Memorable Charterhouse Chapel concert launches the 2022 Investec International Music Festival

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Investec International Music Festival – Vaughan Williams at 150 – The Festival Celebrates!: Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Lachlan Mackinnon (narrator), Charterhouse Brass Players; Charterhouse String Players; Charterhouse Chapel Choir, Britten Sinfonia / Thomas Gould (director/violin), Mark Shepherd (conductor). Charterhouse Chapel, Godalming, Surrey, 19.3.2022. (CC)

Vaughan WilliamsThe Old 100th (1953); An Oxford Elegy (1947/8, version with string orchestra); Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)
HolstSt Paul’s Suite, Op.29/2 (1913)
Vaughan Williams (arr. David Matthews) – Romance and Pastorale (world premiere)
TallisO nata lux; Thou wast O God

Based in the Surrey Hills, the 2022 Investec International Music Festival launched at the beautiful Memorial Chapel at Charterhouse School (a mere hop from Godalming). Charterhouse’s most famous alumnus is surely one Ralph Vaughan Williams; only fitting that he provided the major thrust of this opening night.

Beginning the occasion with Vaughan Williams’s arrangement of The Old 100th was certainly stirring, with its opening brass fanfare and imposing organ statement choir to the congregation’s entry: there was audience participation in three of the five verses, the remaining two rather beautifully sung by the Chapel Choir. A reminder for many of their own school days, certainly, and indeed of church services in the past for others. Interesting, also, to reflect on some of the bases of Christianity: one of the hymn’s lines is ‘Him serve with fear’ (‘Him” being the Christian deity); nevertheless, an energising start, and one that underscored the generous acoustic here.

That acoustic can be a curse as well as a blessing, it transpires. Holst’s St Paul’s Suite, itself inspired by a school (St Paul’s School for Girls, Hammersmith, where Holst was music director in 1905 and where he was to remain for the rest of his life). The piece is wide-ranging, taking in English folksong as well as an Algerian melody. It was good that we still managed to hear some detail in the first movement, a vigorous account, its vigour nicely contrasted with the light and luminous ‘Ostinato’. But here, and in the finale, detail did tend to escape. The violin song of the third movement, superbly played by Thomas Gould, was simply lovely, though.

Vaughan Williams’s An Oxford Elegy does not get many outings, so it was a real treat to hear it here. This was conducted by Mark Shepherd and featured another Charterhouse alumnus, Lachlan Mackinnon, as narrator; the work is further illuminated by a chorus, wordless at first. The Charterhouse Choir was in brilliant form, relishing Vaughan Williams’s ravishing harmonisation of ‘Here will I sit and wait’ (the second stanza – the text is adapted from Matthew Arnold’s ‘The Scholar Gypsy’ and ‘Thyrsis’). Balance was an issue here, though, the narrator’s excellent delivery sometimes getting lost in the milieu. Arnold’s poetry is of the utmost beauty, speaking to the importance of place, be it the ‘festal light of Christ-Church hall’ (another link: Mackinnon was himself educated at Christ Church, Oxford), the ‘track by Childsworth Farm’ or ‘Oxford’s towers’. (This sense of place speaks deeply at any time, but perhaps in current global circumstances, the sense of belonging and the energy of a particular homeland cuts particularly deep.) A pity some balance issues between choir, narrator and players affected the performance; occasionally one had to strain to hear the words from Mackinnon. It hardly affected the overall power of the performance, though; a rare opportunity to hear a minor masterpiece.

Alexander Sitkovetsky © Vincy Ng

Post-interval, a specially commissioned arrangement of two pieces originally for violin and piano by Vaughan Williams, Romance and Pastorale. Orchestrating this enables Vaughan Williams’s harmonies to really shine from within. This is the perfect opportunity, in fact, to sing the praises of David Matthews, whose music seems incomprehensibly under-appreciated: try the first volume of his String Quartets on Toccata Classics (played by the superb Kreutzer Quartet) as a next stop. Matthews’s skill here was to step back from his own voice but to find not only beauty but unexpected delight in the orchestration of these two quite substantial pieces. Sitkovetsky was the most eloquent of soloists; the Pastorale begins with solo violin alone and was poignancy personified. There was an encore, some solo Bach – the Sarabande from the D-Minor Partita for Solo Violin – reaching back in time now, poignant, beautiful.

It was simply gorgeous to hear two Tallis pieces, the motet O nata lux (O light born or light) and the hymn Thou wast, O God, the latter the basis of the very next piece, Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. The Charterhouse singers sang particularly well – there’s a fine bass in there, the foundation of the final chord of Thou wast, O God was rock solid.

What a joy to hear the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis in a place such as this, with the solo strings making their mark beautifully. This was an impassioned – if not quite aglow – performance, the contrasts between the ripieno and concertante string group well realised. A fine end to a memorable concert.

The festival continues in May. when Vaughan Williams’s music will be performed in venues across Surrey, the area which the composer knew and loved. Guest artists include the Sitkovetsky Trio, the Modigliani Quartet, Gary Hoffman & Wu Qian, and Michael Collins & Friends. Inspired by Vaughan Williams’s love of walking, there are also guided walks around his childhood home Leith Hill Place and Dorking where he lived in later life. Emulating Vaughan Williams’s support for his fellow composers, there will also be a world premiere of a new work by Natalie Klouda (plus, as we know, David Matthews), and also the winning work from its own Surrey Hills Young Composer Competition. You can find a link to download the full programme here.

Colin Clarke

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