thomas Allen. What the performance seemed to lack was spiritual commitment, best illustrated by the conductor’s treatment of the second movement, a quick march rather than a funeral march, without much in the way of menace or anguish. Here too, the chorus’s diction could have been more purposeful.
Phil Hazelby joins the Choral Society as Administrator Huddersfield Choral Society have recently employed experienced West End professional, Phil Hazelby, as Society Administrator. After spending ten years working in the education sector, Phil felt it was time for a new and exciting challenge. When he saw the advert for the Choral Society Administrator, he thought it was the ideal opportunity to bring together his organisational skills and love for performance. Prior to working in education, Phil spent many successful years as a professional actor, taking roles in numerous plays and musicals around the UK and in London’s West End including the much loved Me & My Girl and others including Cabaret, Scrooge and South Pacific. He is also very proud to have been one of cast of the award-winning production of Oklahoma at the National Theatre. “It’s fair to say I have always loved singing and performance and was thrilled when asked to join the Choral Society as their Administrator. Huddersfield Choral Society has always had a huge reputation, both regionally and internationally, for quality and professionalism, but for me they are probably most well-known for creating the formidable “Huddersfield Sound”, so now to be part of that is a great honour.” “It’s a very exciting time to be joining the Society as they put together the programme and events for the new season. The variety of work and the list of professionals they will be working with; conductors, orchestras, and soloists, is outstanding.” “Even though my own musical background isn’t based in the traditions of Choral music, I am fully aware of the spirit and depth of emotion that is felt both in the audience and on the stage when hearing such an amazing sound.” “I am thrilled to be working with Society and I look forward to a harmonious future together.”
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Autumn concert 26 October 2018 Writing of the Society’s ‘quite good’ first performance of Brahms’ German Requiem in March 1912, the Huddersfield Examiner reviewer was ‘sure that it will become part of their permanent repertoire’. However, his prediction has only been fulfilled more recently since, after taking fifty-seven years to reappear in our concert series, this next performance will be our eighth during the last half-century. Brahms has sometimes been labelled as a ‘Marmite’ composer - you either love him or hate him. George Bernard Shaw fell into the latter category, characteristically dismissing the Requiem as a work ‘patiently borne only by the corpse’. However this opinion misses the point Brahms was trying to make in writing a work ‘to comfort the living’, rather than to pray for mercy on the souls of the dead, as in traditional settings of the Latin Requiem Mass. The work’s title refers to Brahms’ own selection of appropriate texts of consolation and hope from both Old and New Testaments of the Lutheran Bible. It seems that he had long been considering writing a choral work in memory of his great friend Robert Schumann, who had died in tragic circumstances in 1856, but he only began serious work on the Requiem during 1866, possibly as a memorial to his own mother, who had died the previous year. The work was premièred in 1868 and it soon established the 35-year-old composer’s international fame as a worthy successor to Bach and Beethoven. Ein Deutsches Requiem (it is invariably sung in the original language nowadays so we don’t compromise any of the composer’s careful word setting) is a particularly satisfying work for the choir, which sings in all seven movements, although it could prove tiring for us to stand throughout its 70 minute duration - perhaps Maestro Brabbins will sanction seated singing (with alliterative apologies) for the parts of movements III, V & VI where we provide a hushed background to the baritone or soprano soloist. With such a large amount of choral music (and Germanic pronunciation) to prepare thoroughly, it can be a challenge to complete the concert programme without over-taxing the stamina of the singers or running short of rehearsal time. Our 1912 pairing of it with Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise probably concluded well after 10.00pm (‘Late trains will run as usual’ proclaims the programme cover), so more recent solutions have focussed on shorter ‘first half’ works such as RVW’s Five Mystical Songs or Dvorak’s Te Deum. To open next October’s concert we have invited the Manchester Camerata to demonstrate the lighter side of Brahms’ nature in his Academic Festival Overture - an 1880 work written in response to the University of Breslau conferring an honorary Doctorate on ‘the foremost composer of serious music in Germany today’ (to quote their citation): he duly obliged the Faculty with this tongue-in-cheek Overture featuring student songs which celebrate the more hedonistic aspects of academic life. I suspect the ‘Choral’ won’t be able to resist joining in with the final ‘Gaudeamus igitur’! To complete the first part of the concert we will perform Hubert Parry’s Hear my words, ye people, which was composed for the 1894 Festival of the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Association. This is an extended anthem, lasting around fifteen minutes, which will be accompanied on the Town Hall’s Father Willis organ by Neil Taylor, an organist familiar to us from our last two Christmas concerts.
