Riff Raff - Giles Swayne Hymn to St Cecilia - Britten Confrontations in a Cathedral - Boydell Chichester Psalms - Bernstein Sing We Merrily - Campbell
The first performance of Brian Boydell's Confrontations in a Cathedral was in St Patrick's Cathedral during the 1986 Dublin International Organ Festival. It received its second performance last Friday, in the same venue, during a concert presented by the cathedral choir.
The composer saw this piece as symbolising a resolution of conflicts caused by entrenched belief. It was characteristic of Boydell that he should write a work designed so specifically for its surroundings, in a way which avoided the obvious implications of the idea.
The separation of the organ (David Leigh) from the percussion (Nicholas Bailey) and harp (Denise Kelly) is turned to advantage, and the discourse between them is subtle, scaled like chamber music, with oppositions resolved by coming together, rather than by coercion.
Confrontations seemed a much more impressive work on this occasion than it did 15 years ago. I wondered if that was partly because, in the meantime, some of what the composer called "a dream" has come true.
This was one of the best performances of the evening, along with the opening organ work, Giles Swayne's Riff Raff, an accomplished and lively use of materials based on rock and jazz, and extended through minimalist techniques.
John Dexter conducted the choral items with a good sense of pacing. The choir took a while to settle into the security needed for Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia, but got there eventually. However, this choral gem's impact, and that of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, was limited by matters more subtle than mere technique. The singing was wanting in character, in individuality.
The best choral performance was of Sidney Campbell's Sing We Merrily, an anthem for the Anglican cathedral liturgy, full of that English type of rugged counterpoint which needs vigorous singing - and that was what it got.