‘lamentatio’ - Saturday 24 march 2018
The Maesbury Singers joined forces with young star cellist, Joe Pritchard from Witham Friary, for a concert in All Saints Church, Castle Cary to raise funds for the repairs to the church roof.
Joe was a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2016 and joined the choir in performing John Tavener’s hauntingly beautiful piece Svyati, as well as the French composer, Maurice Duruflé’s popular and moving Requiem.
The music was primarily occupied with the subject of remembrance. Duruflé’s Requiem has justifiably become one of the most popular pieces in the choral repertoire. Dedicated to the memory of the composer’s father, the piece is based on ancient chant that forms the melodic themes. It is an intensely moving work for choir, organ, cello and soloists.
The Requiem was performed alongside popular English composer John Tavener’s wonderfully atmospheric piece, Svyati. Tavener, well-known for his Song for Athene which was performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, explored the spirituality of the Orthodox Church, and this piece is a setting of an ancient prayer. The choir sang passages of the prayer’s text that were interspersed with the virtuosic solo cello part that fully utilise the extremes of the instrument’s range.
The audience also heard Joe in the extraordinary solo work Lamentatio by Italian composer Giovanni Solima. The piece required the cellist to sing as well as play and combined moments of serenity with whirlwind passages and jazz-inflected rhythms.