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Gloria
Spring 2007 at the Albert Hall Nottingham
Score, DVD, backing track, practice recording and full programme
available from ‘Science on Stage’
Rutter’s Gloria, Microbes and Zeppelins at the Albert Hall
April 28th lived up to expectations with microscopic beasties, explosions, flying machines and stunning music. As well as the performance pieces this year’s event featured a laboratory area in the downstairs foyer where both children and adults were able to study at first hand the normally invisible population of smelly water. The minibeast that was most obvious through the microscope was ‘paramecium’ , tiny fast moving and slipper shaped, who belts around all day minding his own business. This little character, who comes by the million, provided the inspiration for the music and dance of the first piece, where, sadly, he also met his fate at the hands, or rather tentacles, of the deadly ‘hydra’. Everyone has to eat.
A demonstration of lifting gases came next with hot air, hydrogen and helium competing for the top position. The hot air balloon soared beautifully, but had to be big to work, the helium balloon just sat there and the hydrogen won. The snag with hydrogen became clear when it somehow came into contact with a flame. Blowing up balloons took on a whole new meaning and the result was heard very clearly by everyone in the hall. This led onto the next piece, four songs and dances which made up a drama called ‘Zeppelin’
Zeppelins were huge hydrogen filled airships used by the Germans in the First World War to bomb Britain. Flying two miles up they were very hard to attack. ‘Zeppelin’ presented the true story of one such raid on Hartlepool in 1916 where the great airship was successfully shot down. Early the next morning local teenager ‘Lizzie Gray’ found a handsome, but dead, German gunner at the bottom of her garden. He’d chosen jumping rather than burning. His fall would have lasted almost two minutes.
The first half ended with another study of the microscopic world, but not the harmless and likeable little ‘paramecium’. Here was a much more sinister microbe. In four extracts from a full length musical, previously performed at the Playhouse, entitled ‘Salmonella’ we met old Mr Gripes who catches the bug when he goes to his daughter ‘Sharon’s’ for tea, then a bunch of hard working little red blood cells and finally the body’s SWAT team, the ‘antibodies’ who finally set him on the road to recovery.
After the interval the evening took on a very different complexion. The ‘Gloria’ is arguably Rutter’s greatest and most challenging work for both singers and players. It was seventeen minutes that made the senses reel as the impact of brass and percussion was added to the great Binns organ, played by David Butterworth, and fired to new heights a choir that had been working on those seventeen minutes for months. For Jon Wakefield who had been working with all the elements separately and who now had them all under his baton it was the moment of truth, and in truth it was a performance with a majesty and power worthy of the magnificent great hall. The dance and light interpretation of the slow movement with its gentle ripples and slow crescendo brought something entrancing and unique to an accomplished presentation of glorious music.
The Gloria was followed by a much more familiar and lyrical piece of Rutter in the shape of his much loved ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’. The delight of this was enhanced by the hundred children who sang their hearts out and gave it that special quality that only children’s voices can bring.
The evening ended with a performance of ‘Song of the Plains’ from Karl Jenkins’ work ‘Cantata Mundi’. This featured all 150 singers with percussion and keyboard pounding out the characteristic Jenkins’ rhythms. Choreographer Dean Skiba, who danced with Ballet Rambert, and his north Nottinghamshire dance group ‘Twisted Youth’ brought the evening to a climactic finish with a spectacular interpretation entitled ‘Talking to Angels’.
Sensory overload was becoming a problem as the evening drew to a close, not a long evening in terms of time, but every minute had been packed to the rafters with sound light and music…..plus the odd explosion.
Performing Groups
Arnbrook Primary School, Arnold View Primary School, Carlton Digby School,
Coppice Farm Primary School, Ernehale Infant School, Ernehale Junior School, Flying High School of Dance and Drama, In Accord Chamber Choir & Guests, Nottingham Symphonic Wind Orchestra (brass & percussion), Science on Stage Youth Choir, Stiff Legged Derrick Rock Band, The Village Singers, Twisted Youth Dance Company, Kate Skinner.
Sponsors
Arnold Local Area Forum, Gedling Borough Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council, Gallery 37 plus, Cllr. Jen Cole, Cllr. Peter Barnes, Lee Glass, Frank Key, Shoosmiths Private Clients Team, Wilkinson Hardware Stores, Windblowers, Kay Collinson
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