Michael Bawtree introduced a concert without a overarching theme but of pieces which were his favourites. For the hundred or so members of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union there were works in five different languages. Most were accompanied by the Father Willis organ, and indeed we saw its console down the middle in the gap between two sides of the singers.
Pleasant as it was, I was not convinced that the Scottish premiere of James Macmillan’s setting in Latin of Psalm 46, not 45 as programmed, got us off to a strong start. Whereas Rachmaninov’s three movements in Russian and composed in 1915 from the All-Night Vigil were lovely - especially the ever repeating Alleluias.
The men stood aside to allow the ladies to sing in French Poulenc’s romantic plea to the Virgin.
In introducing three motets from Paul Mealor’s Now sleeps the crimson petal, the title of the concert, Michael Bawtree told us that the first had been a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge whilst at St Andrews University. She had asked for it for her Westminster Abbey wedding but the Dean and Chapter thought it not quite appropriate and so it became Urbi Caritas. We heard the original version and two others sung in English.
As a break for the singers we were to hear an organ solo. Three fantasies on hymn tunes from Kenneth Leighton’s opus 72. Michael Bawtree admitted that this was his first visit to St Stephen’s. His mistake was to highlight the Father Willis organ which, although revered and untouched from its original, yet again in a public performance played up for organist Morley Whitehead. The organist was applauded for coping with the old lady but it was a programming mistake.
Three extracts, written in 1915, from Walford Davies’ A short Requiem followed before Morley Whitehead was at Edinburgh Academy’s Steinway piano to accompany the men for Benjamin Britten’s 1943 Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. I picked up parts of the tale but wish I could have had it all. The concert finished in German and in style with Bach’s Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden ‘Praise the Lord, all ye heathen’.
Performance: Saturday 23 May 2015 at 7.30pm