Messa da Requiem 2021Dundee Choral Union
Read more about the opera Messa da Requiem
Dundee Choral Union have been in the habit of performing Verdi's choral masterpiece as first choice for a memorable event, such as the Millennium or a landmark in the choir's long history. On this occasion advantage was taken of the extended closure, for refurbishment, of the Younger Hall in St Andrews. Since the St Andrews Chorus for the time being were without a suitable home, they joined forces with the Dundee choir. This was therefore to be a splendid event, with conductor Derek Clark as usual bringing his orchestra from Scottish Opera. They play Verdi often, but rarely get a chance to perform this particular masterpiece of the 'semi-operatic' repertoire.
The soloists were also much anticipated. The tenor, Elgan Llýr Thomas, has recently made a particularly strong impression with Scottish Opera, while the ladies have also shown that their voices have developed to the point where the Caird Hall acoustic should have suited them very nicely indeed. Jonathan May was the one new soloist not originally expected. He used to sing frequently with Scottish Opera earlier in his career, and now teaches in St Andrews.
The most obvious effect of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic was the layout of the forces in the wide open space of the Caird Hall. The traditional choirstalls were occupied just by the men. Wide social spacing was employed, and the choirstalls, by normal standards, looked relatively empty, so well-spaced were the tenors and basses. The flat stage section was occupied by ladies, both sopranos and altos, again well-spaced. The four soloists were placed much as they usually would be - at the front of the stage.
However the orchestra lay before them. The front area of stalls had been removed and the orchestra filled it - again quite well spaced. The jury boxes to left and right, slightly above stalls level, looking out over the orchestra, were filled by more soprano and alto choristers - not socially spaced, and not projecting ideally out towards the audience. The offstage trumpets required for parts of the Dies Irae were placed in the balconies, north and south, above those choristers. It was clearly a challenge for conductor Derek Clark to co-ordinate things. There was never a problem with ensemble and many of the effects, especially in the Dies Irae movement, were quite thrilling. The only issue came occasionally with elements of balance, with the jury box choirs not projecting out to the body of the hall.
The solo quartet was a bit mixed in its effect. Most consistent was the tenor. He launched the solo element of the Kyrie Eleison beautifully, and his Ingemisco and Hostias were superb, a sweet, light voice sounding beautiful in the wide space. Mezzo Katie Grosset's voice seems to have developed into what sounds like a genuine Verdian mezzo, now ready to tackle some of the most challenging of the operatic roles for her type of voice. She produced some lovely sounds.
Jonathan May was the one soloist not originally booked last year. He was billed as a bass-baritone, and sang well within those limits. However some elements of his part, including the Mors Stupebit sequence, really do require a full-toned bass. The singer originally booked, Dingle Yandell, would have been ideal, but was spending the autumn as a soloist on the Glyndebourne Tour, so not available. Soprano Catriona Clark was not in her best voice. Her tone was slightly edgy in some of her solo work, much better when joining with her colleagues. Her launching of the final Libera Me movement was surprisingly tentative.
The combining of two otherwise unfamiliar choirs, and other effects of the Covid pandemic - the basic fact that so long had passed since they had met - inevitably meant there would be a few rough edges. The fundamental point to be observed was that this was an important event, received with joy by an audience so long deprived of major choral evenings of this kind.
Effect of the Coronavirus
This performance was originally scheduled for the spring of 2020. Along with all other live entertainments at the time, it had to be postponed.
