Like everyone who is broadly sane, I've noticed that some things are going pretty badly in this country. But that makes it all the more important to identify the things that are going well. In my own, Eeyore-ish way, I try to do that from time to time, whether it's good writing for children or goodish writing for adults (but not, I think, writing for people who fall in the middle). So here's another one - and it's seasonal: choral music.
I went to Temple Church a couple of weeks ago for the last concert in their Winter Festival. It was the choir of Merton College, Oxford, together with François Cloete on the organ. Here's the programme.
A couple of things to note.
First, it was lovely - simply a very pleasant auditory experience. The performance of the Panufnik Sleep, little Jesus, sleep was the best I've heard: I find that recordings tend to emphasise the soloist's voice too much and that can jar against the sound of the choir, whereas the Merton choir did it with better balance. Chacun a son goût, of course, but I'm not alone in thinking that the choir is pretty good. The most challenging piece at Temple Church was probably the Dupré one, on the organ, which to English ears sounded like virtuoso variations on a slightly wrong version of "Now the Green Blade Riseth", but even that was really quite fun.
Second, did you notice how many of those composers are modern and British? Have another look at the list and perhaps Google a name if you don't recognise it. Sir James Macmillan, Dame Judith Weir and Roxana Panufnik are all still with us, while Jonathan Harvey died not that long ago (2012) and John Joubert even more recently (2019). And yet, it was all very lovely music.
That in itself is very encouraging. But there's more! Cheryl Frances-Hoad (with whom Merton College Choir has also been associated) is also with us and if you don't take to her music then perhaps you will enjoy that of Rebecca Dale. You might well recall that there was plenty of new music composed for the Coronation too, for example Paul Mealor's Coronation Kyrie sung by Sir Bryn Terfel (in Welsh). And those are just the examples that come to my mind - there are bound to be even more.
In short, the modern age has produced a good list of composers - within the UK - who can write very appealing music. That is really very good news.
It's also instructive to look at the history of Merton College Choir. The college itself is a notably ancient one, but its choir is not and was founded only in 2008. It's also distinctive in another way: girl choristers. As their website puts it, "In 2016 Merton College became the first College in Oxford University to admit girls into its Choral Foundation ... 24 girl choristers ... specialist musical training from the College’s professional musicians, they sing Choral Vespers ... and Choral Evensong .... In addition, the choristers undertake a number of concerts and other activities each year, including performing in the Passiontide at Merton festival and touring over the summer." In my view, that's a rather charming way of expanding and building on the wonderful choral traditions of the country as a whole and of our oldest universities in particular: rather than stopping anyone training boy choristers or altering the sound of established choirs, Merton decided to do its own thing. No woke nonsense - no virtue signalling - just a serious expansion of the options open to girls and women to participate in one of this country's best features.
So there you are. You may think that this is the bleak midwinter, but remember that there are always reasons for hope. Which neatly brings us back to Christmas. Best wishes of the season to all my hopeful readers!
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