St Bartholomew’s Church, Westhoughton
Madrigals for Spring, a Workshop for Singers
VOICES
Tutor: Martin Westhorp
Location: St Bartholomew’s Church, Westhoughton
Reviewer: Kate Shore
Saturday 23rd January was an appropriate day for the workshop Madrigals for Spring held at St Bartholomew’s Church, Westhoughton, since it did at least begin with sunshine. Conductor Martin Westhorp promised the assembled NWEMF singers (reinforced by members of his own Voices of Note group) ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue’, and over the course the of the day, and no fewer than 12 pieces, he certainly delivered. Taking in English, Italian, French, German and even Danish composers, the repertoire ranged from classic spring-themed madrigals such as Morley’s April is in my mistress’ face and Monteverdi’s Ecco primavera to pieces where the spring connection was more cryptic, such as Palestrina’s setting of Sicut cervus, the opening line of which is often rendered in English as “As the deer longs for the water springs”. The ‘blue’ element was represented by a rambunctious madrigal by Ruffo, the text of which was open to various interpretations!
After a quick warm-up with a couple of familiar and relatively straightforward madrigals, Martin pronounced the group competent enough to tackle more complex works, including some in 5 parts. Special credit must go to the valiant tenor section, whose forces were increased by 100% after the arrival of a second member at lunchtime! Martin’s wealth of experience coaching a cappella groups in this repertoire was manifest, and he paid particular attention to diction, explaining the differing relative importance of vowels and consonants in Italian, German and English. Under his expert, friendly and humorous guidance the group produced some very creditable performances, and the workshop ended with a run-through of the 5 pieces we had most enjoyed working on, including some performed from the church’s organ loft. By 5 o’clock the sun had vanished and the rain had sadly returned; however, that was not enough to banish the spring-like feeling engendered by the day’s music-making.
Kate Shore
First published in February 2016 Newsletter
