Proms at … Holy Sepulchre London - 17.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

15:00 Saturday 17 August 2019
Holy Sepulchre London

William Walton: Where does the uttered music go?
Benjamin Britten: Sacred and Profane
John Ireland: The Holy Boy
Thea Musgrave: Rorate coeli
Elizabeth Maconchy: Three Donne Songs – No. 1: A Hymn to God the Father
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Valiant-for-truth
Judith Weir: Missa del Cid
Joanna Lee: At this man’s hand (BBC commission: world première)

BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin conductor


The BBC Singers and Chief Conductor Sofi Jeannin take the Proms to the ‘Musicians’ Church’, Holy Sepulchre London (aka St Sepulchure-without-Newgate), where Proms founder-conductor Henry Wood first learnt the organ and was later laid to rest.
This varied conspectus of 20th-century English choral music opens with the setting of lines by the then Poet Laureate, John Masefield, that Walton composed for the unveiling of the church’s Henry Wood memorial window in 1946, and is brought up to date with a new commission by Joanna Lee, At this man’s hand, setting the verse by Masefield that is inscribed on the window itself.

[bluestateprommer]

For those looking for an all-British Prom this summer, this is the one for you. The BBC Singers did a generally good job, one overtly squally passage from, I think, a solo female singer aside. One late addition to the program was Twilight by Helena Paish, a winner in this year's Upper Junior Category in the Proms Inspire Competition for young composers, in its world premiere, after the RVW and before the Judith Weir. Unfortunately, HP took ill and was unable to attend this concert, per brief comments from Ian Skelly (who also gets positive points for his presentation style, admittedly from the stage and not behind a presenter's box, except at the very end). Given that HP is 15 or 16, her work is OK, not earth-shattering, but again, she's a teenager. Joanna Lee's new commission was likewise OK. I probably should give those two works, at least, another listen.