As the first cold nights of winter approached, the combined forces of the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society presented an English programme of music by Vaughan Williams, Holst and Walton from around a hundred years ago.
Susan Spain-Dunk’s sparkling Kentish Downs Overture opened the evening, first performed in 1926 and revived at the Proms in later years. Wonderful woodwind and string interchanges were followed a rousing brass fanfare. The orchestra seemed to enjoy the lyrical sequences and many harmonic pedal points, with playing that was always full of drama and nuance.
Elaborate choral arrangements of folksongs were popular in the early years of the 20th Century, and the Tonbridge Philharmonic Choir were set the challenge to sing some ‘a cappella’. A confident unison of I sowed the seeds by Holst, some excellent choral dynamics and word colouring in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and diction in I love my Love and Swansea Town, led to a committed worthy performance despite some uncertainties of pitch at times.
The arrival of Benedict Nelson in the first of his two performances, in Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with his rich dramatic baritone, was assured from the first ‘Rise heart’. The settings of George Herbert are a product of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s study with Ravel. The chorus takes an almost instrumental role as part of the overall colour including harp and strings. In the second song a simple but moving melody by the soloist was ably supported by the Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra, with the choir sensitively humming in the third verse. The choir accompanied with an intense pp intonation an ancient plainsong in song three. Nelson’s The Call was perfectly judged, to be followed by a jolly paean of praise, Let all the world for choir and orchestra.
After a brief pause, came the final work, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, which caused a sensation at it’s first performance in 1931, largely because it was following in the trend towards jazz-inspired cantatas. The forces required are vast, including large orchestra and a battery of percussion, 8-part chorus, baritone soloist and (originally) with organ. The dissonant harmony, and jazzy cross-rhythms are tricky to master for professional choirs, and to still get the different moods required from the forces assembled.
Nelson’s narration was bold and dramatic throughout, particularly the moment where a hand appears to write on the wall after chilling, unsettling and spooky percussion. Every word could be heard and in his recitative ‘Babylon was a great city’ was lyrical before the more dramatic blood-curdling ‘… was Belshazzar the King slain’, which was equally matched by the choir.
The larger orchestra was expressive and yet exciting when required, particularly in the section praising the heathen gods of gold, silver, iron and wood etc. – throwing all of Walton’s percussive resources at the audience! Butcher let the score expand whilst being aware of the extremes of mood from the final Alleluias to the smaller chamber-like textures. The central march had plenty of swagger (originally with offstage brass bands) anticipating Walton’s coronation marches in later years.
The dissonant choral opening after the opening unison trombones, ‘Thus spake Isaiah’ was bold and dramatic with a fine divisi 4-part men’s chorus. The whole choir sang confidently in the songs of Zion, Psalm 137 bemoaning the captivity of biblical times. Butcher built the ending to an all-out sonic conclusion! It is a demanding work, and the Tonbridge Philharmonic Choir perhaps needed a firmer body of sound to cut through the orchestral ensemble, and with some unsettled intonation and rhythms at times they were not as comfortable as I have heard them. The heavy syncopated rhythms did not always pop. However, overall, the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society rose to the occasion with this challenging programme – from the quiet instrumental use of the voices in the Vaughan Williams, to the 8-part chromatic writing for the Walton, that was clearly enjoyed by the audience.
Adrian Pitts