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Although not as well-known as his 1887 Ode Blest Pair of Sirens (which will be heard at our 2019 Spring concert) or his most famous anthem I Was Glad (written for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902), Hear my words, ye people is conceived on a similarly large scale, with contrasting choruses interspersed with solos for both Baritone and Soprano (conveniently the same as for the Brahms Requiem) and concluding with a setting of Sir Henry Baker’s metrical version of Psalm 150 ‘O praise ye the Lord, praise him in the height’ to a tune which many of you will recognise, although the anthem pre-dates the published version of the hymn tune Laudate Dominum by some twenty years. Coincidentally this hymn will also feature in our Hymns 2 Album, to be recorded this coming July. Altogether a substantial musical repast from the later nineteenth century for us to get our teeth into…irrespective of whether or not we like Marmite! Malcolm Hinchliffe
Now is your opportunity to become a Choral Society Subscriber There are a number of vacant seats in the first and second area (downstairs in the town hall) and in the gallery, where supporters tell us you get the best sound. Bear in mind, there is no lift to the gallery, but there are lifts to the area seats. The prices of subscriber season tickets have been kept the same as last year and range from £25 for the gallery to £74 for the first area and this includes the three concerts in October, December and April. Do let Jane Armitage know if you are interested. She can be reached on the contact details opposite. We look forward to hearing from you. There are still opportunities for new members to join us. You can be assured of a very warm welcome. Helen, Cynthia and Jenny would like to thank our subscribers for their generous and continuing support for the supper club. For further details please contact Helen Marshall 07718746085 or helenfenay@aol.com
Huddersfield Choral Society’s Business Network
We are inviting our Business Voice Members to submit articles about themselves into each edition of the Newsletter. This time it is the turn of Handelsbanken A bank that puts customer satisfaction first
Local relationship banking We are a local relationship bank, built on satisfied customers, financial strength and traditional values. We aim to provide a personal service, giving customers sound advice, making sensible decisions and creating unique solutions to match their individual needs. Our focus is on building long-term customer relationships for mutual benefit, free from product campaigns, sales targets or short-term bonus incentives. This approach has helped us to be rated top for customer satisfaction amongst British banking customers for nine years running in an independent satisfaction survey. (EPSI Rating, 2009-2017)
The branch is the bank Originally from Sweden, Handelsbanken has over 800 branches in 20 countries. Over recent years, Handelsbanken has steadily made a name for itself among West Yorkshire customers looking for a more personal relationship with their bank, and we now have nine branches in West Yorkshire, part of a network of over 200 branches in Great Britain. The Huddersfield branch’s team of ten local bankers supports a wide range of business and personal customers with their banking needs. The branch has grown from an original team of four, and the Branch Manager, Tony Jones, puts this success down to a unique combination of customer satisfaction, local decision making, and the Bank’s financial strength:
“We continue to grow our business through recommendations from our customers and the professional community. It demonstrates a clear demand for our traditional values of excellent personal service, long-term customer satisfaction, and sound banking advice based only on our customers’ needs.” Supporting the Choral Society Whilst Handelsbanken’s involvement in supporting the Choral Society is still in its infancy, we have been made very welcome and have quickly gained a greater insight into how the Society works and the significant benefits it brings to Huddersfield and the wider community. We are thankful for the opportunity to be associated with the Choral Society. Please feel free to contact any member of the team on 01484 432841 or email us at huddersfield@handelsbanken.co.uk Handelsbanken is the trading name of Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ). Registered in England & Wales No. BR000589. Incorporated in Sweden with limited liability. Registered in Sweden No. 502007 7862 Head office in Stockholm. Authorised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) and the Prudential Regulation Authority and subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of our authorisation and regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available from us on request.
