Just as I have spent long enough in France that I am on the verge of declaring it to be the greatest country on earth, along comes this anniversary which suggests otherwise:
Her Majesty has kept her vows. God Save the Queen, and Long may she Reign!
What a treat I had yesterday evening! Who should deign to descend upon Paris but the inimitable, insurpassable, incandescent King's Singers (whom I might have mentioned before)? And who should see fit to conjure up two tickets to see them at the Salle Gaveaubut my friend Edward, who teaches lycéens in Reims, who blogs here and the excess of whose generosity defies comprehension?
Five King's Singers at the Salle Gaveau
The King's Singers were founded in 1968 by six choral scholars of King's College, Cambridge. From the beginning they made sure of great breadth in their repertoire, from all ages, nations and movements, and also of an astonishing sound. Six men sing with the richness of an orchestra and the togetherness of a single voice!
The members of the King's Singers have changed over the decades (none of the founders remain), but the composition, the superlative musicianship and the jokes remain the same. The present singers are:
The King's Singers take a bow
David Hurley (countertenor).
Timothy Wayne-Wright (countertenor).
Paul Phoenix (tenor).
Christopher Bruerton (baritone).
Christopher Gabbitas (baritone).
Jonathan Howard (buttery biscuit bass).
We made our roundabout way to the 8e arrondissement and arrived in time to digest the news that David Hurley, being ill (though recovering), was not able to perform. The remaining five presented a much-changed programme, which took us from various arrangements of the Lord's Prayer (including, gloriously, Duruflé's (not sung here by KS)), to a panorama of Baltic music, to lively Spanish Renaissance songs. They introduced all their music in French, and Paul Phoenix's heroic and fearless efforts reminded me how this business of speaking a foreign language ought to be done!
After the interval came lighter and more modern music ('un oeuvre résolument de saison'). For example (albeit now with some members now replaced):
and
.
Christopher Gabbitas
Christopher Bruerton
As if being the best a cappella group known to mankind were not enough, the King's Singers always like to meet their audience after the concert. We managed to speak to and obtain the autographs of four of the five (Timothy Wayne-Wright fled in terror). Christopher Bruerton recommended a restaurant which it will be my solemn duty to try out! And then an entire choir which had come to hear the concert burst into song in the foyer.
How uplifting it was to hear fine musicians, who are also content to be decent fellows, in effortlessly civilised France, and in the company of a good and generous friend and (needless to say) fellow fan!
Christophers Bruerton and Gabbitas, Jonathan Howard and Paul Phoenix woz 'ere.
P.S. It is worth mentioning that, when I published the post below, I was completely oblivious to what was in the pipe-line...
...to all who have the misfortune to read this blog! Here is a nice mixture of the best of Britain and the best of France: the French carol Noël nouvelet, sung by the inestimable King's Singers, in the Round Church at Cambridge.
It is the eve of winter (it was when I began to prepare this post), the air is no longer empty but heavy with chill, and everything is hueless but the trees :
rue Monge
Musée Carnavalet, rue de Sévigné
More impressive than the colours of the sky are the colours of heaven. "Les couleurs du ciel" is an exhibition, presented by the marvellous Musée Carnavalet, (Madame de Sévigné's old house) of paintings made for Parisian churches in the seventeenth century. In the first half of the century, the expansion of Paris, the arrival in its outskirts of numerous religious orders, the piety of Louis XIII and particularly the influence of the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation yielded a great movement for the expansion or renewal of existing churches and for new ecclesiastical construction. The new churches needed new ornaments and paintings, of course, and artists newly returned from Italy began a great revival in French religious art. Although much of the construction and decoration had completed before too long into Louis XIV's reign (1643-1715), he did not neglect the construction of two enormous new Parisian churches (Val-de-Grâce and les Invalides), the designs of whose enormous dome frescoes were also included in the exhibition. There was also at this time a tradition of commissioning a new altar-piece every May for Notre-Dame de Paris; these were called mays and began the careers of many young artists. My favourite painting there was L'adoration des mages (The Adoration of the Magi) by Claude Vignon, who incidentally had thirty-four children by his two wives. From afar, the painting glitters, and at a close inspection (there was no glass and only a small barrier - much gratitude for the trust placed in the visitors) it is possible to see how brave Vignon was, applying slabs of paint to the canvas. Reproductions of the picture do not seem to be on the Internet, sadly, but the work itself is a marvel to behold.
Concert d'orgue à l'église de Meudon
That evening an organ concert was held in the church of Saint Martin in Meudon. The parish's organist collaborated with her counterpart from Meudon's Polish twin town to show off the instrument, which is soon to undergo further renovation by the council. The organists performed a grand tour of the centuries, with a particular emphasis on the music of Marcel Dupré, who lived and died in Meudon. I particularly enjoyed this little meditation on the plainsong melody of Te lucis ante terminum . A wonderful French sound- as French as the eagerness to commemorate local personages. Now that is the way to spend a winter evening!
One of the many things which make me miss Cambridge sometimes:
The glorious Collegium Regale Te Deumand Jubilate (or the Morning Canticles) by Herbert Howells - he of the Hymnus Paradisi from whose Proms performance I am still reeling - will be sung at Matins in their namesake King's College Chapel at 10.30 a.m. this Sunday, the 21st. They will sound just as magnificent as the above. I will be sorry not to be there, but perhaps I have enough blessings! If you do not have time for the whole video, make some at least for the almighty finale of the Te Deum (O LORD, IN THEE HAVE I TRUSTED: LET ME NEVER BE CONFOUNDED ! ! ! ! !) - from 7 minutes and 20 seconds onwards, and make sure to fasten everything around you securely to the ground.
As if this were not treat enough for the congregation, the Organ Postlude will be Crown Imperialby William Walton.
