Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra
Eye Bach Choir
English Arts Chorale
James Gilchrist (tenor)
Leslie Olive (conductor)
Fanfare for St Edmundsbury - Benjamin Britten
I was glad - Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
English Folk Song Suite - Vaughan Williams
Variations on an original theme, 'Enigma' Op 36 - Sir Edward Elgar
Into the Light - Paul Carr
Benjamin Britten’s Fanfare for St Edmundsbury, originally written for the spectacular 1959 Magna Carta Pageant, opens this concert celebrating 1000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund and the tenth anniversary of Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, and is part of the Festival of Suffolk. The theme of glorious celebration continues with Parry’s Coronation Anthem, I was glad.
Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year, originally wrote his jaunty English Folk Song Suite for military band. We hear it in the orchestral arrangement by Gordon Jacob, followed by the world première of Paul Carr’s Into the Light, commissioned to celebrate Abbey1000. This reveals both the mysticism and the intensity of words inspired by the Rule of St Benedict and suggested to the composer by Canon Matthew Vernon, Sub-Dean of our Cathedral. Choir and orchestra are joined by the distinguished tenor James Gilchrist for the world première.
After the interval, Elgar’s Enigma Variations returns us from the sparkling new to the delightfully familiar, with all the musical portraits of the composer’s friends including, of course, “Nimrod”, rightly one of the most unmistakeable, memorable, moving and profound musical utterances of any English composer. Or perhaps, come to think of it, any composer. Ever.
An evening of deep musical experiences that will leave you transfixed.
