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Site Search: Use the search box to find an artiste, composer, title, or venue on this site |
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Listening position:
Relax with your choice(s) of beverage, in a place of your choosing, alone, or with company |
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I hope you will find this diversion sufficiently interesting to warrant a 2-minute hearing.
Basso profundo is a voice type that is even lower than the normal 'bass'. They are also called 'octavists' because they sing at least an octave below the normal bass part. Allegedly this became a Russian tradition due to the fact that some churches did not have an organ, so all these low notes had to be sung! There are even Russian choirs exclusively made up of such octavists. Aleksander Ort is a famous exponent of this art. Does he not sound just like the hugest organ pipe ever? I hope you will agree that it is an amazing sound. |
Russian Orthodox Church
Great Litany (2m48) performed by Aleksander Ort, oktavist / basso profundo |
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The Cantor's text:
Mirom, Ghospodu Pomolimsia, Peace, let us pray to the Lord, choir: Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy O Svishnem Mire i spasenii dush nashih, Ghospodu pomolimsia. For the Highest Peace and the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord. O Mire fsego mira, blagostoyanii sviatih, bozhiih tserkvey i soyedinenii fseh, Ghospodu pomolimsia. For the Peace of this world, the welfare of the saints, the churches of God and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord. O blagorastvorenii vozduhov, o izobilii plodov zemnih i vremeneh mirnih, Ghospodu pomolimsia. For the goodness of the air, for the abundance of the fruits of the earth and peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord. O plavayushchih, puteshestvuyushchih, neduguyushchih, strazdushchih, plenennih i o spasenii ih, Ghospodu Pomolimsia. For the salvation of travellers, for the sick, the suffering and those in captivity, let us pray to the Lord. Zastupi, spasi, pomiuy i sohrani nas, Bozhe, Tvoyeyu blagodatiyu. Spare, cleanse, and save us, O God, by Your grace. |
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Henry Purcell (c1659-1695) (4m20)
from Act 3 of the opera Dido and Aeneas Z626 (c1688) Dido: [Aria] Thy hand Belinda, darkness shades me [Ground, Aria & Ritornello] Dido's Lament When I am laid in earth performed by Christine Rice, mezzo-soprano, with the Academy of Ancient Music, Steven Devine, director (from the harpsichord) |
Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me, On thy bosom let me rest, More I would, but Death invades me; Death is now a welcome guest. When I am laid in earth, May my wrongs create No trouble in thy breast; Remember me, but ah! forget my fate. |
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Traditional (3m23)
collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1903 Bushes and Briars performed by a member of the Purcell Singers |
Through bushes and through briars I lately took my way; All for to hear the small birds sing and the lambs to skip and play. I overheard my own true love, her voice it was so clear; "Long time I have been waiting for the coming of my dear. Sometimes I am uneasy and troubled in my mind, Sometimes I think I'll go to my love and tell to him my mind. And if I should go to my love, my love he will say nay, If I show to him my boldness, he'll ne'er love me again." |
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RVW came across the melody of the Turtle Dove in Sussex in 1904. It is most often heard in this setting for solo baritone and mixed chorus, published in 1924. I found this version by the University of Exeter Chapel Choir, made in 2016, particularly moving. Traditional (3m09)
collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1924 The Turtle Dove performed by soloist Simon Clark and the Chapel Choir of the University of Exeter, director, Michael Graham |
The turtle dove
Fare you well, my dear, I must be gone, And leave you for a while; If I roam away I'll come back again, Though I roam ten thousand miles, my dear, Though I roam ten thousand miles. So fair thou art, my bonny lass, So deep in love am I; But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love, Till the stars fall from the sky, my dear, Till the stars fall from the sky. The sea will never run dry, my dear, Nor the rocks melt with the sun, But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love, Till all these things be done, my dear, Till all these things be done. O yonder doth sit that little turtle dove, He doth sit on yonder high tree, A-making a moan for the loss of his love, As I will do for thee, my dear, As I will do for thee. |
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During his shockingly short life, Schubert produced an astonishing number of works, from songs to symphonies, piano sonatas to chamber works.
