ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS: THE GEELONG CHORALE – May 5th, 2024

St Paul’s Anglican Church, Geelong

For their first concert of 2024, The Geelong Chorale, conducted and introduced by Musical Director, Allister Cox, treated their appreciative audience to a train trip on the famous Orient Express, from Constantinople (Istanbul) to Paris, with whistle stops in Varna (Bulgaria), Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria) and Munich (Germany) before finally disembarking in Paris. 

In each city, the audience listened to local choral music – performed in the local languages as well as pieces with English, Italian and Latin texts. 

Before settling into first class, passengers wished Istanbul farewell, listening two pieces by modern contemporary composers.   The first was a setting of the Turkish folk song Çamdan Sakiz Akiyor by Ismail Yersiz.  This began with the basses in unison singing the melody, and then being joined in canon with the altos, before a complex setting for mixed chorus.  This set the scene for a wonderful concert – with the Chorale in best form in the stunning acoustics of St Pauls Geelong.  With the men of the choir towards the front, the balance of the four parts was good – and the blend excellent. 

After Gemlis Dünyanin Dőrt Bir, by modern female composer Melike, the train set off for Varna, for two songs by the Romanian composers.  The Marian text, Of a Rose we Sing, has been set in English and Latin by Dobrinka Tabakova.  Having much of her training in the English choral tradition, the work showed the influence of composers like Rutter and Whittaker, with a lovely piano part in the higher register, played sensitively by the choir’s long-time accompanist, Christine Mellens.   Gabriela Hristova and Joshua DeVries had collaborated on a setting of the traditional song Dilmano, Dilbera.  The setting expanded the traditional setting of melody and drone with complex harmonies and a very effective key change.  Despite the difficult setting, the choir shone in this unaccompanied performance. 

Travelling through Romania, the music moved back to the 19^th century, with works by Gheorghe Cucu and George Enescu.  Domnuleţ Şi Domn din Cer is a setting of a Christmas song, and showed off the excellent unison of the soprano line, with the deeper voices in the bass line enhanced by this a cappella performance.  Enescu’s Waldgesang is a celebration of nature – and, in particular, the Rhine River.   

From Romania, the Orient Expresses crosses the Danube into Hungary to make its next stop in  Budapest. 

Composer and musicologist Zoltán Kodály set the Italian poem Fuor De La Bella Caiba for women’s voices.  This work, about an escaping nightingale, lost to sing freely in the forest, was most ably introduced and conducted by the Chorale’s deputy conductor, Anne Pilgrim.  She postulated that the newly caged bird was owned by a young woman, who wished that the bird would come back to sing in her garden. 

Kodály’s output of choral music is immense.  It would be good to hear more of it from this excellent choir. 

The second Hungarian work was for men’s voices – Wir Sing Nicht Mumien, by Franz Liszt.  The piano doubled the voice parts, and was over-loud – at least partly caused by its prominent position in front of the choir.  I note here that the bulky upright piano’s position also masked a large proportion of the choir from the audience. 

Vienna was represented by the music of Josef Haydn – Alles Hat Seine Zeit, and Anton Bruckner – Os Justi.  The motet Os Justi was most moving in this lovely setting – with its big crescendos to high fortissimo climaxes and falls to serene pianissimos. 

Germany is huge in the choral repertoire, and was represented by works by three composers.  The works of Clara Schumann, belittled for many years by a perception of gender-superiority,  is once again taking her place in western music.  Her partsong Gondoliera deserves a place in any choir’s repertoire.   Josef Rheinberger’s beautiful setting of Abenlied was next, followed by a setting of Goethe’s Auf dem See by Felix Mendelssohn.  This was the last piece in a set of six partsongs, composed to be performed out of doors.   

After a journey of multiple days, passengers on the Orient Express finally disembark in Paris.  For the first class passenger, having settled into a  luxury hotel, the experience is topped off by a night at the Paris opera.   Bizet’s Carmen is playing a gala performance to an audience dripping champagne and diamonds. 

The Geelong Chorale ended this more satisfying concert with the scene from the opera – Les Voici! March of the Tordadors, a crowdwhich describes the procession of bull fighters and culminates in the famous Todeadors Song.  The choir sang their hearts out in this rousing concert performance, with Kristine Mellens giving a hearty piano rendition of the orchestra part. 

