{"id":5556,"date":"2019-09-28T09:23:12","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T08:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=5556"},"modified":"2019-09-28T09:25:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T08:25:29","slug":"tippett-a-child-of-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5556","title":{"rendered":"Tippett: A Child of Our Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
CBSO: anniversary season 2019-20<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n
Birmingham Symphony Hall, Thursday 26th<\/sup> September 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n

It seemed fitting, with the present political convulsions across the world, that the CBSO should choose Tippett\u2019s deeply felt masterpiece as the major choral work to open two years of celebration for its centenary. Elijah<\/em> and Gerontius<\/em> will follow later but for now the stark beauty of Tippett\u2019s own text and score seemed even more appropriate and intensely moving. There was one, poignant, difference on this occasion. As we entered the hall we were given the score for the chorus of Deep River<\/em> and Steal Away<\/em>. Before the performance started, conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla explained that Tippett had wanted the spirituals to act like the chorales had done for Bach \u2013 a link between the performers and the audience. Consequently we were being invited to join in with these. This proved to be a very moving experience, particularly as Deep River<\/em> ends the work, and so everyone in the hall was involved in the final bars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If this added to the impact of the performance there was certainly nothing amiss with the music-making. The CBSO Chorus were in thrilling form, finding the balance between emotional weight and clean muscular lines, plus the clarity of text which the acoustic in the hall allows.<\/p>\n

The soloists were well matched with Joshua Stewart as impassioned and heroically voiced tenor lead. Brindley Sherratt brought warmth and gravity to the bass part, while Talise Trevigne provided the high-soaring lines of the soprano writing with great beauty. Perhaps the most humane writing is for the mezzo-soprano and here Felicity Palmer was at her subtle best, enfolding us with the comfort of her presence.<\/p>\n

Though the playing of the CBSO for the Tippett was as committed as we have come to expect, they had already demonstrated this in their own right in Britten\u2019s Sinfonia da Requiem <\/em>which opened the evening. Not an easy work, it made a convincing partner to the oratorio. The yearning intensity of the Lacrymosa<\/em> giving way to the onslaught of the Dies irae, <\/em>not a sudden plunge into hell so much as an endless, almost eternal, bombardment of pain. If the final Requiem aeternam <\/em>is more reflective it is none the less stark and demanding. There was no need to point out that both composers were pacifist, the music spoke for itself.<\/p>\n

Throughout, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla galvanised her forces with a mixture of graceful fluency and absolute accuracy, which communicates itself as much to those of us in the audience as, surely, to the performers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBSO: anniversary season 2019-20 Birmingham Symphony Hall, Thursday 26th September 2019 It seemed fitting, with the present political convulsions across the world, that the CBSO should choose Tippett\u2019s deeply felt masterpiece as the major choral work to open two years … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5556"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5560,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5556\/revisions\/5560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}