For me, he represented, above all, the consummate song writer, forever immortalised in his two song cycles, Die Schone Mullerin (1823) and Winterreise (1827). I am including two of his songs today, though not from either of these Die Forelle The Trout Schubert wrote no fewer than five versions of this charming little song, and used the same tune in the Theme and Variations movement of his Trout Quintet, D667. It reflects the naturalist theme of the Romantic period as well as his own sense of playfulness. How lucky we are to have the incomparable Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore performing for us. |
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) (1m57)
Die Forelle The Trout for voice & piano D550 performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, and Gerald Moore, piano |
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In einem Bächlein helle,
Da schoß in froher Eil Die launische Forelle Vorüber, wie ein Pfeil: Ich stand an dem Gestade, Und sah' in süsser Ruh Des muntern Fischleins Bade Im klaren Bächlein zu. Ein Fischer mit der Ruthe Wol an dem Ufer stand, Und sah's mit kaltem Blute Wie sich das Fischlein wand. So lang dem Wasser Helle, So dacht' ich, nicht gebricht, So fängt er die Forelle Mit seiner Angel nicht. Doch endlich ward dem Diebe Die Zeit zu lang; er macht Das Bächlein tückisch trübe: Und eh' ich es gedacht, So zuckte seine Ruthe; Das Fischlein zappelt dran; Und ich, mit regem Blute, Sah die Betrogne an. Text: Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-1791) |
In a bright little brook
there shot in merry haste a capricious trout: past it shot like an arrow. I stood upon the shore and watched in sweet peace the sprightly little fish's bath in the clear little brook. A fisher with his rod stood at the water-side, and watched in cold blood as the little fish swam about. So long as the water's clarity is not lost, I thought, he'd be unable to catch the trout with his fishing rod. But finally the thief grew weary of waiting. He stirred up the brook and made it muddy, and before I realized it, his fishing rod was twitching: the fish was squirming there, and I, with raging blood, gazed on the betrayed fish. Translation: Emily Ezust/Peter Steadman |
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Madeleine Winifride Isabelle Dring (1923-1977)
Texts: Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) Five Betjeman Songs (1976) A Bay of Anglesey Song of a Nightclub Proprietress Business Girls Undenominational Upper Lambourne A Bay in Anglesey
A gentle song where you can hear the rocking motion of the waves in the accompaniment. What fantastical images are evoked by Betjeman's words. A Bay in Anglesey (3m43)
performed by: Wanda Brister, mezzo-soprano, and Timothy Hoekman, piano |
A Bay in Anglesey The sleepy sound of a tea-time tide Slaps at the rocks the sun has dried Too lazy, almost, to sink and lift Round low peninsulas pink with thrift The water, enlarging shells and sand Grows greener emerald out from land And brown over shadowy shelves below The waving forests of seaweed show Here at my feet in the short cliff grass Are shells, dried bladderwrack, broken glass Pale blue squills and yellow rock roses The next low ridge that we climb discloses One more field for the sheep to graze While, scarcely seen on this hottest of days Far to the eastward, over there Snowdon rises in pearl grey air Multiple lark song, whispering bents The thymy, turfy and salty scents And filling in, brimming in, sparkling and free The sweet susurration of incoming sea |
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Song of a Nightclub Hostess (2m48) performed by: Felicity Lott, mezzo-soprano, and Graham Johnson, piano This is the most popular of the five songs and shows Dring at her jazzy best - infused with bitter melancholy at a life fully lived, yet with a note of defiance even at the end. |
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Sing of a Nightclub Hostess I walked into the nightclub in the morning There was Kummel on the handle of the door The ashtrays were unemptied, The cleaning unattempted And a squashed tomato sandwich on the floor I pulled aside the thick magenta curtains So Regency, so Regency, my dear And a host of little spiders Ran a race across the ciders To a box of baby 'polies by the beer |
Oh sun upon the summer going by pass Where everything is speeding to the sea And wonder beyond wonder That here where lorries thunder The sun should ever percolate to me When Boris used to call in his Sedanca When Teddy took me down to his estate When my nose excited passion And my clothes were in the fashion When my beaux were never cross if I was late There was sun enough for lazing upon beaches There was fun enough for far into the night But I'm dying now and done for What on earth was all the fun for? I am ill and terrified and tight |