It was a most satisfying musical journey for a Sunday afternoon, performed in a venue that has possibly the best acoustics for choirs in the region.  Bravo!

The Geelong Chorale will present two more concerts in 2024. 

Karl Jenkins  Requiem

Sunday, August 18, 2.30, Wesley Uniting Church, Yarra Street, Geelong

Ave Maria

A recital of choral music in anticipation of Christmas

Saturday November 30, 5pm, All Saints’ Anglican Church, Noble Street, Newtown

The Orient Express: Geelong Chorale – 5th May, 2024

Please note the new starting time for the Geelong Chorale’s next concert – 3pm, Saturday, May 5th at St Paul’s Church, La Trobe Terrace, Geelong trybooking.com/CQGRI

orient-express-a4-new-time-Download

Gloria – The Geelong Chorale: Saturday, December 5th 2023

231209-geelong-chorale-gloria-a4Download

Our Christmas concert this year features music from the Baroque period. The Magnificat by Pergolesi has been wrongly attributed to him for the past century, having in fact been composed by Francesco Durante (1684-1755), an Italian composer of mainly church music who was Pergolesi’s composition teacher. We will also sing a stunningly beautiful chorus from The Christmas Story by Heinrich Schütz. Schütz is considered to be the finest German composer prior to J. S. Bach, and his prolific output had an enormous influence on music in Germany. To finish the programme: Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria. Along with Bach and Handel, Vivaldi (1678-1741) ranks as one of the greatest baroque composers, with a prolific output of more than 500 concertos, 50 operas and many choral works, of which his Gloria RV 589, is probably the best known and loved. For this performance we are joined by soloists and a chamber ensemble led by Patrycja Radzi-Stewart.

Allister Cox OAM Musical Director

Mozart Requiem – The Geelong Chorale – August 20th, 2023

Bookings

MUSIC FOR ROYAL OCCASIONS – The Geelong Chorale: Saturday May 6th, 2023

Jumping the gun on the King’s coronation by several hours, The Geelong Chorale presented a stellar line-up of music played for coronations, weddings and funerals of the British monarchy. 

Concert patrons were greeted at the door of All Saints Church with red white and blue bunting – echoing the bunting lining the streets of London along the route of the royal procession from Buckingham Palace to and from Westminster Abbey. 

Though smaller in number than the hundreds of musicians providing coronation music, The Geelong Chorale set the mood for viewers of the actual coronation with a rousing opening – Hubert Parry’s celebratory anthem I was glad, complete with resounding “Vivat Regina Camilla” and “Vivat Rex Carolus!” – a refrain only added for coronations.  Conductor Allister Cox commented that the Chorale might have been the first choir to sing these words in performance.  Ken George played the stirring accompaniment using the full forces of All Saints organ. 

Celebratory anthems by John Redford, William Child, SS Wesley and William Harris followed, covering four centuries of English Church music. 

Henry Purcell’s Funeral Sentences Man that is Born of Woman and Thou Knowest, Lord set a more contemplative tone.  The latter anthem evoked memories of the last royal performance – at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022.  The choir demonstrated some beautiful quiet singing for these two pieces and the following Elgar piece – They are at Rest, which was commissioned for the funeral of Queen Victoria. 

Next was the pivotal movement from Brahm’s German Requiem ­– How Lovely is thy Dwelling – one of only two pieces in the concert by non-British composers.  Kristine Mellens, the Chorale’s accompanist, provided a piano reduction of the orchestral accompaniment. 

Funeral music continued – a piece composed by John Taverner in 1993, the haunting Song for Athene, which was performed at the funeral for Princess Diana.  The music relies on a solid low bass drone– the small forces of The Geelong Chorale did not disappoint in this most moving and evocative performance.  Moving to the 21^st Century, the choir performed James MacMillan’s Who Shall Separate Us? which was commissioned for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. 

The final three pieces returned to the joyful mood of the opening.  First a piece by prolific composer John Rutter – This is the Day, which was commissioned for the wedding of Prince William and Princess Catherine. 

