(DCC
members: Caleb Frow, Gail Robinson, Christopher Cockburn (director), Lesley
Starke, Ndumiso Mpanza, Pamela Tancsik, Brendon Cooper & Nicole Copley. Pic
by Val Adamson)
Concert goers can enjoy a beguiling
programme of music of the night when the Durban Chamber Choir (DCC) presents Nocturne - its latest programme of
choral classics in Musgrave on November 4, 2018. This sees DCC performing a
wide-ranging repertoire conducted by Dr Christopher Cockburn, the choir’s
director.
The programme will include music by among
others, the great German Romantic, Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897), the iconic
British composer, Sir Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934), and the contemporary Estonian
master, Arvo Pärt (born 1935), who since 2010 has been the most performed
living composer in the world.
Says Cockburn: “Some of the writers and
composers featured in the programme present night as a time of quiet (as in
Brahms’ In stiller Nacht), or
reflection (Rheinberger’s Abendlied,
a prayer at the end of the day), or falling asleep (Elgar’s There is sweet music with its remarkable
drifting between two different keys to represent an ‘in-between’ state of
consciousness).
“Others think of the night as mysterious, a
time of shadows but also of radiant light (as in Samuel Barber’s Sure on this shining night or in the
most recent piece on the programme, Ballade
to the Moon, an atmospheric work with piano accompaniment by the young
American composer Daniel Elder. But the programme is not all quiet and dreamy.
Balfour Gardiner’s resplendent setting of the ancient Latin Evening Hymn rises to a fortissimo climax accompanied by the
full organ.”
Also included are striking settings of the
Evening Canticles: Arvo Pärt’s mesmerizing Magnificat
and Christopher Cockburn’s own Song of
Mary and Song of Simeon which
draw on elements from minimalist, African and impressionist styles. Cockburn
will also play Louis Vierne’s fleeting and slightly sinister organ piece Feux Follets, an evocation of the
dancing light that draws night-travellers away from safe paths.
DCC can be heard performing Nocturne at St
Thomas’s Anglican Church, Musgrave, on November 4. The performance starts at
15h00 and lasts about an hour. Refreshments will be served after the concert.
Tickets are available at the door from 14h00, and admission to the venues is
from 14h30. Tickets R70 (R40 student/scholar OAP concessions).
School groups are admitted free, and group
bookings may be made, by prior arrangement. Contact nicole@ngolawsa.co.za
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