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Business Girls (2m12) performed by: Wanda Brister, mezzo-soprano, and Timothy Hoekman, piano The busy accompaniment creates a sense of the grim relentlessness of life for the 'business girls'. |
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Business Girls From the geyser ventilators Autumn winds are blowing down On a thousand business women Having baths in Camden Town Wastepipes chuckle into runnels Steam's escaping here and there Morning trains through Camden cutting Shake the Crescent and the Square |
Early nip of changeful autumn
Dahlias glimpsed through garden doors At the back precarious bathrooms Jutting out from upper floors And behind their frail partitions Business women lie and soak Seeing through the draughty skylight Flying clouds and railway smoke Rest you there, poor un belov'd ones Lap your loneliness in heat All too soon the tiny breakfast Trolley bus and windy street |
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Undenominational (1m24) performed by: Wanda Brister, mezzo-soprano, and Timothy Hoekman, piano Although pious, Betjeman held some uncertainty about the truth of Christianity, aptly reflected in this quasi-hymnal setting by Dring. |
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Undenominational Undenominational But still the church of God He stood in his conventicle And ruled it with a rod Undenominational The walls around him rose The lamps within their brackets shook To hear the hymns he chose |
"Glory", "Gospel", "Russell Place"
"Wrestling Jacob", "Rock" "Saffron Walden", "Safe at Home" "Dorking", "Plymouth Dock" I slipped about the chalky lane That runs without the park I saw the lone conventicle A beacon in the dark Revival ran along the hedge And made my spirit whole When steam was on the window panes And glory in my soul |
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Upper Lambourne (2m35) performed by: Wanda Brister, mezzo-soprano, and Timothy Hoekman, piano An affectionate poke of fun at the genteelness of times past. |
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Upper Lambourne
Up the ash tree climbs the ivy Up the ivy climbs the sun With a twenty thousand pattering Has a valley breeze begun Feathery ash, neglected elder Shift the shade and make it run Shift the shade toward the nettles And the nettles set it free To streak the stained Cararra headstone Where, in nineteen twenty three He who trained a hundred winners Paid the final Entrance Fee |
Leathery limbs of Upper Lambourne Leathery skin from sun and wind Leathery breeches, spreading stables Shining saddles left behind To the down the string of horses Moving out of sight and mind Feathery ash in leathery Lambourne Waves above the sarsen stone And Edwardian plantations So coniferously moan As to make the swelling downland Far surrounding, far surrounding, seem their own |
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Never miss a concert . . .
Our weekly* newsletter tells you about upcoming concerts and other local music events *weekly - only during the weekly concert season, occasional at other times |
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Concert Selections still available on this Website:
Please click on a title to go to the concert webpage • Marina Kan's AGM Piano Concert • Concert for St George's Day and Shakespeare's Birthday 1 May 2020 Music on May Day Online • Music on MayDay • Music for VE Day 75th Anniversary • Piano à Deux - Linda Ang Stoodley & Robert Stoodley, 4 hands on 1 piano • Clocks & Cathedrals (musical clocks, that is) • Guitars & Friends - a guitar medley • Beethoven & Haydn String Quartets • Cello Tango - from solos to multi cellists • Organs of Paris ♥ Les Orgues de Paris • Flute Fest • Virtual Viola, hosted by Lynda Chang • Multi Piano - pianos from two to 12 at a time • From Sackbutt to Trombone • Harp Haven - our President's 100th Birthday Concert • Oboe Omnibus • Gentle Guitar • Music for Unusual Instruments • Viola da Gamba, hosted by Ibrahim Aziz • Music & the Military • Choral Music • Clarinet Compilation, hosted by Lynda Chang |
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Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society is a music charity registered in England & Wales No 1166764.
Please note: LCAS cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in or amendments to the information on this website. Please check with the event organiser before you commit to any expenditure Registered address: 31 Elmer Cottages • Fetcham • KT22 9BU -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specialists in property law, wills, probate and lasting powers of attorney. Julie West Solicitors are pleased to support Leatherhead’s lunchtime concerts 
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