No, not bass as in the bottom line of choral singing, but Bass as in the strait which separates Tasmania from Australia, or, as Tasmanians would say, the strait which separates Australia from Tasmania. Anne and I have just spent a couple of weeks there on holiday. It’s a beautiful place populated by warm, friendly people. And the idea of a holiday is that you leave all your everyday cares and concerns behind.
Which we did, in the main. The scenery is stunning, quite different from anything on the mainland. My favourites were the rich pastoral landscapes with a broad backdrop of craggy mountains, snow-capped for good effect. There are places in the wilderness where, were it flat, the end of the world would be just over the horizon. The West Coast Wilderness Railway passes through some of the most inhospitable landscape ever tackled by civil engineers. And Hobart is a delightful place, with both grand and lowly original sandstone buildings, thoughtfully restored and still in use, peppered between more modern constructions.
So how about the connections? The first was at Sunday morning service at Hobart Cathedral, complete with choir. The psalm of the day was sung – “I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help”. Of course, it was Psalm 121, which is the basis for The Protector in Stella Natalis. The music was not Karl Jenkins, but it was a chance to focus on the words and their profound meaning. So it was very interesting to sing the Jenkins version at rehearsal last night. Carlos was at his most lyrical, cajoling us into singing not just the notes, but even more so, the words. He asked us to look at the words of every piece before we sing them, to soak up their meaning, to enter into the spirit of both words and music, and to project those ideas to the audience. That is what makes for a good performance.
The second connection was a bit tenuous. It happened at the start of Holst’s Planets Suite, which the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra played brilliantly in the perfect acoustic of the Federation Hall. Mars, the Bringer of War, started with a strange beat, and I thought, “I have been here recently”, but I could not make out what was making the connection. Then it came to me – not two, three, four or six beats to a bar, not even five, but SEVEN! Just like Wintertide in Stella Natalis! Holst uses the rhythm to create the jarring effect of conflict and weaponry. Jenkins uses the same device to create a scene of jagged icicles and involuntarily chattering teeth. Yet another point where we have to project the notes and the words to make for a good performance.
Oh yes, the third connection. This is the exception as it does involve a bass singer. Anne and I were very privileged to have been given tickets to hear a concert by The Tallis Scholars in Newcastle on Tuesday evening. Think Allegri Miserere and Spem in Alium, and more besides. It was superb. Also in the audience were Jack and Sandra Christie. They are settled in their new environment and have joined the Newcastle University Choir. It seems much more disciplined than MWC, for example there being absolutely no chatter during rehearsals. Sandra commented that she misses the cameraderie of the back row of the MWC altos!. They send their best wishes to us all.