SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Three Choirs Festival 2008: A Preview by John Quinn (JQ)


The Three Choirs Festival, which can trace its origins back to the early eighteenth century, is probably the oldest musical festival in the world and the 2008 Festival will be the 280^th meeting of the Three Choirs. Each summer the festival rotates between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. This year it’s Worcester’s turn to host the Festival, which runs from 2 to 9 August. The Festival will be directed by Adrian Lucas, the Master of the Music at Worcester Cathedral.

It’s a varied programme and, as usual, there’s a good deal of British music to be heard. The festival will mark three anniversaries. Both the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the centenary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen are being widely celebrated, and rightly so. It’s good to see the Three Choirs joining in those festivities. But hats off to them for marking the centenary of another composer, who is attracting less attention this year. Howard Ferguson (1908-1999) left a much smaller body of compositions than did RVW or Messiaen and he is not so substantial a figure. But his output contains some fine music and I’m delighted to see that his Overture for an occasion is to be played in the Philharmonia concert, conducted by Adrian Lucas (8 August, 19.45). Even more welcome is the inclusion of one of Ferguson’s most substantial works, the choral piece Amor Langueo. This can be heard in another of Adrian Lucas’s programmes (4 August, 19.45) with the splendid James Gilchrist as tenor soloist.

That programme also includes what is billed as the world première of A British Symphony by Andrew Gant. In fact the première should have taken place in February when the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra was due to play it but, according to Times Online, at the eleventh hour the conductor, Barry Wordsworth announced to the astonished audience that he “did not believe” in the work and would not play it. Instead Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony was substituted. I don’t know whether the piece was due to be heard at Worcester anyway or was taken up by the festival following the controversy at Brighton. Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, an audience will finally have the chance to decide for themselves on the merits of this work by the Organist of the Chapel Royal.

The Gant symphony is included in what strikes me as a rather odd programme, which also includes the aforementioned Ferguson piece and Anthony Payne’s reconstruction of Elgar’s march Pomp and Circumstance No. 6 – though Payne’s name or any reference to this as a reconstruction is carelessly omitted from the festival brochure. This march was included in last year’s Gloucester programme as well. The programme is completed by Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, which seems a little odd when the concert is billed as “A programme of romance and ceremony that celebrates all that is great about Britain.” I suppose Shakespeare provides the British link.

A prime focus for any Three Choirs Festival, of course, is the major choral and orchestral concerts each night in the cathedral. There are some treats in store, starting with Elgar’s The Apostles (2 August, 19.45), which Adrian Lucas will conduct. The Philharmonia Orchestra, resident for the week, and the Festival Chorus will take part with a sextet of soloists. A masterpiece on a much more intimate scale is Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in which Edward Higginbottom will direct the choirs of the three Cathedrals and the Academy of Ancient Music. The quartet of soloists includes Sarah Connolly and Michael George (5 August, 18.00). Another guest conductor is Martyn Brabbins, who will lead a programme that includes the Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’ (Britten) and Vaughan Williams’s wonderful Sea Symphony (7 August, 19.45).

However, though these concerts are enticing I’m afraid I can’t register any enthusiasm whatsoever for the closing concert in which John Wilson conducts the Philharmonia in a programme entitled ‘Classic British Film Music’ (9 August, 19.45) The concert will include film music by the likes of Vaughan Williams, Richard Rodney Bennett, Walton, Eric Coates and Malcolm Arnold. I most certainly don’t denigrate film music and some of the music on offer in this programme is of high quality. However, I have to question the ending of a Three Choirs Festival with not a singer in sight. I guess the programme has been devised with an eye to the box office but I think it’s a regrettable miscalculation.

On a more positive note, the orchestral concert on 7 August, already mentioned, will include a very pleasant ceremony when the RVW Society presents a lifetime achievement award to Sir David Willcocks. What a richly deserved honour and how fitting that the presentation should take place in the cathedral which he graced as its one time Director of Music. The concert will be followed by a reception in his honour.

Another distinguished British musician will visit on the following day when Dame Gillian Weir gives a varied and interesting recital to inaugurate the cathedral’s new Kenneth Tickell quire organ (8 August, 11.00)

Those who like to hear small, expert choirs and vocal ensembles will be well catered for. The King’s Singers, currently celebrating their fortieth anniversary season, will perform in the marvellous surroundings of Pershore Abbey (4 August, 14.30). Gothic Voices will present a programme of medieval love songs in Great Witley Church (6 August, 11.00) and the renowned choral trainer, Ralph Allwood, will bring the choir of the Eton Open Choral Course to Tewkesbury Abbey to give a very tempting programme consisting mainly of polyphonic and twentieth-century choral pieces (8 August, 14.30)

With chamber music, organ recitals and, of course, the daily riches of choral evensong as well the Festival caters for a wide range of tastes.  

Full details of the Festival are available at http://www.3choirs.org/  Bookings can be made either online or by contacting the Festival Ticket Office at Worcester Porcelain Museum, Severn Street, Worcester, WR1 2ND United Kingdom. Telephone 01905 616200.

John Quinn


Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page