Arts

Music Review: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

Founded by King Henry VI in 1441, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge presented a breathtaking program from the sacred music tradition at the Adelaide Festival Theatre, in their only Adelaide performance

578454_456639907719921_319818058_nFounded by King Henry VI in 1441, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge presented a breathtaking program from the sacred music tradition at the Adelaide Festival Theatre, in their only Adelaide performance. The secular setting (and suboptimal organ) did not rob the professionals of their ability to inspire awe and impart a sense of wonder.

Dr Stephen Cleobury CBE, Director since 1984, was, at this performance, as understated as his mandarin collar black suit. He managed the choir with minimalist precision, extracting exquisite music from 32 vocal instruments. Conducting his team, aged 10-22, with a calm yet commanding presence, the choir opened with English composers Parry and Byrd, followed by a particularly moving Dum complerentur by Palestrina.

Adding a light-hearted anecdote, we were informed that a private visit to the Adelaide Oval earlier that day was a tour highlight. It was a pleasant reminder that some of the choristers are little boys, despite the purity of the voices delivering a sacrosanct output.

At Cleobury’s instigation, the choir commissions one carol per year. This has resulted in a plethora of wonderful new choral pieces, and, at the request of Musica Viva, Cleobury kindly gave us a triple treat by performing the Australian contributions. Peter Sculthorpe’s The Birthday of thy King, Brett Dean’s Now comes the Dawn,
and Carl Vine’s Ring out, wild bells, were delightful, and led neatly into a splendid rendition of Hymn to St Cecilia, op 27 by Benjamin Britten.

The pièce de résistance came in the form of the work by Gabriel Fauré. Historically criticised for not having enough “terror” the Requiem was dubbed a “lullaby of death”. The Pie Jesu alone from Requiem in D minor, op 48 was so good as to make those with a funeral plan not currently involving Fauré, reconsider. Tell me I’m wrong after you’ve listened to the latest recording by the choir, released to coincide with the Australian tour, featuring this Requiem.

Speaking about striking a balance between the choir’s tradition, and commissioning new music, Cleobury said, “It’s important to us that the choir’s tradition is maintained, but also developed. And the commissioning of new music is one of the chief mediums through which we do that. We mustn’t stand still and become a museum.” Judging from the audience reaction, and post-concert queues for CD sales, it seems there is absolutely no risk of that.

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge sadly concluded the wonderful concert with an encore of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus; Musica Viva once again delivering an outstanding nationwide tour of world-class musicians.

The next Musica Viva concert is Imogen Cooper, Thursday 21 August 2014 at 7.30pm. Book here.

Reviewed by Gordon Forester (@GordonForester)

Venue: Adelaide Festival Theatre

Season: ended
Duration: 1½ hours

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