SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Britten: Canticle I, My beloved is mine, op.40 (1947)

Canticle V, The Death of Saint Narcissus, op.89 (1974)

Canticle IV, The Journey of the Magi, op.86 (1971)

Canticle III, Still Falls the Rain, op.55 (1954)

Canticle II, Abraham and Isaac, op.51 (1952)

 

What do you call a collection of tenors? On the strength of the fine singing we heard tonight, matched by the excellent Michael Chance and the wonderful Roger Vignoles, not to mention two of the brightest instrumental students from the RAM, I think that a walletful of tenors is as good a collective noun as any, especially with the two £50 notes in the shape of Chance and Vignoles.

 

Joking aside, this show was given to celebrate the artistry of Peter Pears, whose centenary falls this year – on 22 June – and to commemorate Philip Langridge, an alumnus of the Academy and one of Britten’s greatest interpreters. Both were done proud.

 

At first glance the five Canticles may seem the poor relations in Britten’s vocal output for they are seldom given yet each contains much good music, but also, there are some miscalculations, and it is these which, probably, have mitigated against their success.

 

Canticle I is a joy; a straight forward setting of verses by Francis Quarles as an extended song or scena. Thomas Hobbs showed us how to do it and with a beautiful floating line, devoid of any unnecessary ornamentation, he allowed the musical line to be heard to best advantage. Here was fine singing indeed, even if his breath control in the melismata needs some slight work. To follow it with the final work in the series was something of a shock for here is Britten at his most austere and cerebral, and, as he was no longer, through illness, able to accompany Pears he wrote it with harp accompaniment, for Ossian Ellis. T S Eliot’s poem is full of rich imagery – even if I don’t understand all of it – but Britten’s music is desiccated, distanced from the words, and even the most impassioned of Eliot’s outbursts

 

Struck down by such knowledge

He could not live men’s ways, but became a dancer before God

 

didn’t bring the same passion from the composer. Julian Forbes and Akiko Iwaki did what they could with the piece but, with the best will in the world, they couldn’t disguise the paucity of invention.

 

Canticle IV also sets Eliot, this time for three voices – Chance, Lawrence and Hurford – as a trio with few solos. Here is the stumbling block, it is too reliant on the sound of the three voices together and there were times when I found myself wishing for a soaring solo, just to break up the slight monotony of the tutti. It is often said that the very best poetry is unsettable for it has its own inner music, but it must also be said that a poet whose vision is as elusive as Eliot’s doesn’t transfer well into musical setting. And, as with Canticle V, I don’t feel that Britten really got into the poem as deeply as it demands. But then, could anyone? Perhaps this is why when Tippett asked Eliot to create a libretto for his A Child of Our Time, the poet declined, advising the composer to write his own words. One wonders if Eliot knew that his own words were unsuitable for musical settting? Indeed, I can only think of one setting of his words which works successfully – Alan Rawsthorne’s Practical Cats. This was a fine performance, the three voices blending together and supporting one another, but, oh for a brief aria!

 

The best was kept for the second half. Canticle III, Still falls the rain: The raids 1940. Night and dawn, to give it its full title, is a nightmare vision of the London Blitz and here Britten created as vivid a scene of desolation and loneliness as he ever imagined. ng>John Mark Ainsley was a superb soloist, bringing exactly the right amount of existential angst, distancing himself from the horror and reporting on it. Between the verses of the poem the horn undertakes a series of variations, the two soloists only coming together, as mirror images, at the very end. Michael Kidd was the discreet horn soloist and his performance was magnificently understated which perfectly balanced Ainsley’s performance. Throughout – with the exception of Canticle V– all the performances were graced with the intelligent playing of Roger Vignoles, who took to the page turner’s chair for the final item.

 

Canticle II sets the Chester Miracle Play’s story of Abraham and Isaac and, in many ways, this is the most satisfying work of the set. Here, Britten gave his all, and created a truly operatic experience in miniature. Michael Chance and Peter Davoren gave an impassioned performance of the story, aided by brilliant pianism from Jocelyn Freeman. Whether singing together as the Voice of God – a dazzling stroke on Britten’s part – or separately, as father and son, their understanding of the music, and full knowledge of the implications of the actions of their characters, made this an utterly memorable performance.

 

Despite my misgivings concerning some of the music, this was a fine exploration of a neglected part of a great composers output, and it made a fitting tribute to two great tenors and introduced us to an exciting new generation of singers.

 

Bob Briggs