Waverley Singers

"Splendour and invention in Bach’s great oratorio"

The following review by Peter Sanger appeared in the Farnham Herald on 26 December 1986

It is a measure of the students [sic – strides?, ed] now being realised by the Waverley Singers, soundly and intelligently trained by their musical director Malcolm Hicks, that in listening to – and thoroughly enjoying – their performance of Bach’s great Christmas Oratorio, given on Saturday in St Andrew’s Garrison Church, Aldershot, one felt no need to make allowance for this being a local event, but could draw comparisons with performances and recordings by choirs, orchestras, soloists and conductors of much wider renown.

I found this to be a performance that revealed much of the splendour and the seemingly inexhaustible invention waiting to be discovered in this rich and profound work.

Not an “authentic” performance in the Parrot, Gardiner or (more controversially) Harnoncourt manner, it could hardly be that, but alert to the textures and articulations of authentic performance practice, which is what matters. Alright, Bach used a smaller choir, almost certainly with boy trebles and male altos, and we heard a modern chamber orchestra, the Tilford Bach Orchestra, rather than the older instruments (a particular thanks for the chamber organ, Murray Stewart, together with Marilyn Sansom (‘cello) and Robin McGee (double bass) providing an effective continuo; the church organ would have been hopelessly incongruous), but the essential spirit is right and that is what counts.

COMPLETE TRANSLATION

It was right to give the work in German, despite the difficulties, and it helped a lot that we were given a complete translation (even if it did contain English-as-she-is-spoke elements, “wise mans” indeed!). Bach’s music fits the word so precisely that singing in translation inevitably results in bad misfits and distortions; and is there any possible English phrase that could replace the splendid opening Jauchzet, Frohlocket!?

The performance, and Bach’s wonderfully varied writing, kept one’s attention throughout (despite the rigours of a hard wooden seat) and if I have a complaint it is that, for reasons I will understand, there were two small cuts, one an aria and recitative for alto, admittedly the least effective of the three arias for that voice, though Catherine Wyn-Rogers was so good that it was a shame to miss anything she might have sung, the others the delectable trio Ach, wenn wird die Zeit erscheinen from Part Five which however doubtless involves additional rehearsals for the soloists.

Very good singing throughout by the Waverley Singers, at their best in some of the contrapuntal choruses, at which they had obviously worked hard. Ehre sei Dir, Gott, which opens Part Five, was just one I noticed as having been particularly well pointed and effective. Only once did I really feel that the combination of a large choir and a fairly resonant acoustic seriously blurred the words and meaning, and that was in the very rapid Ehre sei Dir, Gott, in der Höhe in Part Two, which was hardly the choir’s (or the conductor’s) fault. Some of the chorales had been rather less rehearsed, and once or twice I sensed the choir tried to sing at a somewhat slower tempo than Malcolm Hicks was wanting; traditions of hymn singing no doubt. Articulation was generally good, and the pronunciation of German very fair.

Of the soloists Rogers Covey-Crump, often heard at Tilford, was predictably excellent, particularly in the many recitatives for the Evangelist. He may not have the most powerful voice, but for the clarity and for conveying the sense of meaning, linked to a beautiful tone, he is absolutely first rate. Faultless German, too, to my ears. Catherine Wyn-Rogers was new to me, and a real discovery. She has a rich, full, voice, suggesting power in reserve, and sings with admirable clarity and sensitivity. I found her performances of the two great alto arias Bereite dich, Sion, and Schlafe, mein Liebster, the most moving. Her voice has the kind of timbre, akin to the oboe in instrumental terms, that gives it a most effective hint of pathos; Janet Baker’s has the same qualities (and in my book no praise could be higher).

NATURAL LIMITS

Philip O’Reilly was a safe, more than adequate bass, though somehow I could find nothing particularly distinctive or individual in his voice. Jennifer Adams was accurate enough in intonation, but otherwise I was less happy, feeling her voice to have an uneven and an artificial quality, as though it were being pushed beyond its natural limits. A long way, I suspect, from the sound Bach would have known (probably a boy treble): how refreshing to hear Margaret Houston’s clear, natural notes in the “echo” aria Flösst mein Heiland.

The Tilford Bach Orchestra played, in general, as well as I have heard them (bar a few awkward moments). Wind instrumentalists usually rose to the occasion, and a special mention to the first oboe Mary Murdoch, and the first trumpet David Staff, playing a high trumpet that looked more slimline than any I can previously recall. From where I sat, I could have wished that the timpanist had used harder sticks (as would certainly have been the case in Bach’s time), especially at the very opening, to compensate for the resonance of the building: a detail, but details add up.

Malcolm Hicks was in excellent form, never allowing the music to drag, but not making the opposite mistake either. Chorales were allowed to flow naturally, avoiding either a hymn-like dirge or parade ground four-squareness. His beat is absolutely clear and positive, and must be a great assistance to the choir. But beyond that one sensed an overall feeling for Bach’s structures that did much to make this performance the artistic success it unquestionably was.

Members of the Waverley Singers I met afterwards had come away with a sense of elation, and so had I. And that, surely, is what it is all about.

Peter Sanger

In a wider review of classical music in the Farnham area, published in The Herald on 9 January 1987, Mr Sanger commented further on the Waverley Singers as follows:

The Waverley Singers are certainly riding high at present, and seem to sell out every concert, and not just to friends and relations. You may recall (they won’t let me forget!) that I was somewhat critical of their performance of Messiah in December 1985, mainly because of the exuberant and totally anachronistic use of the church organ during the performance. Well, a chamber organ now appears regularly and, not just for that reason, I have had virtually nothing but praise for their concerts during 1986, culminating in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on December 20, a performance worth coming back from Germany early to hear, which I did.