The soaring vaults of St George’s cathedral in Lambeth were certainly needed last Wednesday to contain the avalanche of sound which is Olivier Messiaen’s rarely performed Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, his commemoration of the dead of two world wars. Not surprisingly rarely performed as the work calls for 18 woodwinds, 16 brass, 3 sets of cowbells, tubular bells, 6 gongs and 3 tamtams. Not a line up that you meet everyday so congratulations to Britten Sinfonia, Sinfonia Smith Square and conductor/oboist Nicholas Daniel for pulling it together.
The abiding memory of the piece has to be the extraordinary tsunami of gongs and bells with which Messiaen batters on the gates of St Peter for his dead. But there are many beautiful and much gentler passages in the 30 minute piece: inspired by texts from the psalms and the later gospels, echoes of his Quatour pour le fin du temps, the song of the Amazonian Uirapuru bird ‘that one hears, apparently on one’s deathbed’ and that of the Calandra lark, a symbol of heavenly joy. If you ever get a chance to hear it – take it.
Leading up to Et Exspecto, and making full use of all those woodwinds and brass instruments, was Messiaen’s delightful, and very different, Vocalise-etude, Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments and his mass, and the Choir of Merton College Oxford with choral pieces by Poulenc and Duruflé.
So, ongoing…… In May – and then in June…..
In May, as you know, we have:
Sunday 18th May – 6.30pm – Hampstead Lane
Madeleine Mitchell and the London Chamber Ensemble. More details and to book go here.
Sunday 25th May – 12 noon – Highgate Society
William Jack the Australian jazz cellist who played at our Rush House concert last November. £15 to include a glass of Bucks Fizz – book here.
But then in June….
Thursday June 12th – Hampstead Lane
The Return of Flanders and Swann!
After their sell out visit last summer we have persuaded Michael Mates and William Godfree to return to reprise some of their favourite songs. For more details and to book, go here.
Sunday June 22nd – Hampstead Lane
We will be opening the garden for the National Gardens Scheme – from midday to 6pm.
Tea (with home made cake) will be served on the patios – and visitors will be entertained by two guitarists and a saxophone quartet!! Declan Hickey whose playing many of you will have enjoyed at both our evening and Rush Hour concerts, James McClusky, a ‘new’ guitarist – and the Secret Life Saxophone Quartet!!
And you will not just see the garden that many of you will already know but, behind the garage, we have been developing a learning garden for SEND children. Only started this year, raised beds are already bursting with beetroot, carrots, radishes, beans, corn, tomatoes, leaves and strawberries. Gooseberry and recurrant bushes grow down one side, raspberry canes and rhubarb down the other. The pond and the pergola are on the way….
Join us on June 22nd. You can book in advance here – or just drop by between midday and 6pm.
For future happenings in at Hampstead Lane and elsewhere – see our Upcoming Events page.
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