EX
CATHEDRA
Birmingham
Town Hall *****
In this year of anniversaries of composers particularly
close to my heart Ex Cathedra could certainly celebrate Puccini (the early
Messa di Gloria) and Schoenberg, with his large corpus of choral works, but of
course Bruckner is the obvious happy hunting-ground with his Masses and Motets.
Jeffrey Skidmore assembled a wonderful programme of works
which all led unerringly to the great Mass in E minor, for which his chamber
choir was joined by expert wind and brass players of the CBSO. This was a
distinguished event on a chilly Sunday afternoon, gratifyingly well-attended,
and recorded by the BBC for future broadcast on Radio 3 (October 22, 7.30pm).
Each half of the programme began with an organ improvisation
by Rupert Jeffcoat, recreating Bruckner’s own skills as an organist (a
little-known fact is that there had been a scheme to bring the Austrian
composer out of London on his next visit, and on to Birmingham; sadly, it never
got off the ground). Jeffcoat’s first improvisation included a sly quote from
Tristan und Isolde, reflecting Bruckner’s reverence for Wagner; in the second I
detected a quote from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, premiered here in Birmingham under
the composer’s baton, the composer who supervised the installation of this magnificent
instrument.
The organ was used to support (in 19th-century
German fashion) two movements from a Palestrina Mass, the Sine Nomine, the
choral sound so richly-developed that it was difficult to pick up the Germanised
Latin pronunciation to which Skidmore referred in his engaging welcome.
Then came a sequence of Bruckner pieces, two Aequali for
trombones reminding us not only of those by Beethoven, but also stretching back
across the centuries to the Gabrieli family – and evoking the sonorous brass
moments in so much of Wagner’s output. These were interspersed with four of
Bruckner’s motets, hushed sweetness and monumental awe combined, though I do
feel Ecce Sacerdos Magnus does outstay its welcome without the accompanying
pageantry of its premiere.
Allegri’s famous Miserere Mei seemed slightly extraneous to
this progress towards the climax, but it was winningly delivered, a tenor
Cantor cast high away at the back of the choir seats, a solo quartet in front
of the organ, the rest of the responsive choir onstage. Thankfully this
performing edition had dropped most of the spurious stratospheric plangencies.
Pitch throughout this concert was reliably maintained (one
would expect nothing less from this vastly-experienced, expertly trained
choir), and eyes here focussed on the conductor, heads well above the score, should
be an object lesson to everyone, whether amateur or professional.
And so we arrived at the Mass, the counterpoint of Palestrina
meeting the harmonies of Wagner, and the hairs on the back of the neck rising.
Ex Cathedra and CBSO combined under Skidmore’s understated direction to deliver
an account which both melted and pierced at the same time, lines overlapping
and interweaving, as in the sublime Kyrie.
The Gloria was launched by jubilating bassoons, the Credo
brought well-timed drama and colour, and Skidmore shaped well the rising ecstasy
of the Sanctus and Benedictus, moving through the oboe filigrees accompanying
the Benedictus, through to the exhausted serenity of the Agnus Dei.
Bruckner’s E minor Mass is a work more or less ideal in its
conception and construction, and its delivery here did it total justice.
On the subject of justice, there is a new circle of Hell
reserved for the person whose phone pinged importantly just towards the end of
the first half. I hope Radio 3 keep it in, to the perpetrator’s eternal embarrassment.
Christopher Morley