Giacomo CARISSIMI (1605-74) – Jephte
Alessandro SCARLATTI (1660-1725) – Dixit Dominus [iv]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741) – Credo RV 591
Jan ZELENKA (1679-1745) – Miserere ZWV 57
Mayfield Festival Choir directed by Jeremy Summerly with the Mayfield Baroque Orchestra.
About the programme: Carissimi’s Jephte is the first great oratorio, written at a time when the church was concerned that opera was taking great music away from the church. The solution was to set Bible stories to music and do away with expensive sets and costumes: hey presto, oratorio was born, and at its best it is every bit as colourful as opera. In particular, the closing chorus of Carissimi’s Jephte is iconically tear-jerking. Alessandro Scarlatti was Sicilian, yet he studied in Rome with Carissimi and was moreover the father of two accomplished composers.
Scarlatti was for a short time the Director of Music at the church in Rome where Palestrina had served over a century earlier, and Scarlatti’s church music is no less accomplished than the operas for which he is justly famous. Vivaldi and Zelenka (Italian and Czech respectively) were two of J S Bach’s more glittering contemporaries. But it’s difficult for your posthumous reputation if you’re always compared to Bach. Vivaldi had to wait until the second half of the 20th century to have his real worth recognised, and Zelenka is, to a certain extent, still doing so. But the music of both composers is captivating, and every compellingly predictable gesture from the Italian is matched by a beguilingly idiosyncratic one from the Czech master.
Join us on this journey from the early to the late Baroque with its colourful patchwork of sounds manufactured by choir, vocal soloists, and period instrumentalists.
Mayfield Baroque is an instrumental collective of young professional players of period instruments, all of whom are based in and around London and Oxford. The group was formed in 2016 specifically to work with Mayfield Festival Choir and the choir of St Peter’s College, Oxford. Described as ‘breathtaking’, ‘scintillating’, and ‘totally beguiling’, Mayfield Baroque brings the music of the 17th and 18th centuries to life and leaves audiences spellbound.
Review
For their Autumn concert of 2018, Mayfield Festival Choir has chosen a programme of baroque showpieces, some well-known, others less so, but all beguiling nevertheless.
The evening began with a work by the Bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. This piece, including a soprano solo, features a rich, choral and orchestral background, with the soloist interjecting throughout. Next up was Dixit Dominus by Scarlatti for choir and four soloists, all of whom stepped up to sing with poise and conviction.
One of the plus points of Music in Mayfield is the high standard and calibre of young solo singers, mainly from the academies and colleges, who are well able to demonstrate their various vocal strengths. Many have gone on to national, and indeed, international careers.
After the interval the choir gave us Vivaldi’s Credo and some delightfully measured, quiet ensemble singing. The final work, and personally this reviewer’s favourite of the evening, was Jephte by Carissimi – a most moving dramatic work, again involving the full complement of choir, orchestra and soloists.
This rarely performed work was notable for the sheer sense of drama, often delivered by the recitative-like storyline sung by the soprano and tenor.
Supporting throughout was the recently formed Mayfield Baroque Ensemble, a chamber orchestra of formidable players, performing on period instruments. The choir tackled this often difficult and varied programme with their usual enthusiasm and zeal, guided throughout as always by the expert leadership of their conductor Jeremy Summerly.
All of this teases us into wondering what delights the 50th anniversary Festival will strive for.
James Anderson