With Brahms at the Westminster Cathedral

by Gwen Herat at Westminster, London

I had a spiritual day with Brahms no matter November being a dreary month with shorter days and a little dose of sun that teases people in temperament. One moment you hug your cloak closer to the body and the next, you wish to tear it off as the weather does a quick double-over.

Johannes Brahm

For once, I took my seat ten minutes earlier and looking around the church my eyes caught the wooded chapel with pews and font also in carved wood. The chapel was on the right, parallel to the long aisle. I could not resist the call within. So, I picked two stub-candles, lit and said a short prayer.

Word of God

Then something gripped my senses and there arose in my mind someone I revere and in whom I had found the word of God and who inspires me throughout.

If there is a better word to describe love that is not found in the dictionary, then and there I found it in him. Lost in my prayers and jerked very appropriately to the first chord of Brahm's OPUS 80 of the Academic Festival Overture. In a second, I had stumbled over to my seat.

All in the program was choral with the parliament Choir and Saint Michael's Singers under the baton of Simon Over. I must confess I am not a choral person, but more towards symphonic classics, and shiver when a soprano opens out and seldom goes to the opera.

But today it was different; the choral singing was wondrous, soft and melodic; got drawn to it.

Honorary degree

The Academic Festival Overture – Opus 80 was written in 1880 to celebrate him. He was honoured with an honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the University of Bremen. Its music is based on student songs towards acknowledgment of the academic life and the score ends with a powerful version of Gaudeamus Igitur. It was premiered in the university in 1881 and Brahm himself conducted it.

He placed emphasis on the festival rather than the academic. It is a very boisterous score for students to sing. It is a lively composition that brings out the exuberance of youth. It was sung by the performers in the choir and arranged by Sir Malcolm Sergent. Brilliantly sung with feeling, passion and lyricism, the singers captured the imagination of the vast audience that had packed into the Westminster Cathedral. (Not the Westminster Abbey)

Ein Deutsches Requiem Opus 45 and lightly acknowledged as German Requiem Op. 45 was written in 1857-68 and Brahms set a text from a Lutheran Bible in place of the more commonly used liturgical Latin. (God knows why he did it.) This was his first major success. The score contained a full volume of tenderness and sorrow followed by a tribute of sorrow that caused him to dedicate it to his mother who died in 1865.

Following the death of his close friend and mentor, Robert Schumann, Brahms had been toying with the idea of composing a Requiem for a number of years.

Both these deaths spurred him to serious work and he was only 33 when he completed the Requiem and premiered it on Good Friday at the Bremen Cathedral, without the fifth Movement. Despite its unorthodox text, the German Requiem was immediately recognised as a masterpiece.

Holy Bible

The German Requiem contains seven movements all relating to the Holy Bible from which Brahms has drawn his inspiration to sail through life; from birth to death. The concept is so beautiful that at certain points, the lyrics overpower the score which I am sure what Brahms intended: unless you are very high in musical knowledge it might confuse the arrangement of the seven movements.

The Westminster Cathedral where the Festival Overture was performed.

The German Requiem was a great hit with London's Southbank; Queen Elizabeth Hall in association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The Sixth Movement is the longest of the requiems and drawn from Hebrews 13, XIV while the last Seventh Movement comes out as a spectacular glorious end with the high-profile soprano singing the ethereal passion of the Lord;

‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth...
Sayeth the spirit that they rest from other labours,
And that their works follow after them’

Soprano Ilona Domnich's rendering filled the whole cathedral, touching the hundreds and more in every nook and corner in the church, chapel and high roof. It was simply marvellous as conductor, Simon Over guided her through to perfection. It was not garish, loud or blustering. He voice control was magnificent and one could hear a pin drop; such was the audience' reaction, supported by the Parliament Choir and Saint Michael's Choir. Together, they made the evening memorable, stunning and awe-inspiring.

Parliament Choir

Truly a dedicated lot which is registered as a charity and open to both Houses at Westminster with interest in choral music. The Parliament Choir is registered as an All-Party parliamentary Group. It was founded in 2000 and made of those working in the Palace of Westminster, Peers, MPs and others. They perform in the Banqueting House, The Chapel of the Royal Navy College and the Royal Albert Hall.

Notable history of the Choir's history was in 2003 at the Coronation Jubilee Concert at the Westminster Abbey in the presence of Prince of Wales and at another public concert in Westminster Hall in 2010 with a performance of Mozart's Requiem. The Parliament Choir is made of: 49 Sopranos, 42 Altos, 13 Tenors, 31 Basses and among them are four MPs and three baroness, Jane Ellision – MP Soprano, Cheryl Gillan – MP Soprano, Carolin Spelman – MP Alto, Bernard Jenkin MP Bass, Baroness Corston – Soprano, Baroness Hollis of Heigham – Alto, Baroness Jolly – Alto.

Brahm's Seven Movements: 1st – Mathew V, IV, 2nd – Peter 1, XXIV, 3rd – Pslam 39, V, 4th – Psalm 84, II, 5th - John, XXII, 6th – Hebrews 13, XIV, 7th – Revelations 14, XIII.

Saint Michael's singers was created after the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1963. The present conductor, Paul Leddington Wright maintains traditional value of British choral music and the singers enjoy close collaboration with the English Symphonic Orchestra and perform at Coventry and Westminster Cathedrals and also with the Southbank Sinfonia. They make regular and frequent broadcasts and contribute to the BBC programs.

They also appeared at the Coventry Cathedral to mark its 50th anniversary. Next year the Singers are scheduled to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a series of concerts in Coventry Cathedral that will include performance of Bach's St. John Passion on Good Friday and Puccini's Messiah Di Gloria at their own jubilee concert on July 6.

With 50 years behind them, they are more professional in handling the Master's than the Parliament Choir and have made several CDs that have been acclaimed both in Britain and the United States. The Singers have 20 Sopranos, 24 Altos, 9 Tenors and 15 Basses.

Simon Over conducts the Parliament Choir while Paul Leddington, the St. Michael's Singers, at times appearing together in a single concert. They are highly qualified and have started their career at a very young age.

Robert studied at the University of Sheffield and the Guildhall School of Music while Simon was at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, the Royal Academy of Music and Oxford University. They are highly rated conductors in the UK and always in great demand not only for choral works, but symphonic as well.