British nationalism came to the fore as Allister Cox invited the audience to participate in singing Hubert Parry’s Jerusalem accompanied once again by the organ.  There wasn’t a soccer ball in sight as the choir and audience heartily sang England’s ‘unoffficial anthem’. 

Finally, the piece de resistance – a piece sung at every coronation since that of Charles II in 1727 – Zadok the Priest.  This anthem, written by George Frederick Handel, begins with a long introduction of rising arpeggios, growing and falling back in volume, before the choir bursts in fortissimo with the opening phrase.  For this performance, only two musicians provided the entire accompaniment.  Kristine Mellens, piano, was joined by local violinist Patrycja Radzi-Stewart.  The addition of violin solo gave focus to the long introduction.  The choir’s singing was declamatory and exciting, leaving the audience in a suitable celebratory mood to go home and mark the King’s Coronation in what ever way they chose. 

The Geelong Chorale‘s next concert will be a performance of the Mozart Requiem, with soloists and full orchestra, on Sunday 20th August at 2.30pm at Wesley Church, Yarra Street, Geelong.

Music for Royal Occasions: The Geelong Chorale – May 6th 2023

Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1031340

Vaughan Williams – A life in Music – Sunday, May 15th, 2022

All Saints’ Church, Newtown

Conductor – Allister Cox

Accompanist – Kristine Mellens (piano), Ken George (organ)

Soloists – Amelia Warwrzon – soprano, Syrah Torii – Mezzo-soprano, Ben Glover – Tenor, James Emerson – Bass

This concert was designed to showcase Vaughan Williams’s music and marked the return of The Geelong Chorale to the concert stage after more than two years of Covid-induced interruptions. 2022 is Ralph Vaughan Williams’s 150th anniverasry. Obviously the music-starved people of Geelong were also avidly awaiting the Geelong Chorale’s return. All Saints’ Church was packed out for this concert.

Just a week after the Geelong Symphony Orchestra with solo violinist Erica Kennedy presented a sublime performance of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark in Ascending, The Geelong Chorale presented a program made up of Vaughan Williams’s vocal music. The pivot of this concert was one of Vaughan William’s most beautiful and challenging unaccompanied choral works – his Mass in G Minor. For the mass, the choir divided into two four-part choruses, with soloists Amelia Worwrzon – soprano, Syrah Torii – mezzo-soprano, Ben Glover – Tenor and James Emerson – Baritone.

The choir’s hard work paid off admirably, presenting a most moving performance of the work. In particular, Allister Cox produced a full dynamic range from his singers. The soloists were spellbinding, from the clarity of line of Amelia Warwrzon’s soprano to the convincing depth and assurance of James Emerson’s baritone.

The concert opened with the anthem, O Clap Your Hands, composed in 1920 and first performed at Westminster Abbey with chorus, organ and brass. The Geelong Chorale sang Vaughan Williams’s later arrangement for choir and organ, with Ken George playing the organ. Unfortunately, balance between choir and organ was an issue, perhaps made worse by choir placement – on the carpeted floor without the use of risers. However, this was less of an issue for the concert’s final motet.

The remainder of the program consisted of a range of secular choral works, including an early setting of three Elizabethan part songs for choir, and solo songs with piano accompaniment from each of the soloists. It is pleasing to see The Geelong Chorale engaging young singers as soloists. We look forward to hearing more from these four as their careers continue to develop.

Kristine Mellens, the choir’s regular accompanist, was accompanist throughout the concert, with her skills fully utilised in her nuanced partnership with the soloists in their individual songs.

Vaughan Williams is well-known as a musicologist, especially in his collecting of British folk songs. It is therefore fitting that the program included three folk song arrangements, Alister McAlpine’s Lament, The Turtle Dove (with James Emerson as baritone soloist) and Just as the Tide was Flowing.

The final work, Lord, Thou Has Been Our Refuge , was a rousing celebration of faith. In this case, it shows the faith of The Geelong Chorale to come back to performing after a long gap with many interruptions. Congratulations to the hard-working choir members, and conductor, Allister Cox for a return to fine music-making.

