Vivat Newbury Festival!
Newbury Spring Festival
Newbury Spring Festival Chorus conducted by Tom Primrose: Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle, at St Nicolas Church, Newbury on Sunday, May 7. Review by CHARLES MEDLAM
While the weekend’s events continued to unfold further east in Berkshire, Newbury Spring Festival Chorus was getting back to normal with Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle at St.Nicolas Church. This missa solemnis,neither petite nor particularly solonnelle, was composed in 1863 for 12 singers, two pianos and harmonium. Conductor Tom Primrose had four soloists and several dozen choristers at his disposal, whom he directed with unostentatious authority, demanding mercurial tempos and challenging extremes of expression throughout. The choir showed their appreciation with considerable engagement and range, from the finely mystic a cappella Christe, via some lively counterpoint, to many points of genuine religious wonder.
Rossini gives each of his soloists their chance to shine. Lucy Crowe filled the church with her luminous soprano in both the Crucifixus and the O Salutaris Hostia. Uraguayan tenor Andres Presno lent his fine Latin tones and operatic experience to the Domine Deus. Ashley Riches sonorous baritone moved us as the anguished lover in the Quoniam (it’s almost impossible to tell Rossini’s church style from his operatic), and mezzo Claire Barnett-Jones’ velvet timbre was persuasively catholic in the Agnus Dei.
The choir showed their appreciation with considerable engagement and range, from the finely mystic a cappella Christe, via some lively counterpoint, to many points of genuine religious wonder
A highlight was the extended Preludio Religioso for solo piano. In Libby Burgess’ hands this was almost impossibly beautiful, as if Bach had stopped by to entertain us. Ben de Souza’s accordion (standing in for the more usual harmonium) lent a rustic flavouring to the proceedings and was ably complemented by Anna Tilbrook on a second piano.
As in his operas, there is never a dull moment, and it’s anybody’s guess how much irreverence is at play with this composer of opera buffa. I was probably not alone in wondering whether I was allowed to be having quite so much fun with a work described as a mass. But who really cared, as we left the church with broad smiles on our faces after an evening of fabulous music-making?
Vivat Newbury Festival!