Waverley Singers

Impressive passion from the Waverleys

This review by Gerald Moss was published after the concert in, we bellieve, the Farnham Herald.

The Waverley Singers, with the Tilford Bach orchestra, presented Bach’s St Matthew Passion on Good Friday in St Andrew’s Church, Aldershot, under the baton of Malcolm Hicks.

There are many ways of approaching this important and much beloved work of Bach which must be one of the greatest choral works of all time - as beautiful and powerful now as it was when it was written nearly 3 centuries ago. Although the choir was very much larger than ever Bach intended, this very accomplished group of Singers was well able to cope with the problems that this brings, and deliver an impressive degree of precision and unanimity.

It was sung in the original archaic German which must have put an extra burden on the choir since this obviously made it difficult for them to look up from their copies.

The story of Jesus’ trial, suffering and cruel death, which is now such an ingrained part of our culture, is told mainly in recitative with important parts for the choir in the form of outbursts of anger and malice from the crowd.

The choir also has to act as a Greek chorus, as it were, commenting and reflecting in a series of chorales on the tragedy and pathos of the scene as the story unfolds.

The rapid changes in character required by this double role need very careful handling but on the whole came off well.

It has to be said, however, there did seem to be a general tendency to sing everything rather fast at full force with scant attention to the basic shape, and I was surprised to see how little help was given to the chorus from the rostrum in this last respect.

Even that momentous line, “Truly this was the son of God”, which is one of the most beautiful vocal passages for a chorus in all Bach, was allowed to pass almost shapeless and unnoticed.

The soloists take part in the drama, but more importantly, also comment on the scene in a series of lovely settings of the poetic libretto which is taken by Bach in parallel with the text from the gospel.

These solo arias gave Bach scope for the creation of some of his most sensitive and poignant music and without exception were sung with care, style, and distinction.

Needless to say, the instrumental parts, which includes so many superb solos in their own right, were flawlessly delivered; the fine violin solo which accompanies the contralto aria “Have Mercy Lord On Me” (Erbarme Dich, mein Gott” was played with all the feeling and attention to detail one could possibly ask for, and it was indeed a delight to hear the viol-da-gamba in the bass aria, “Come Blessed Cross” (“Komm, süßes Kreuz”), an instrument which is used by the composer to add extra force to the climax of the story.

In this work, as in the St John Passion of Bach, the tenor and bass soloists who take the parts of Evangelist and Christus are always centre stage.

We were indeed lucky to have the singers, Neil McKenzie and Brindley Sherratt on this occasion.

Each singer interpreted his role in a most sincere and sensitive way and seemed to be completely inside his part with total command of both music and language.

There was much to remember with pleasure in this evening's music.