‘If it’s not broken don’t fix it!’
Well, I would never consider the major work from this programme, The Crucifixion by Stainer (1887), to be ‘broken’, and yet here we heard a revised version, writes Suzanne Smelt.
The Huddersfield University Choir and organist Thomas Moore, conducted by Dr David Milsom, told the Passion story of Christ through Stainer’s original choruses and solos.
However, most of the expected hymns were replaced by wisely chosen choral numbers which served to enhance the inherent Biblical message in a performance more suited to a concert hall than to a church’s congregational act of worship.
Excellent choral ensemble hallmarked this piece and the choir enthralled us with powerful dramatics in Fling Wide the Gates and in their spell-binding rendition of God So Loved the World. This wonderful ‘a capella’ singing featured in two of the choral interludes and exposed a beautiful choral blend.
The main tenor and bass solos were equally shared by Sean Brines and Edmund Le Brocq and George Ford and Charles Murray respectively. Prepared and polished; a top team of very promising voices.
Prior to this we heard from the Huddersfield University Orchestra, conducted by Robert Guy, in Beethoven’s jocular First Symphony (1800) which was successful not least because of a reliable wind section.
Almost continual dialogue between wind and strings dominated the opening movement with a surprising solid contribution from a modestly-sized yet powerful string section.
Robert’s perfect choice of tempi allowed the ‘one-in-a-bar’ Scherzo to zip along but not run away with itself and there was plenty of space for dynamic contrasts in the fizzing Finale.
The University of Huddersfield String Orchestra, directed by Niall Turner, delivered a stunning selection of music spanning 100 years in origin. Being assessed as part of his exams, final year student Niall was under pressure and he rose to the occasion. He showed a high level of command, particularly in controlling the tangled texture of Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977) with almost metronomic discipline as bell-tolls from a single chime added to the sound-palette.
Love’s bittersweet emotions were conveyed in Greig’s Two Elegaic Melodies (1881) by well-shaped phrasing and expressive, cantabile melodies from both upper and lower strings.
Lacking in compositional structure but not invention of ideas was Tubin’s Elegy for Strings (1946) which delighted us with it folk-song-like feel underpinned by securely pitched coloured harmonies.
This concert proved that The Huddersfield Music Department is worthy of its outstanding national reputation.
We must to continue to support its promising students, many of whom chose to stay and make this town their home.
See Livemusic@hud.ac.uk for future event details.
