Cambridge Voices Easter Concerts
HOLY SATURDAY / EASTER EVE March 26 at 3.00-5.00pm EASTER DAY March 27 3.00pm
(finishing at 4.00pm). The traditional Easter Day concert of piano music by
J.S. Bach, given by Ian de Massini. St Cyriac & St Julitta's Church,
Swaffham Prior
Easter Eve
THREE years ago, Cambridge Voices and Prime Brass brought to life seven of the proposed twenty-one movements of De Massini's setting of Jesus's last words from the cross, here in St Cyriac's, Swaffham Prior; the remaining part of that concert being devoted to the performance of well-known anthems and motets for Holy Week.
Several of these movements have since proven very popular and have even been re-worked, in one way or other, so that more performances could be given at other times of the year. Indeed, the music depicting the centurion's observation of Christ's torment and acknowledgement of his divinity was later transformed into a setting of The Coventry Carol, first performed in The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and recorded on the choir's latest album. What, at first, seems a bizarre connection, that between a Christmas Carol and the drama of Holy Week, is revealed in the carol's focus upon the Slaughtering of the Innocents under King Herod, surely a precursor to the Christ's own suffering upon the Cross.
Another movement that has subsequently developed a life of its own is the setting of the words "Behold, thy mother". Composed for two separate choirs, its romantic harmonies and close interplay between the two forces clearly evoke the spirits of Stanford and Stainer.
The finale of De Massini's "Seven Last Words" is a vast passacaglia,with its long, sinuous, repeating theme imbuing each bar with a high degree of pathos and harmonic development. This great funeral-procession is to be used for the closing to the composer's own setting of the passion narrative (entitled "PASSION") later this year, a work first heard by a capacity audience in Ely Cathedral's glorious Lady Chapel last summer.
Now all the movements have been completed. (Actually, that's not quite true: to date, I've finished music for two-thirds of it, having absent-mindedly left seven other movements, sketched on scraps of paper, on the bus home some time over Christmas!) Not only will all seven "Last Words" be set to music for the full ensemble but the composer also includes musical and discursive commentary upon these utterings, setting them, more piquantly, for solo voice and/or solo instrument.
Admission is by programme at the door: £6 (children are welcome, free of charge).
Easter Day
What better way to reflect upon the glories of Easter (and Sunday lunch) than to listen to the music of Bach? Come and hear Bach's famous Italian Concerto, the third English Suite in G minor, the second Partita in C minor and a selection of contrasting preludes and fugues from Book 1 of the Well-tempered Clavier resounding around St Cyriac's Church , accompanied by the occasional singing of doves, pigeons and other feathered fowl! The combination of sound and light in this glorious building, with its clear glass looking on to the trees around, makes this place one of the great jewels of our country, and it is a privilege to have the opportunity to perform such wondrous music in such an uplifting ambience.
Admission to this concert is free: you are invited to give towards a retiring collection, in aid of the future improvement of this church's facilities.