Old repertoire, fresh inspiration

Musical Director’s notes February 23rd 2014
Listening to the recording of our recent interview on Hunts Community Radio (follow the link via our website) one of the DJ’s comments resonated – he emphasised a ‘quite remarkable’ aspect of our society - our size in terms of membership.  On a completely different tack, Sally and I recently attended an exceptionally lofty and equally expensive university reunion – up ‘The Shard’ of all places.  An old flat mate of mine who has forged a successful career as a tenor (I hope one day to book him for a concert) said that, in his experience, demand from choral societies for soloists has plummeted – so many groups have either folded or moved away from the classical repertoire.  In one particular December in the late 1980s, he found himself booked for 15 Messiahs; nowadays he finds more reliable income from work as a freelance chorus member of Opera North and at Covent Garden.  As time marches on, the business of maintaining records of our ‘remarkable’ journey, becomes all the more interesting and valuable.  Before moving further with this, there must be space to share a notable milestone:  1974 was the year of the formation of the choral society under its current name, so presumably we’re in the midst of our ‘ruby’ season.  I think that’s worthy of a glass or two of port!
With yet another wonderful concert done and dusted, thoughts turn once again towards future repertoire for which an important point of reference is always the historical record of works performed; I’m in the process of updating John Smoothy’s excellent listing of concerts since the mid-1960s associated with St Ives Choral Society and its forbears.  Time for some more numbers:  you presumably knew that, on February 8th 2014, you endured my wild gesticulations for the 44th consecutive concert.  My gym membership must be paying off since that’s considerably more than any of my predecessors – although that’s definitely stretching a point in one case.
So, what became of them all?   In this respect, the internet is a powerful resource.   In 1984, when I was busy taking my A-level exams, the society staged a memorial concert for Charles Cannon, conductor of 32 concerts from the very first year of the previous incarnation of the choral society in 1966 until his retirement in 1981, although, undoubtedly, he must have brandished his baton at very many more concerts over the years.  He founded the original SIMADS in 1935 and was conducting performances of St Paul, Elijah, Samson and Judas Maccabaeus in the early post-war years; our society came into existence when SIMADS moved exclusively into the domain of musicals in the 1960s.  There must be plenty of records of his activities worthy of research.
Much more recently, my predecessor and good friend, Chris Jessop (21 concerts, 1997-2001), is the only MD I have ever known.  He will be a familiar face to many of you, lives locally and continues to be musically active, currently as Musical Director of Swavesey Community Choir and previously associated with the Orlando Singers of Cambridge and Huntingdonshire Philharmonic.  I tracked down Robert Webb (28 concerts, 1992-7) via Oxford to Yorkshire.  He seems to have been a serial collector of Musical Directorships, currently working with Bel Canto, Sheffield Chamber Choir, the Sterndale Singers and the Danensian Choir; he is also Accompanist and Assistant Musical Director of Sheffield City Opera and Accompanist to the Sheffield University Singers’ Society – a consummate career conductor!   Richard Walshaw (23 concerts, 1982-7) I’m less certain about – although either he or his ‘namesake’ is on record as the Musical Director of RTWOMVC…, you know….Royal Tunbridge Wells Orpheus Male Voice Choir.  Christopher Moore (13 concerts, 1987-1990) sandwiched a stint in South Africa of all places - Organist and Director of Music at the Cathedral of St Michael and St George, Grahamstown, also teaching at Rhodes University - between possibly more peaceful existences in Suffolk: he is currently Assistant Director of Music at St Mary-le-Tower, the civic church of Ipswich and conductor of Bury St Edmunds Friendly Orchestra.  Gary Malins (9 concerts, 1990-1992) currently draws a blank.
I’d be interested in receiving, in writing please, anecdotal information from anyone about these past incumbents – previous memories, written information such as programme notes, current knowledge equally welcome – hopefully this will lead to further articles in future Keynotes.  I think I’ve just created a rather interesting case for a society archivist suited to anyone with a small amount of spare time and access to the internet.  If you are interested, do let us know!
Finally, a return to the more serious point of all of this: namely, repertoire.  Another opportunity presented by the internet is the ritual snooping on similar lists of works performed by other societies.  My conclusion, as I draw up a finalised list of repertoire for the years 2014-2016 and, in the process, contemplate completing that half century of performances, is that our organisation has matured greatly in terms of the breadth of our repertoire.  In earlier years, concerts involved frequent repetition, particularly of Messiah, Creation etc.  Masterpieces though they may be, it is reassuring to note that we now take a more measured approach, perhaps with the idea of turning over these popular works every 10-15 years rather than every few years.  That’s a real accomplishment and an excellent reason for sticking around to witness, first hand, more local musical history in the making!