Review: Dvořák’s Stabat Mater by Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
The Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus and soloists, under the direction of Harry Sever, gave an outstanding performance of Dvořák’s oratorio /sacred cantata, Stabat Mater at West Road Concert Hall Cambridge on Saturday evening.
The work is based on a C13th devotional prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary in which a commentator provides thoughts on the sufferings of Christ’s Mother at the foot of the Cross.
The Roman Catholic ‘Stations of the Cross’ (or Via Crucis) employs the first Movement of the Stabat Mater as each of the 14 stations begins - ‘At the Cross, her station keeping / Stood the Mournful Mother weeping / For our Saviour crucified.’
Dvořák’s work compresses the 20 stanzas of the traditional prayer into 10 movements, beginning with the Stabat Mater dolorosa for full orchestra, chorus and soloists combined.
The work (in Latin) opens with the quartet of soloists and Choir, and with the most emotive of descents on the strings representing perhaps the dropping of tears. And this softer expression of sorrow builds to a desperate and uncontainable outpouring of grief, surging repeatedly, before subsiding again as we arrive at the Movement’s conclusion.
The second Movement (‘Who would not weep’), performed with the soloist quartet, focuses on the Virgin’s tears and invokes our sharing compassion for her sorrows as she watches her son die on the cross. The mood of this section was captured beautifully with a combination of cor anglais, flute, oboe and cello. Its end was one of immense quietness.
The third Movement (‘Look at the mother, the source of love’) is an imprecation to the Blessed Virgin to allow the commentator to share her sorrow. It is in slow march time, suggesting in its form, and with its added sound of a drum tap, a funeral procession.
The commentator then asks, in Movements 4 & 5, ‘Make my heart burn’, producing as ever some powerful work from the Philharmonic Chorus and joined by impressive bass soloist, Tristan Hambleton whose commanding voice on occasion achieved some astonishing low registers.
The Chorus alone took charge of Movement 5 (‘Of your wounded son’), with great rises and falls of sound, as though sharing in the Virgin’s grief (as in the first Movement) and with a prayer that the agony of her wounded son might also be shared.
Harry Sever gave a brief explanatory and enlightening talk on the Stabat Mater in advance of the performance, illustrating from the piano significant parts of it. He regarded Movements 5-8 as what he called a ‘little suite of Slavonic dances’, simple, rustic, folk-like dances originating in the great love Dvořák had for his native land.
He also touched on many other aspects relevant to the work, such as its closeness at times to the operatic; Dvořák thought of himself primarily as a writer of opera. And he also, apparently, made interesting use of the Trochaic Tetrameter in the Stabat, the metrical form often used by Shakespeare for figures (e.g. Puck) who have magical or supernatural significance, as indeed Christ in this story.
The 9th December may have seemed an unusual choice of date for a work we might think more appropriate to the six weeks of Lent and Passiontide.
But the Saviour’s arrival at Christmas was simply an anticipation of his suffering and death, and through his Resurrection to obtain Man’s redemption. Harry pointed up the inclusion of the prominent folk element in the Stabat Mater as though it were saying that this is a narrative relevant to us at all times, and Dvořák has given us ways to discover in the music itself a story that continues.
In Movements 6 & 7 we are back with the subject of weeping ‘Make me weep with you’, its lovely melody in the admirably persuasive charge of tenor, Tom Smith, enabling the Chorus to make a gentle transition to ‘Virgin pre-eminent among virgins’, where the choir was largely without instrumental accompaniment (a capella).
Tom Smith was joined in duet by soprano Esther Mallett (Movement 8) whose voice had just that required amount of exquisite ethereality for the role she was playing- ‘Grant that I may bear the death of Christ’ – let me be wounded with his wounds and inebriated by his blood.’
The soloists’ joint impassioned imprecation ended with a few gentle interventions on drum, marking stages in the progress of the story, as did the following Movement 9 (‘Inflamed and afire’), sung solo by mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp who could with every justification add this part to the many others for which she has already received world-wide acclaim.
The final Movement (‘When the body will die’) saw the soloists and Choir return to the theme of the first Movement, and praying for the soul’s eternal life in heaven.
The work ends optimistically with a very impressive marshalling of all vocal forces as the powerful and fugal ‘Amen’ is sung, after which the Movement gradually and gently faded away.
The full house was loud in its appreciation for what, in her prefatory remarks to the audience, Chorus member Sarah Upjohn called ‘one of the most beautiful choral works ever written . . . a deeply moving work’. Congratulations to Orchestra, Chorus, Soloists and Conductor alike for allowing us to see so obviously the truth of that statement.
JOHN GILROY
