Empire Theatre, Eden Court,17 April 2010

MORE YEARS ago than I care to admit, when I started writing about these musical events, my then mentor, sadly no longer with us, emphasised that I was a reviewer, not a critic, and that when reporting on local performances, err on the side of generosity. This could be quite short.

Inverness Choral Society

Bach’s St John Passion is a phenomenally difficult work, enough to make a professional choir blanch, and it was a very brave decision by Inverness Choral Society to take it on. Any choral performance such as this is a coming together of three main elements; the choir, the soloists and the orchestra. All three need to perform at their best to create a memorable evening.

I gained the impression that the choir was not as large as for other performances, so it seems that quite a few members decided that discretion dictated that it should be left to those with the confidence required. That confidence was rewarded; as was the very obvious amount of sheer hard work that had gone into their rehearsals.

There were three choral sections that really stood out; the opening chorus ‘Hail, Lord and Master’, the beautiful chorale during the Crucifixion section, ‘Thy name, O Lord, is shining’ and the closing chorale, ‘O Jesus, when I come to die’. Bach’s St. John Passion is not an oratorio that is dominated by the soloists for it has more than the usual amount of work for the choir as they take on the role of the crowd that is so dominant in the story of The Passion.

Except for some lack of clarity in their diction, the members of Inverness Choral Society performed very well and continued the steady improvement they have shown since Gordon Tocher took over as conductor.

When it comes to the soloists, circumstances dictate that the Society has to rely on the recommendations of others, and exceptionally for this performance, the effects of a certain Icelandic volcano had to be taken into account with two of the nominated soloists unable to make the journey to Inverness.

As the Evangelist, Canadian tenor Daniel Auchincloss carried off the lion’s share of the soloists’ parts. He has a fine voice, at times verging on counter-tenor, and he sang with clarity and expression. Beside him on the platform, the bass David Stout took on the extra parts that were occasioned by the travel problems, discriminating between them in small but helpful ways, such as remaining seated when he was playing Pilate, reclining in his gubernatorial throne. He sang strongly and clearly, all of which promises well for his future career.

Would that I could be so positive about the other three soloists . The plan was to have three members of the acclaimed Dunedin Consort in the soprano, alto and tenor roles which augured well. However the alto was stuck in New York and her role was filled at very short notice by Linda McGill, but she seemed to adopt the lack of dynamism of her two colleagues, Susan Hamilton and Nicholas Hurndall Smith.

All of which leaves the orchestra, Inverness Choral Sinfonia. In the past they have performed so well and it is hard to pin down what went wrong on Saturday. Perhaps they had not been able to rehearse together as much as the choir had; perhaps it was that each player was more exposed in what was a fairly small band and any inadequacies were therefore more obvious.

The wind section, flutes, oboes and bassoon, that plays such a major role was overpowered by the strings. Maybe they should have been on a raised level so their sound could be projected. And what about the cello continuo? Around me in the audience heads went down and eyes were closed. My mentor’s rule of generosity precludes me from mentioning names. Suffice to say that the cat whose guts provided the strings for that instrument died in vain.

In summary, if this were a school report, the choir would get high marks for effort and good marks for performance; two of the soloists would get good marks and the other three merely average; the orchestra – must do better. Overall, not one of Inverness Choral Society’s best efforts, but I’m still looking forward to their next performance, Requiem for the Living by Cecil Day Lewis and Donald Swann in November.

© James Munro, 2010

Links

• Inverness Choral