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Standing up and marching with the banners

May 24 2004

By Thomas Hall, The Journal

 

Durham Choral Society and Orchestra, at Durham Cathedral - One standing ovation in a classical concert is a rarity, two for the same composer's work is, in my time at least, an unprecedented event.

But Durham-born composer Will Todd's appearances at Durham Cathedral always go down well - this latest full house following last month's for the North-East premiere of his Mass in Blue.

It was the Trumpet Concerto, written in 2000, that drew the first ovation - as much for soloist Alastair Long's sustained virtuosity as Todd's ingenuity in concealing the hymn tune Abide with Me.

Quirky neo-classical themes spill over into post-modernist Hollywood-style swooning opulence before the emergence of the hymn tune in full at the end generates a tremendous sense of release.

The third movement, Soliloquy, is where Long enjoyed the Cathedral's four second echo most - the pauses beautifully timed. But long in length, too, its convolutions, although superbly done, seemed to indulge the soloist beyond the audience's sympathies.

Not so Todd's latest premiere, Gala and Gloria, commissioned by Durham Choral Society. Here, he speaks in a more familiar voice; of tales and events that shaped the region's culture.

There have been the oratorio St Cuthbert, The Burning Road, commemorating the Jarrow Crusade and the opera The Blackened Man. This time it's the Durham Miner's Gala, a century-old tradition of the county's mine worker's brass bands marching under their NUM lodge banners.

It is perhaps Todd's best work so far. His trademark ominously rumbling orchestrations pressing close upon the choir, giving way to radiant light for rhapsodic vocal solos - although Beth Halliday, Alison Kettlewell and Graeme Danby were left working far harder than in the more sympathetically scored Haydn's Nelson Mass. But perhaps most impressive, and moving, was the uniformed Riverside Band marching proudly under its banner along the Cathedral's length.

 

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