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FINANCIAL SUPPORT
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T’S been another strong year for the Huddersfield Choral Society Youth Choir. Not just as a group but individually as well: We’d like to congratulate our Musical Director Alison North on her MBE. Thoroughly deserved! We can certainly see the improvement she’s made to the Youth Choir in the short amount of time she’s been with us. Which brings us neatly onto the successes of the choir as a group. Last year, we entered several choirs in the Mrs. Sunderland festival. Despite great performances from everyone involved, we fell short of winning any of the categories. However, this year Vocalise earned a first-place finish and our young voices gained a first and a second place. The effort all our singers put in was phenomenal and the rewards followed. We very much enjoyed joining the Huddersfield Choral Society on the Huddersfield Town Hall stage for the annual Christmas concert. The pieces sung by the Youth Choir were difficult but the challenge was met by all. The sound they produced was fabulous. I’m sure they all learned a thing or two from sitting amongst one of the best choirs in the country! We hosted our own Spring concert at All Hallows’ Church in Kirkburton which was very well received by all. The singing was exceptional. However, we do understand the problems with the facilities at the venue and thank everyone that came for their support on the day.
We’re very much looking forward to our next concert which will be on Sunday 15th July at 2:30pm at Gledholt Methodist Church. Adult tickets are priced at £8 and children at £5. If you’ve got the afternoon free, the Youth Choir would love to see everyone come down and enjoy their singing! You’ll remember that last year, a small section of the choir headed over the Pennines to Bolton to help film an episode of the CBBC Drama “Creeped Out.” The show aired in the autumn last year and featured some excellent shots of some of our choir members. The choir were also recorded singing two songs, plus a vocal warm-up which were used as well as a solo voice from Alex Davis. He says they didn’t alter his voice for the show but we don’t believe him! We’re still on the lookout for some new talent to add to our ranks. Particularly boys! So if you know anyone that loves to sing, then point them in our direction so they can be a part of our growing success and, more importantly, fun!
THE YOUNG VOICES WON THEIR CATEGORY AT THE MRS SUNDERLAND FESTIVAL
VOCALISE WERE WINNERS AT THE MRS SUNDERLAND FESTIVAL
Membership News New Members We welcome three new members into the Society: Megan Smith – 2nd Contralto, Tim Jones and Barry Russell – 1st Basses. We wish them great success and enjoyment with the Society and hope that their stay with us will be a long and happy one.
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Sad Farewells We pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Janey Sykes and Harold Clough, both of whom have passed away in recent weeks. At Harold’s funeral service at Blackley Baptist Church, there were some filmed moments of Harold, including one of his famous recitations ‘Yorkshire Puddin’. His humour will be long remembered. Also whilst preparing this edition we learned of the passing of Hilda Barker, a long serving member of the Soprano section. Sadly we did not have enough notice to notify our Associate Members of the funeral.
The Society is deeply grateful to all our Partners, Sponsors and Patrons for the help that they give us to support our work in bringing high quality music making to our town, our country and occasionally the world. This season we are being supported by: CONCERT SPONSORS Country Classics (R.Gledhill & Sons) Investec Wealth and Investment Ltd. Brewin Dolphin W. Currie & Friends Julie Kenny CBE Fantastic Media PATRONS Elizabeth Crowther OBE Mrs. Diana Franklin Donald (DL) and Cynthia Haywood Gerald and Christina Sutton Jane and Alan Pridmore Richard Adkinson Wilkinson Building Co (Leeds) Ltd SS Components Brenda Mosley John and Ann Denham Neil and Judith Charlesworth Julie Kenny CBE And anonymous patrons PATRONS – HONORARY Joanne Harris MBE Dame Felicity Lott Dame Ingrid Roscoe Alan Titchmarsh MBE Sir John Tomlinson BUSINESS VOICE MEMBERS The University of Huddersfield Syngenta Handelsbanken Hoyer UK The Woodman Inn Kirklees Stadium Developement Huddersfield Giants RLFC Halo CleanTech Chadwick Lawrence LLP Thornhill Estates The Sekhon Group Revell Ward LLP Fantastic Media John L Brierley Ltd Harron Homes Ramsdens LLP
SUPPER CLUB Our spring event was held on March 22nd at 315 in Lepton. We had an enjoyable meal in convivial company with two musical interludes and, of course, the usual raffle for choral funds!
