Mayfield Festival Choir conducted by Jeremy Summerly with the Ripieno Players and soloists Clare Tunney (Soprano), Frances Gregory (Alto), Richard Pinkstone (Tenor), Paul Grant (Bass) and Grace Stephens-Spada (Youth).
Mendelssohn’s great oratorio Elijah was first performed in Birmingham Town Hall in 1846. In homage to that, Mayfield Festival Choir is joined by the Birmingham-based orchestra, the Ripieno Players. After the première of Elijah, the art critic of The Times wrote that ‘never was there a more complete triumph—never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art’. Eight months after the Birmingham performance, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attended a performance in London, and in February 1848 the work was finally performed in Mendelssohn’s native Germany, in a German translation rather than in the original English. But by then, Mendelssohn had been dead for three months, cut down at the age of 38 after a series of strokes due to overwork and nervous exhaustion.
At Mayfield Elijah will be heard in its original English, sung by three young soloists from the Royal Academy of Music. They are joined by the ebullient Tenor, Richard Pinkstone, who returns to Mayfield for the third time in the last year. Elijah has remained popular in England since its first performance, and while it clearly owes a lot to Mendelssohn’s German predecessors, Bach and Handel, no other piece by Mendelssohn has the dramatic flair and breadth of expression of Elijah. In Mendelssohn’s own words: ‘Ever since I began to compose, I have remained true to my starting principle—not to write a page because of what the public or a pretty girl wanted, but to write what I thought was best’. And Elijah is very definitely Mendelssohn at his best.
The Ripieno Players specialise in contemporary music, varied artistic collaboration, and modern programming. Founded in Oxford in 2016, the group collaborated with artists such as Jess Gillam (Last Night of the Proms, 2018) and Laura Van Der Heijden (BBC Young Musician, 2012); repertoire ranged from Mahler’s Fourth Symphony to Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, and from Lutosławski’s Musique funèbre to new commissions from contemporary composers. The group was praised as the ‘cream of the crop’ and for representing ‘some of the best classical music Oxford has to offer’ (OxStu, 2018). Since last autumn the orchestra has been based in Birmingham.
Review
When it was announced that Mayfield Festival Choir was to perform Mendelssohn’s great oratorio Elijah, a ripple of excitement was felt locally, and certainly with this reviewer. On Sunday 5th May they did not disappoint.
The choir joined forces with the young Birmingham-based Ripieno Players and soloists to bring us the full dramatic impact of this work – a work which some consider could warrant a semi-staged production at the very least. The choir rose to the challenges demanded in this piece and under the strong leadership of its conductor, Jeremy Summerly, brought the necessary spirit and drama to their responses, especially those to Elijah in the “Prophets of Baal” sequence in Part 1. Together with a rousing and powerful final chorus, bringing the performance to an end, we witnessed an impressive account of this wonderful work.
Of course, a masterpiece such as this demands fine soloists and soprano Clare Tunney, Alto Frances Gregory, Tenor Richard Pinkstone , ‘The Child’ Grace Stephens-Spada and the Bass Paul Grant, demonstrated exemplary vocal skills, but it was left to the Bass in the title role of Elijah to give us the lion’s share of the narrative with sublime vocal prowess. His authority and noble tone will carry him a long way in his career and Mayfield were indeed fortunate to have him perform this towering role with them. With Andrew Benians again ably presiding over the organ contribution, a spirited account of this dramatic piece was witnessed by the usual capacity audience.
James Anderson