Songs of PARTING

review   Songs pf Parting

The Graduate Singers chose Songs of Parting as their first concert this year ,which sees the return of their Musical Director, Karl Geiger., 

The Requiem by Sir John Rutter was the main work in this program. Very effectively supporting and complementing this choice, the first half of the program consisted of musical settings of poems in English which reflected grief, loss and longing. Consequently the composers were from English speaking countries such as Canada, England and Australia, and included Joseph Twist, Dan Forrest, Eleanor Dale and Eric Whittaker. There was a satisfying selection of and connection between these songs.  I loved the choir’s singing, and the sense of poignancy and deep feeling which seemed to inspire a corresponding empathy in the audience.

 

Two versions of Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep (the first by Joseph Twist and the second entitled In Remembrance by Eleanor Daley)  shows how the same words can inspire different musical settings.  In many of the songs the link between nature and parting was clear, as though the dead are seen to linger in the wind, the grass, the stars, and moving water.

 

The sense of impending death and loss hovers over Loch Lomond, enhanced by the appearance of the soloist, Graham Yuille, in a kilt, and singing with an authentic quality. The Road Home, sung without the use of the score worked so well that I think would be a good idea for singers to throw away their books more often and just direct the music forward. In this first half the soloists Verity Colyer, Jackie Eldridge, Christopher Simpson, Graham Yuille and Susan Brooke-Smith were all excellent. The quality of the soloists says much for the overall quality of the choir.

Michael Ierace at the piano supported with sensitivity and musicianship.

Being performed in a concert hall meant that Rutter’s Requiem could be sung with the orchestral arrangement, giving the small orchestra the chance to shine along with the singers. The music is most impressive, not merely supporting the choir, but is finely crafted, melodious, harmonious and accessible. Rutter has been criticised by some as being facile, but he has answered this attack by suggesting that ‘there are those who would prefer the non-specialist public to be kept at arm’s length’. Like the songs in the first half of the program this Requiem was a personal response to the death of the composer’s father. In combining the traditional Mass for the Dead, Psalms and the Order for the Burial of the Dead, Rutter has evoked the call for God’s mercy (Requiem eternal),Pie Jesu (sung will bell like clarity by Amelia Holds) and the Psalm ,Out of the Deep, to the consolation of The Lord is My Shepherd, also sung beautifully by Nadia Gencarelli, and Lux aeterna, sung by yet another lovely soloist, Lisa Catinari. The Sanctus, with joyous rhythms, and bells, sounding more like an Easter service than a Requiem was disturbing. Not so the emotional climax of the Agnus Dei, leading into the reassurance of eternal life.

and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

While Rutter’s  Requiem may be thought to be less demanding than some on the listener, it is a demanding work for both singers and orchestra. Karl Geiger, back on the podium directed them all with authority and energy. It is no reflection on the three conductors who filled in for him last year to say that it is good to see him back at the helm, and to hear such an interesting and thoughtful night of music.  

Elder Hall  10 May 2025