There are still opportunities for new members to join us. You can be assured of a very warm welcome.
Tim Wilkes from our tenor section was (as usual) our excellent pianist who on this occasion even provided his own keyboard. Charles Brook (tenor) Louise Alp (soprano) and Alex Davis (bass) sang for us. Alex is one of our youngest choir members. The soloists are shown on the photograph (love the tie Tim).
For further details please contact Helen Marshall 07718746085 or helenfenay@aol.com
Helen, Cynthia and Jenny would like to thank our subscribers for their generous and continuing support for the supper club.
Photo: Ruth Bostock
Our sincere thanks go to Ruth Bostock (alto) for organising the entertainment. We are so grateful that choir members so willingly give up their time to perform at these events. The evening finished with an unexpected and impromptu rendition of a song by one of our subscribers. This was very well received though, sadly, he has stated firmly that he would not be auditioning for the choir! Dates for our next two suppers are June 20th and September 19th. Venues to be confirmed.
IN THE LOOP In this section we will aim to keep everyone up to date with the many facets of the Society’s work. BALLOT and AGM This year, the Subscribers’ Ballot returns to Huddersfield Town Hall as the recent alterations to the hall at Greenhead College have rendered it less than ideal for the purpose. The date is Wednesday 13 June, ballot to commence at 7pm. The AGM will be held on Friday 20 July in the Town Hall at 7.30pm. The date is rather later than usual as the choir are recording their new Hymns Album the previous weekend. SUBSCRIPTION SEASON Details of all our upcoming concerts are shown in the diary section. The Subscription series starts with Brahms German Requiem in the autumn combined with his Academic Festival Overture and Hear My Words Ye People by Parry. Following Messiah at Christmas, the main work in the spring concert will be John Adams’ Harmonium, considered by many to be the most important choral work written in the second half of the twentieth century. It sets three poems of totally contrasting nature in a piece that will once again test the choir’s capabilities. It is not however a long piece (app 35 mins) and there will be three other items in the concert, the well-known Blest Pair of Sirens – Parry, a new piece
by Tarik O’Regan – A Celestial Map of the Sky, which will also involve our Youth Choirs and a treat for us all to listen to the Dance Suite from West Side Story – Bernstein.
Gregory Batsleer and then on Sunday 24th February we will give the premier performance of a joint commission between ourselves and the festival of a new piece by Will Todd.
OTHER CONCERTS We are recording a follow up to our very successful Hymns Album in July in the Town Hall. No prizes for guessing the title – mine is Hymns Album 2. We then have our big date at the Proms on Thursday 6 September to perform Britten’s War Requiem, as mentioned in my welcome article. Prior to our autumn Subscription Concert, we will also be singing the Brahms German Requiem in Liverpool, with the RLPO and Vasily Petrenko. Then on what is sure to be a very moving occasion, another performance of Britten’s War Requiem in the Town Hall on 11 November, the 100th anniversary to the day of the armistice after the first world war. This will be accompanied by our friends from the Huddersfield Philharmonic, conducted by Robert Guy. Our ever popular Christmas Concert will this year be presented and conducted by Bob Chilcott, the well known and respected writer of much choral music, particularly for the Christmas season.
Although detailed plans are still being formulated we intend to travel to Paris around spring bank holiday next year to make yet another CD recording. This time of Masses by Widor and Vierne. Much more about these matters in the next issue.
FUTURE PLANNING Looking forward into 2019, before we get to the spring subscription concert we have two other dates as part of the Mrs. Sunderland Music Festival. On Monday 4th February we have a Messiah workshop, to be taken by
CONGRATULATIONS To our Choral Director, Greg Batsleer, who completed the London Marathon on Sunday 22 April in a time of 4 hours and 19 seconds, just the 19 seconds outside his target. Greg was running for Future Stages, a charity that he helped to set up and which aims to provide opportunities for young people to get involved within the performing arts. CONTACTING THE SOCIETY I had contact from a reader after the previous issue, asking if I could publish the contact details of the various HCS Officers in order that any questions did not always have to come through me. It would take up quite a bit of space, which I think would be better used for interesting articles. However for anyone with internet access, which I suspect is most of our readers, go to the Choral’s website, click on Contact Us, and you will see a list of the HCS Officers and Administrator, with a link to their email addresses.
