Waverley Singers

Waverly Singers in exuberant form for Sea Symphony

The following review by John Vandenberghe appeared after the concert in the Farnham Herald.

Undeterred by wintry weather, a large audience turned out for the Waverley Singers November concert with [the] Tilford Bach orchestra under their conductor, Malcolm Hicks at St. Andrews Garrison Church, Aldershot on Saturday.

Their exhilarating programme consisted of Poulenc's Gloria (prefaced as a makeweight by Beethoven's Egmont overture) and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, works which are particularly well suited to the Waverleys’ sizeable forces and sound.

The unremittingly cheerful Gloria, whose mood incorporates a typical Poulenc mix of optimism, sincerity and naive irreverence, was excellently balanced between choral and orchestral forces. There is an admirable division of work for choir and soloist and Farnham soprano, Diana Vivian, gave a first-class account of her exacting role - especially the high tessitura of the final movement.

Chorally, the work had some memorable moments; the Orff-like rhythmic insistence of “laudamus te”, a delightfully jaunty “Domine Fili unigenite!”, and well-judged tempo and mood in the “Agnus Dei”.

Any musical evocation of the sea must rely heavily on chromaticism and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony score is no exception. Shrewdly, though, the composer tempers this tendency with heartfelt diatonic outbursts from the choir. The forces employed are powerful and there were one or two occasions when even the Waverleys were somewhat swamped by the fortissimo orchestral sound.

Overall, however, this exuberant paean to the majesty and mystery of the sea was thrillingly realised, the colourful orchestral and choral writing evoking vivid images of action-packed seascapes.

Diana Vivian again responded wholeheartedly to the mood of this music, her operatic experience enabling her to rise above the assembled forces with full sound and some superbly placed top A's and B's. She was particularly moving in the ecstatic duet with [the] baritone in the last movement, The Explorers.

The baritone soloist, Graham Titus, too was always reliable though not possessed of so powerful a voice and comparatively bland of vocal colour. However, this was not such a drawback in the contrasting second movement, On the beach at night alone, the mysticism of which was well caught.

The choral writing in Sea Symphony is fairly demanding with lines often divided, tricky entries and, above all, a requirement for super-confident attack. The Waverley Singers rose to the challenge with good tone and alert enthusiasm. It was one of their most enjoyable concerts.