Experiencing Exaltation

ALISTAIR PEEBLES speaks to Neil Price, director of the Mayfield Singers, about the recent performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall

AN INTERVIEW WITH Neil Price will appear in a future edition of Northings. In the meantime, however, I spoke to him at home in Orkney, mid-way between the two performances of the ‘St Matthew Passion’ (see Ron Ferguson’s review – link below).

Having discussed the event with other people involved, we wanted to ask him about the experience of taking part, something that seems to have surprised Neil by its intensity and left him – there seems no better word – exalted.

“I’ve never actually sung before in St Matthew Passion, except in short trousers as a member of the Ripieno Choir, and although of course it’s a piece we know and hear regularly in recordings, it’s only when you actually immerse yourself in it that you understand the force of the music and the thinking that underpins the whole structure.

“Nothing can compare with actually participating in it yourself. It’s very draining – both physically, in terms of the demands it places on your voice, and emotionally.

“Doing it in the Cathedral was wonderful, in spite of the difficulties that such a relatively narrow space presents for the conductor’s sight lines and just fitting everything in, but given the nature of the music it was exactly right.

The Mayfields have been going for twenty years and we never really imagined we’d be tackling something on this scale, but when the opportunity comes along you just have to grasp it.

“And yes, I felt totally exultant at the end. The way Bach concludes the piece might seem an anticlimax – the music just comes to a stop when Christ is laid in the tomb – but Bach leaves you thinking there’s more to come.”

Members of the audience and other members of the choir seemed to share that heightened feeling, and not just because of all the effort, and the venue, nor simply the fact that this was the music’s first ever performance in Orkney.

That kind of communal religious feeling – quasi or actual – is, according to Neil, encouraged by the music’s intensity and by the assumption in its structure that participation will occur – for example that the congregation itself will sing at certain points, and (as Ron mentions) that a sermon will occur in the middle. It was tea and baking this time, of course, but nourishment nevertheless.

And though singers, players and listeners may not necessarily believe in the Resurrection, the fact that Bach opens the tomb only in our imagination, after the piece itself has finished, makes the music’s meditation on themes that are very familiar and very human – earthbound even, and tragic – inclusive, regardless of faith.

“All the performers were quite dazed and glowing. Believers and non-believers, and people of different faiths, all experienced a similar sense of exultation.

On the more general question of why religious themes continue to be important to composers – “It depends where you start from. A religious person would have no trouble in understanding it. But religious texts are of course very inspiring, and even agnostic and atheist composers, for example Vaughan Williams, find huge inspiration in these subjects.

“And, well, who cares? It’s the music that’s important. As regards choirs themselves, music and singing have always been a central part of the ritual and pleasure of worship.

“It’s certainly the largest audience the Mayfield Singers have ever had. Circumstances just came together and made it possible for this collaboration with St Mary’s to happen. The Mayfields have been going for twenty years and we never really imagined we’d be tackling something on this scale, but when the opportunity comes along you just have to grasp it.”

The second and final performance will take place at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh on Saturday 25th March at 6pm.

© Alistair Peebles, 2006