{"id":173,"date":"2018-03-25T21:53:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T20:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/witchert.ool.co.uk\/?p=173"},"modified":"2023-12-06T20:16:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:16:37","slug":"songs-of-innocence-and-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/?p=173","title":{"rendered":"Songs of Innocence and Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
Reviewed on haddenham.net<\/h6>\n
\n

Over its fifteen-year history, the Witchert Chorale and its musical director David Quinn have always provided interesting and original themes and narratives for its concerts, and this latest offering was no exception.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Selections from Blake\u2019s two volumes of poems from the 1790s, which range from pointed social
\ncommentary to the mystical and religious, were beautifully read by Ed Cairns, and provided a
\nframework for a selection of music hugely varied in style and era: from a 16th century Mass by
\nWilliam Byrd to a contemporary setting of The Tiger by Italian composer Mattia Culmone. Each
\npoem was cleverly matched with one or more complimentary pieces, in some cases settings of
\nBlake\u2019s text.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The first part of the concert had a quiet, almost ethereal atmosphere: three movements from the
\n1592 Byrd \u2018Mass for Four Voices\u2019 \u2013 the earliest and cleanest of his three settings \u2013 along with
\nTavener\u2019s \u2018The Lamb\u2019 and the \u2018Divine Image\u2019 by Gibbons. This section was followed by poems \u2018The Chimney Sweeper\u2019 in its Innocence and Experience forms, and the \u2018Little Girl\u2019 – Lost and Found \u2013 withmusic from Mendelssohn\u2019s Elijah and Brahms lieder as commentary.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The choir\u2019s accuracy and tonal blend in performing this quite difficult repertoire were splendid
\nthroughout, and these qualities were maintained in the second half, in which poems \u2018To Terzah\u2019 and \u2018The Lily\u2019, were accompanied by strong contrasts \u2013 from the dynamic sound-painting of bells in Senfl\u2019s \u2018Das Gelaut zu Speyer\u2019 from around 1500, to the nostalgic Sullivan \u2018The Long Day Closes\u2019 and atmospheric \u2018Northern Lights\u2019 of Ola Gjeilo: here composing in what he considered his native Norwegian style.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
In the final section, a progressively lighter style to the music allowed the choir to relax and enjoy
\ndelivering twentieth century favourites including Porter\u2019s \u2018Miss Otis Regrets\u2019, Gershwin\u2019s \u2018Fascinating Rhythm\u2019 and finishing with Youmans\u2019 \u2018Tea for Two\u2019.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Overall this was a real treat for both the mind and the senses, and with a healthy audience turnout should build further on Witchert\u2019s admirable record of over \u00a340,000 raised for good causes: this time in aid of the Friends of St Mary\u2019s. Congratulations to all involved.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed on haddenham.net Over its fifteen-year history, the Witchert Chorale and its musical director David Quinn have always provided interesting and original themes and narratives for its concerts, and this latest offering was no exception. Selections from Blake\u2019s two volumes of poems from the 1790s, which range from pointed social commentary to the mystical and … Continue reading Songs of Innocence and Experience<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews-and-reflections","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.witchert.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}