Review: University of York Choir & Symphony Orchestra, York Minster, June 19

TWO greats of Italian opera, Puccini and Verdi, were the unlikely composers at this end-of-term jamboree, although their sacred topics were largely strait-laced.

Fittingly at graduation time, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria – his own graduation exercise in 1880 – topped the bill, with Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces after the break.

The Puccini is decidedly jolly by Anglo-Saxon standards, doubtless betraying his relief to be escaping academia. The odd melody apart, it shows little of his later prowess. Peter Seymour and his choral forces rightly took it seriously. Most of its drama, and some of its humour, emerged in the orchestra, which held to a taut rhythmic rein.

Adrian Dwyer’s fluid tenor injected a prayerful tone at Gratias Agimus, in an otherwise pomp-filled, even military, Gloria, with the choir versatile in its closing fugue. Matthew Brook’s baritone commendably maintained gravitas through the oddly bumpy Crucifixus and again in the waltz-like Benedictus.

The two soloists combined smoothly in the curiously curt Agnus Dei, where Puccini sounded as if experiencing deadline difficulties. I know the feeling. The choir was solid throughout, if lacking that final ounce of conviction in its delivery.

The Verdi pieces are unrelated products of his ninth decade. The University Chamber Choir sang the two unaccompanied pieces, negotiating its way delicately through the surprisingly tortuous Ave Maria. Full forces, with sighing strings in the Stabat Mater and utterly fearless sopranos there and in the Te Deum, restored proper Italian pomp.

Martin Dreyer