Cathedral Bruckner by Candlelight

This concert caught me by surprise. I had an expectation of a relaxed late evening but I had failed to pick up the signals. This concert was at 21.00 rather than the 22.00 like the rest of the series, there were candles lit but the rest of the lighting was also on. The programme was not designed to lull me towards a quiet evening of rest.The Cathedral choir processed in to plainsong with the same text, Pange lingua, used for the first piece of Bruckner of the evening. This was followed by a Palestrina Agnus Dei. The programme explained that this jumping around was intended to show the various influences on Bruckner’s work. During the Palestrina the choir settled, the Dona Nobis section was excellent.Two further Bruckner pieces followed and were appropriately angular. For another contrast this was followed by Brahms Geistliches Lied. This had been included to show how works that were written at the same time as Bruckner differed in style. It was better suited to the tone of the choir as the overall sound appeared more balanced. Throughout the evening the louder sections of pieces did not work quite as well, the tonal differences within choir did not blend, especially the altos. The choir rested for a Brahms Organ prelude by Nicholas Wearne. The organ itself may be in need of some TLC as it emitted a background hum that made me wonder if it was raining outside. The warm calm at the close of this piece hung over the Cathedral only to be broken by the startling opening of Bruckner’s Ecce sacerdos. The rest of the programme was all Bruckner. The Locus Iste was well produced with the basses making full use of the resonant acoustic of the venue. The tenor solo of the Tota pulchra worked well and blended well with the tone of the choir. All was unobtrusively but firmly led throughout by the Director of Music, Duncan Ferguson. This was not a restful evening, but enjoyable nevertheless.