Saturday 9th September –
The Voice Trio – Patterns of Love
Highgate School Chapel
Voice Trio’s Patterns of Love is a programme of a cappella songs stretching from the 12th century to today, each one exploring the beauty, heartache and humour of love. They include compositions from contemporary British composers, commissioned by Voice, as well as the trio’s own arrangements of earlier pieces.
To book go here.
The concert will start at 7pm but we will be there from 6.30pm if you would like to join us in the quadrangle for a (free) glass of wine. There will be a short interval – with more wine!
Ticket cost – £20 to include the wine!
To see the full programme of songs see the booking page here – but to give you a taste:
Nineteenth century English folk songs.
The Water of Tyne is a Northumbrian folk song, an old kingdom whose area fell between England and Scotland. Here the river Tyne flows fast and wide through the countryside. In the song, two lovers are separated by the wide banks of the river. The text was first printed in John Bell’s Rhymes of the Northern Bards (1812), and the tune was first published 70 years later in Bruce and Stoke’s Northumbrian Minstrelsy.
O Waly, Waly tells a story of love that with time has grown old and ‘fades like the morning dew’. This arrangement uses the tune published by Cecil Sharp and Charles Marson in Folk Songs From Somerset (1906) created from an amalgamation of Elizabethan broadsheet lyrics and field recordings.
In I love my love poor Nancy is sent to Bedlam – Bethlem Royal Hospital which was notorious for the extreme treatment of mental illnesses – driven mad after her lover is sent away to sea. In this bitter-sweet tale, the lovers are reunited. This arrangement uses the same melody and text as set by Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934). Holst’s is a traditional melody believed to have been collected in Cornwall by the Scottish folk song collector, George Barnet Gardiner (1852 – 1910).
To the 21st century
Echo by Helen Chadwick sets a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) in a piece that was inspired by Voice’s unison sound. Voice collaborated with Chadwick through guided improvisation to form the harmonic passages that flow out of each verse.
O wonder, O how wondrous! is by Marcus Davidson. He writes: “From the outset, I firmly heard the voices of Emily, Victoria, and Clemmie combining together in big bold chords. I was always struck by the feeling I had when they sing together in this way that I was hearing more than just three voices (I always wondered who else might be singing!). I used this bright, positive sound to convey the sense of wonder as evinced by the words. Hildegard´s mystical verse talks about hidden forms and mysteries. I felt this demanded a simpler word setting so the listener has time to process the text´s many layers.” Davidson’s composition sets an English translation of Hildegard’s text from her psalm antiphon to St Disibod, O mirum admirandum.
To book for 9th September in the chapel go here.
Upcoming concerts
24th September – Hampstead Lane. Madeleine Mitchell and Richard Crabtree
Madeleine (violin) and Richard (viola) will be playing music by Boccherini, Bach, Bartok – and Judith Weir….
plus
Tracks from Violin Conversations, Madeleine’s new album of short pieces written for her by contemporary composers.
For more details and to buy tickets go here.
22nd October – Highgate Society Sunday Lunchtime concerts.
The Ladies of the Salons Accompanied by Matt Redman, Patricia Hammond sings parlour songs from the 1830s to the 1930s.
4th November – Hampstead Lane. Nathaniel Mander
The Baroque Spinet. More details to come very soon.
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