Vivid engagement, vigorous articulation & imaginative programming: The English Concert at Wigmore Hall

Vom Himmel hoch – Luther’s hymn in a 1541 songbook Used by Bach in his Magnificat in E Flat

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Alessandro Stradella, Purcell, Bach: Magnificat in E Flat; Ciara Skerath, Katie Bray, Jess Dandy, James Way, Morgan Pearse, the English Concert, Harry Bicket; Wigmore Hall
21 December 2024

An early Baroque Christmas with a variety of Christmas cantatas, French, Italian and English, alongside Bach’s Christmas version of his Magnificat in a vividly articulated, brilliant account 

A packed Wigmore Hall on Saturday 21 December 2024 enjoyed a Christmas programme with a touch of the unusual when Harry Bicket and the English Concert presented their selection of 17th and early 18th century Christmas-themed sacred works, with Marc-Antonine Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini nostri Jesu Christi canticum H414, Alessandro Stradella’s Si apra al riso ogni labro, Purcell’s Behold, I bring you glad tidings Z 2 and Bach’s Magnificat in E Flat BWV 243.1 (the one with the Christmas interpolations). The performers included the soloists Chiara Skerath (soprano), Katie Bray (mezzo-soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto), James Way (tenor) and Morgan Pearse (bass). [Incidentally, the last time we saw Morgan Pearse he was Scarpia in Opera Holland Park’s production of Puccini’s Tosca this Summer, see my review].

The first half centred around the works by Charpentier, Stradella and Purcell for soloists, five ripieno singers and a small string ensemble plus continuo, with the stage filling for the Bach in the second half. 

Marc-Antonine Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini nostri Jesu Christi canticum was probably written for the church of St Paul in Paris, the city’s main Jesuit church, where Charpentier worked after the death of his patron, Marie de Lorraine (Mademoiselle de Guise). The work told the story of the shepherds, ending with a tender strophic lullaby to the Christ child. 

Charpentier wrote in fluid style, arioso merging into recitative and always with a dance-like feel to the music. There were substantial, dancing instrumental interludes with rich textures, and flurries of ornament in the vocal lines. Much of the music was highly decorative, yet there was a nice directness to the performance too. We had solo moments from Katie Bray, Jess Dandy, Ciara Skerath and Morgan Pearse, as each emerged from the ensemble and then receded. The whole was completed by the tender lullaby, ‘Salve puerule’ to which Charpentier gave some amazing variations in what is essentially a folk-like strophic song, ending with a lovely instrumental variation.

Alessandro Stradella’s Si apra al riso ogni labro also featured the shepherds. Here Ciara Skerath, Jess Dandy and Morgan Pearse gave us an extended cantata that mixed recitative, aria, duet and three-part madrigals. The three shepherds are not narrating the Nativity story but rejoicing in it, after the fact. Stradella write fluidly so that a sequence of aria, recitative and aria becomes, essentially, a single unit. The whole was upliftingly joyous with the strings adding their own exuberant element. There was plenty of variety in Stradella’s music from the vigorously vivid, to the busily ornamental to gently lyric, and all three singers performed with style. Jess Dandy’s part seemed to sit almost entirely in her rich lower register and it made me wonder what type of voice the part had been written for

The result was, frankly, interesting and intriguing rather than engagingly uplifting and Stradella’s music never quite went anywhere, it was content to present its variety in stylish ways. The performers were wonderfully committed to the piece and convincingly conveyed its joys.

The first half ended with a short Purcell anthem written for the Chapel Royal. The only surviving Purcell anthem written for the Feast of Christmas. After a short opening sinfonia, stately then perky, the work showcased the dramatic talents of bass soloist Morgan Pearse who brought vivid vigour to a dramatic arioso that explored a wide range. Soloists James Way and Katie Bray joined Pearse for a remarkably perky trio on the words ‘Glad tidings’ before the whole vocal ensemble joined in. 

Bach’s Magnificat is often given as a large scale choral piece with solos and it is lavish and imaginative enough to warrant this treatment. But when Bach first performed it in Leipzig in 1723 his forces would have been relatively restricted. Here we had five soloists and five ripieno singers in an arc at the rear of the platform, two flutes and two oboes stage right, three trumpets and timpani stage left, with an ensemble of strings (four violins, viola, cello and bass) and continuo in the centre. Bicket took advantage of these forces to give us a vividly articulated and remarkably brisk account of the work. That was not to say that it was rushed, but this was not aiming for the massive grandeur of a large-scale account, instead we have vigorous articulation, brilliant runs from the vocal ensemble, and a sense of vivid engagement. 

There was a real brilliance to the opening choral movement, the vividness of the instrumental playing and the sense of instrumental colour combined with superbly articulated fast choral passagework and a lovely bounce. Katie Bray (singing the second soprano solos) brought joy and a lovely way with the busy passagework to ‘Et exultavit’ whilst Ciara Skerath duetted finely with the solo oboe in an account of ‘Quia respexit’ that had real focus and engagement, and was interrupted as intended by the choral vigour of ‘Omnes generationes’.

Morgan Pearse’s vibrant swagger in ‘Quia fecit’ was followed by a moment of time suspended as Jess Dandy and James Way combined two characterful voices into something magical in ‘Et misericordia’. What followed was the vivid excitement of the chorus’ ‘Fecit potentiam’, Bicket’s speed giving the music excitement and the singers following him with brilliant articulation. Speeds remained brisk for James Way’s ‘Deposuit potentes’ to which he brought a fine sense of drama, then Jess Dandy made ‘Esurientes’ rather moving, her rich, dark timbre contrasting with the fluid flutes. Time stopped with the upper voice trio, ‘Suscepit Israel’ and then with had vigour, bounce and grandeur in the final choral sections.

Bach wrote the work in a way that it could be performed with or without the interpolations. These were moderately traditional in Leipzig and would be typically sung from a separate balcony. Here we had the same performers. Vom Himmel hoch contrasted with vigour of the lower voices with the calm poise of the sopranos singing the long choral melody, Freut euch und jubiliert had vivid textures and provided a real contrast with the surrounding Magnificat movements, and Gloria in excelsis was wonderfully lively. The highlight was, as ever, Virga Jesse floruit sung with a sense of delight and engagement by Ciara Skerath and Morgan Pearse.

Wigmore Hall seemed slightly confused as to which version of the Magnificat was going to be performed, so much so that part of me did wonder whether we were hearing the later D major version but with interpolations. But I am pleased that the performers responded to the season and gave us the interpolations.