Waverley Singers

"Confidence, reassurance in evidence at Singers concert"

The following review was contributed to, and published in, The Herald newspaper on 24 October 1986.

Slavonic liturgical music was the theme of the Waverley Singers’ concert on Saturday at St Thomas-on-The Bourne. Rachmaninov and Dvorak provided contrasting opportunities for the choir to show their prowess. The partnership between the singers and their musical director Malcolm Hicks, now four years old, is well established to judge from these performances which were full of confidence and assurance.

The Rachmaninov Vespers, sung in Russian, began with “Come, let us worship” which in this setting was not just an invitation but came across as a splendid and fervent command. The singers immediately showed the power and discipline of their attack, and throughout were impressive for their full-blooded approach. The special quality of Russian choirs comes so much from those unbelievably cavernous sounds which their bottom basses produce; such voices are born not made and are not generally in the British genes. However the Waverley Singers seem to have found some; there was a fine sonority from the baselines.

Special mention must be made of Marion Morgan’s solo in the role of Cantor. Her rich tone and idiomatic-sounding Russian provided some of the most memorable moments of the performance.

Murray Stewart then played Liszt’s variations for organ on a theme from Bach’s cantata ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ inspired, as the interesting programme notes told us, by the death of Liszt’s eldest daughter. The agony and histrionic character of the music seemed muted in St Thomas’s and perhaps the full effect needed a larger instrument and more resonant acoustics.

Dvorak’s Mass in D was originally commissioned for the consecration of a private chapel. Not surprisingly therefore its effect is not generally grand or theatrical. For instance the dramatic turning point in the text of the mass comes in the succession of the “Incarnatus”, “Crucifixus”, and “Resurrexit”. Often the “Incarnatus” is set in a hushed and portentous way recognising the immense significance of the event and already containing foretaste of the Passion. By contrast, Dvorak’s setting seems to present the birth in homely terms in its aspect as a happy and natural family event. The Singers took the whole performance in their stride, the sopranos in particular flinging out their top notes with fine freedom to the end.

The Waverley Singers will be at St Andrews Garrison Church, Aldershot, on December 20^th for the Christmas Oratorio with the Tilford Bach Orchestra.