Ex Cathedra must be one of the best, if not the best, choral groups in the country

Newbury Spring Festival: Ex Cathedra

at Douai Abbey

on Friday, May 23

Review by JULIA ROWNTREE

THE beautiful architecture of Douai Abbey, the richness of the harmonies of the choral writing and the natural, resonant acoustic of the building made Ex Cathedra’s performance of Rachmaninov’s vespers sublime.

The Rachmaninov Vespers is a combination of Vespers and Matins which make up the Orthodox liturgy of the All-Night Vigil. The service would have been a dialogue between the priest, deacon and choir, interspaced with movement and incensations.

To create a ‘dialogue’ conductor Jeffrey Skidmore, interestingly interspaced passages for bells between some of the choral sections, making reference to Orthodox chants and some of Rachmaninov’s other works. These were expertly played by Simone Rebello.

Ex Cathedra must be one of the best, if not the best, choral groups in the country. Made up of 15 sopranos, six contraltos/altos, seven tenors and 13 basses for this performance the balance was excellent for the sonorous and rich harmonies. The different vocal lines are often divided, even into three parts, which creates the richness of the choral texture.

The vocal range is very wide. Rachmaninov’s meticulous indications of tempi and dynamics were expertly adhered to by Jeffrey Skidmore. The contrast of high female voice passages alongside the resonant male sections was magical.

The controlled build-up of crescendi made for huge emotional tension and the superb ensemble, intonation and blend all helped to create an awe-inspiring performance.

Mezzo soprano soloist Martha McLorinan sang in the second movement with a beautiful, richness and even tone and had just the right poise and character for this sonorous music, and the balance between the soloist and the choir was beautifully judged. In movement five the ease and cleaness of the voice of the tenor soloist James Robinson was heavenly. He had a very wide range and was equally at home in the whole compass of the voice.

If there could be any criticism it would be that the forte sections were over-powerful for some members of the audience. In the Abbey acoustic, it can be preferable to sing from behind the altar. Nothing is lost in singing from this position – it is advantageous to the overall dynamic range.

After rapturous applause the choir sang Peace I leave with You by Amy Beach then left in silence, returning the Abbey back to prayerful stillness.

Members of the audience, on leaving, were heard saying ‘perfect’, ‘sublime’ and other such comments. This was a deeply researched, deeply emotional and musically satisfying evening.