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DO YOU REMEMBER ... - 25? Tuesday 16 March 1993 Stabat Mater – Dvorak English Northern Philharmonia Jane Glover – Conductor Judith Howarth - Soprano Anne-Marie Owens – Mezzo Arthur Davies - Tenor Matthew Best - Bass Malcolm Cruise reporting for the Huddersfield Examiner stated...
The score contains some arresting moments and is superbly crafted throughout but as a setting of a text which depicts spiritual anguish, much of it is altogether too comfortable and well upholstered. Might this explain why that special fervour which we associate with the Choral’s singing of sacred music was missing here? Its technical command was not in question. The largely unaccompanied Virgo Virginum Praeclara section for instance was notable for splendid tone and ensemble, but only the strikingly original final section unleashed the authentic Choral sound in all its glory. Photo: Selwyn Green
In characteristic fashion they (the choir) built on those first moments to extend a richness of expression for the duration of the piece; a majestic fullness both in sonority and - at the end – in brilliance. They sang with precision and warmth too, with many shaded colour and with great clarity. Although excitement played only a small part (the final Paradisi Gloria involved some supreme singing) it was a distinguished performance enhanced incredibly by a quartet of soloists second to none. Adrian Smith in the Yorkshire Post commented… Curiously the second half of the nineteenth century produced only a handful of choral masterpieces; but for all its popularity in late Victorian England, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater is not one of them.
Diary Wednesday 13 June 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall - 7pm Season Ticket Holders Annual Ballot
Wednesday 19 September 2018 Venue tba HCS Supper Club event
Wednesday 20 June 2018 Venue tba HCS Supper Club event
Sunday 21 October 2018 Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – 2.30pm Brahms – A German Requiem – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Patrenko
Friday - Sunday 13-15 July 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 5 Sessions HCS and HCS Youth Choirs – Recording of The Hymns Album Volume Two (Closed sessions) Sunday 15 July 2018 Gledholt Methodist Church – 2.30pm HCS Youth Choirs – Summer Concert Friday 20 July 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.30pm Annual General Meeting Saturday - Sunday 1–2 September 2018 – Glasgow Proms rehearsal weekend with Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus
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Thursday 6 September 2018 Royal Albert Hall, London BBC Promenade Concert – Britten, War Requiem
Friday 26 October 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.30pm HCS Concert – Brahms, A German Requiem – Brahms, Academic Festival Overture (Choral Version) – Parry, Hear My Words, Ye People Manchester Camerata, Martyn Brabbins Sunday 11 November 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 3.30pm Huddersfield Philharmonic Concert – Britten, War Requiem – Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Guy Friday 7 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.30pm HCS and HCS Youth Choirs – Christmas Concert, conductor and presenter – Bob Chilcott
Tuesday 18 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.15pm HCS Messiah, Season Tickets – Royal Northern Sinfonia, Gregory Batsleer Wednesday 19 December 2018 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.15pm HCS Messiah, Public Performance – Royal Northern Sinfonia, Gregory Batsleer Monday 4 February 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall Mrs Sunderland Music Festival – Messiah Workshop – Gregory Batsleer Sun 24 February 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall Mrs Sunderland, Gala Concert – including the premiere of a commissioned work from Will Todd for Chorus and Jazz Group Friday 12 April 2019 Huddersfield Town Hall – 7.30pm HCS Concert – John Adams, Harmonium – Parry, Blest Pair of Sirens – Bernstein, Dance Suite from West Side Story – Tarik O’Regan, Celestial Map of the Sky (with HCS Youth Choirs) Orchestra of Opera North, Paul Daniel For confirmation and full details of all Youth Choirs concerts please check the HCS Youth Choirs website.