Choral weekend 2

Choral concert 2 was a veritable biggie in more ways than just musical.  Kings College Cambridge Choir was in town for Musica Viva.  Once again we hosted 2 singers from the choir for a few days so we had youth in the house and chatter on Cambridge and England and not just the choir.  Our guests were Tom Pickard, now bass but once a chorister, and William Rodgers, alto.  The sections in the choir are Choristers (18, presumably boy sopranos, as young as 8) and the Kings College students and staff who make up the lower voices, altos (4), tenors (5) and basses (5) and organ scholars (2).  Canberra was their penultimate location after Melbourne (Hamer Hall and Recital Centre), Brisbane, Sydney (Opera House and Recital Hall) and Adelaide.  After Canberra, they were off to Perth for one day with one gig.  Canberra got in a free day so somewhat a last fling before the final gig and the long flight home.  We got to the concert at Llewellyn.  They performed their Program 2: Garbielli, Bull, Tallis, Grandi, Durufle, the local work of Damien Barbeler's music to Judith Nangala Crispin's poem Charlotte, Laruidsen and a final Stravinsky mass interspersed with Judith Weir Psalm 148 and movements from Vertue.  This post-interval set featured a wonderful Australian chamber combination of wind players (2xoboe, cor Anglais, 2xbassoon, 2xtrumpet, 3x trombone), from Melbourne and Sydney, gathered by Nigel Crocker, of our own Canberra Symphony Orchestra.  So what of the music?  This is one of the famed choirs of the world so I expected the blissful consonance and harmony that we got.  I lean to earlier works rather than later, but all was superb as expected.  The winds were similarly superb.  The Aussie original by Damian Barbeler and Judith Nangala Crispin was much more contemporary, the words of JNC's poem On finding Charlotte in the archeological record sung a capella.  It's on Spotify and released 19 July 2024 so presumably for this tour by this group.  Enough said; have a listen.  This was awe-inspiring music and a pleasant international visit all in one.  Loved it.

The Kings College Cambridge choir performed at Llewellyn Hall under Daniel Hyde (musical director).  A chamber wind group gathered by Nigel Crocker (trombone) accompanied for much of the second set.  We billetted two singers, William Rodgers (alto) and Tom Pickard (bass).

A different experience

Our experience of the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, was different from that of many others, and there were many others at Llewellyn Hall for the concert. It was pretty much packed, upstairs and downstairs. The choir huddled in a square on stage, younger singers in the two first rows; older choristers in another two rows behind. In front were conductor Daniel Hyde, an organist, and accompanists Alice Giles and Umberto Clerici. Alice also performed solo (Cavalli). The choir mostly performed in full, although there were pieces in the first half for the young'uns and for the King's Men, as the seniors are called. The King's Men perform and record separately. The choir consists of 16 boys from age 7 and 15 male Cambridge University students. The boys sing treble; the students sing alto, tenor, bass, split approx 4/6/8. Singers generally remain with the choir for 3 years and it's hard work. They perform evensong 6 nights per week during term, as well as practice and tours. The seniors also perform as the King's Men. This, in addition to a heavy academic workload over short 8-week terms. Not sure how many terms per year. So, how was our experience different? We billeted two students, Trojan and George. Trojan was studying music and sang bass; George was studying classics and sang alto (also bass?). But what of the concert? Canberra got program no.2 covering a range. The early works were from Bach and Byrd, Tallis and Gibbons and Monteverdi. Then through Britten and Vaughan-Williams to contemporary. Ross Edwards provided the Australian relevance with a new commission, Singing the love; Weir and Wallen provided contemporary English compositions. Wallen's Pace (=Peace) was introduced as "hear a pin drop" material and it was true: beautifully soft with unexpected dissonances that resolved (perhaps too early for this jazz lover) then reformed. Lots of harmonic colourations with staggered breathing. Funnily enough, someone did drop something tinkly and needle-like near where we sat during that tune. That was my favourite for the night but I was enamoured by the clarity and also strength of sound of all the works by the choir in that big Llewellyn space. The second half especially had me in raptures. So, a memorable concert of precise and historical voices and an interesting interaction with Cambridge, the university. This visit will just have to suffice until we get to Evensong in the chapel, when next in Cambridge.


The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, performed in Llewellyn Hall. We billeted George Gibbon (alto) and Trojan Nakade (bass).