In his commentary for the concert, Cox noted that Ralph Vaughan Williams, despite his prodigious output of sacred music, was a ‘cheerful agnostic’, quipping that his mass was ‘…not bad for an agnostic’. For me, the mass was the pinnacle of the performance. It stands comfortably with other great masses in the repertoire, and it was a joy to hear its return to The Geelong Chorale’s repertoire after many years of absence.

Songs from Around the World – The Geelong Chorale

After several glitches due to the pandemic, The Geelong Chorale announce the date for their first 2021 concert – “Songs from Around the World”

Magnificat – The Geelong Chorale: Saturday, December 7th, 2019

All Saints’ Church, Newtown

• Conductor – Allister Cox
• Accompanist – Kristine Mellens
• Guest Artist – The Geelong Handbell Choir directed by Gwyn Gillard

The traditional Christmas concert from The Geelong Chorale is always well attended.  While a little less carol-focused this year, the audience went home most satisfied after a Christmas concert of English music to celebrate the Christmas story and the meaning of Christmas.

The program began with Ralph Vaughan William’s A Fantasia on Christmas Carols.  The carols selected for this early work of Vaughan Williams, were several of the many hundreds of folk songs Vaughan Williams collected from around the country.  Before his Fantasia, most were little known.  However, now at least one, Sussex Carol, is firmly in the repertoire of carols sung in English speaking countries around the globe.  This performance, with piano accompaniment, lacked something of the mystery and drama of the of the original full orchestra version, with its haunting cello solos and orchestral colour.  The baritone for this challenging work was Rodney Dearing, who stepped up from the choir.

Although written for a massed choir – the first performance was at the 1912 Hereford Festival – the Chorale, under the direction of Allister Cox, sang with a full range of dynamics, filling the church with a lovely blend of voices.  The balance was excellent,  despite the fact that the tenor line was depleted through illness to only three voices.

Two chorales from Vaughan Williams’ Christmas cantata Hodie, followed.  This work is in the same form as the Bach cantatas, with biblical text narration, sung by soloists and a unison treble choir, interspersed with chorus and soloists commenting through arias, choruses and two beautiful chorales, No Sad Thought His Soul Afright, and The Blessed Son of God for unaccompanied choir.  The Geelong Chorale’s performance was spellbinding.

The Geelong Handbell Choir, a popular guest artist for Christmas concerts, performed five carols.  Keeping the the English music theme, the first four, In the Bleak Midwinter, What Child is this? (with words composed for the tune “Greensleeves”), I Saw Three Ships, and Past Three A Clock.  The fifth, the ever-popular German carol, Silent Night, was performed using a setting for women’s voices and guitar by John Rutter, transposed for handbells.  For the first time the handbell ensemble added hand chimes in some pieces, with the chiming legato of the chimes enhancing the melody line.

The final work in the program was John Rutter’s extended setting of Magnificat.  This canticle, sung at evensong in the English tradition, becomes, in Rutter’s realisation, a major work of seven movements, with the biblical text and Gloria as well as a setting of a poem “Of a rose, a lovely rose”, an original carol by John Rutter.  The work is scored for choir, orchestra and soprano (or treble) solo.  This performance was valiantly accompanied by Kristine Mellens, once again playing the piano reduction with flair.  Soprano Fiona Squires, a choir member, sang the solo part with sensitivity and style.

Reviews of John Rutter’s Magnificat have been mixed.  At the first Los Angeles performance, the music critic, Timothy Mangan described it as “a virtual encyclopedia of musical cliches, a long-winded, tamely tonal, predictable exercise in glitzy populism. …He starts right off in the first movement (out of seven) by crossing Carl Orff with the Marlboro theme.”  However, the audience at the Chorale’s performance were delighted, and reveled in the Hollywoodesque choral climaxes and sentimentality.

The Geelong Chorale

Rodney Dearing, soloist in Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Fiona Squires, soloist in Magnificat

Allister Cox, Music Director

The Geelong Chorale has released details of its 2020 season:

• Sunday May 3, Brahms – A German Requiem
• Sunday August 16, Around the World in Eighty Minutes
• Saturday December 5, Christmas Through the Ages

For more details go to The Geelong Chorale website.

 

 

 

 

Magnificat: Music for Christmastide from The Geelong Chorale