London International A Cappella Choral Competition

[jean]

This is taking place at the end of this month:

http://liaccc.org.uk/whats-on

David Allinson, director of the Renaissance Singers, writes:

Each group is required to include in its programme one piece of Renaissance polyphony (not a stretch for us, obviously… the challenge was whittling away so many favourite pieces in order to stay inside the 20-minute limit!), plus one piece by Arvo Pärt. I love Pärt's music: he writes in an elemental, instantly recognisable style that combines a spiritual, ascetic sensibility with a modal harmonic vocabulary that seems to reach back to the very roots of music.

While the notion of music ‘as competition’ can be slightly queasy, our spirit in approaching this competition is very much one of enthusiastic sharing — bringing to the stage our hard work, expertise and love of the music we sing, of course — but also, mindful of the turbulent, uncertain times in which we live, of exchanging vocal artistry and relishing the fellowship and joy of singing, as we appear alongside choirs from from eleven countries: there are entrants from Norway to the Philippines....

[ardcarp]

Thanks Jean. Will any of this be broadcast?

[jean]

I don't know, but it doesn't look like it.

[DracoM]

I've emailed the comp to see if there is any clarification on broadcasting.
Certainly, as jean says, there is nothing on their site that would suggest it is being covered.

[jean]

It wasn't.

A great pity, as the standard was very high indeed. I happened to be in London for the week, and heard it all.

The winner was the Danish choir, and the Norwegians came second. Sadly, the only youth chir (from the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School) withdrew, as their school was closed because of the Grenfell Tower fire and they couldn't rehearse.

It did seem odd that there were no entries from the Baltic states, especially in light of of the focus on the music of Arvo Pärt. Apparently there was a big choral festival in Estonia just this weekend.

I'll say more about it, if anyone's interested.

[DracoM]

Please do, jean!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Please do, jean!

[jean]

I'm not sure how many editions of this competition there have been; the last was in 2015. It's the brainchild of Peter Phillips, who ordained that each choir should include one piece of Renaissance polyphony and one by the featured composer. In 2015 that was Gabriel Jackson, who also judged performances of his own work, as Arvo Pärt this time did not - he was present, and seemed to be enjoying the performances, and the applause he got! I wonder if he chose not to be a judge?

Only 16 choirs entered this year, which meant they could be weeded out over four days. I don't know how they would organise it if they had more. The standard was very high overall, but Peter Phillips was not convinced that they could all manage the required Renaissance polyphony - after one heat he reprimanded the choirs for not having properly cut their teeth on Palestrina. That evening the Copenhagen Chamber Choir had given a performance of Taverner's Leroy Kyrie so strange as to be unrecognisable (I thought it might be the result of some cutting-edge research, but the man next to me thought they just didn't know what they were doing and PP apparently agreed. It didn't stop them winning the final, though.)

But the strangest entrant this respect was the Octet Cantabile from India who despite the quality of their voices, and their mastery of barbershop style, and the women's beautiful gold-edged black saris, were so out of tune in the Padilla they chose for their Renaissance piece that it was painful to listen to. I wondered if a musical tradition involving microtonal intervals meant that they really couldn't hear what it was supposed to sound like! It set me reflecting on the fact that all the other countries represented had a Western Renaissance/Baroque polyphonic tradition of their own - though some (as PP also lamented) did not sieze the opportunity to sing pieces from their own lesser-known (to us) Renaissance repertoire.

I found this taster for the final. As the extracts here are from the heats, they don't predict the final results very well. The 'wild card' the judges decided to add was the Polish choir, which I did not think was wild enough - I would have chosen the Chileans.

.

[DracoM]

Excellent briefing, jean.
MANY thanks.

[Gabriel Jackson]

I'm not sure how many editions of this competition there have been; the last was in 2015. It's the brainchild of Peter Phillips, who ordained that each choir should include one piece of Renaissance polyphony and one by the featured composer. In 2015 that was [url=http://gabrieljackson.london/uncategorized/london-international-a-cappella-choir-competition/]Gabriel Jackson, who also judged performances of his own work,

There have been two previous competitions, John Tavener being featured composer at the first one. They were also in the Autumn, the competition having been moved to early summer for this third one. When I was involved in the competition there were quite a bit fewer than 16 choirs so it's good that it's grown/is growing. (There was also only one foreign group - from the Republic of Ireland - on that occasion.)

[jean]

I hadn't been able to find out much about previous competitions, but your mention of Tavener led me to this.

Interesting that none of the countries mentioned in that link as competing in 2014 - Ireland, the USA, Italy and Estonia - were represented this year.

.

[jean]

And then I found the programme for 2015.

The format was much the same this time, with the addition of a whole concert devoted to Pärt's music by the winners in 2015.

It was a pity that the lunchtime recitals I went to weren't well attended, except for the one in St James Piccadilly - perhaps because everyone knew where that was, while St Gabriel Pimlico presented more of a challenge. And sometimes there were two or three taking place simultaneously.