By Susan Mahoney, Pax Christi alto
Q – Pax Christi performed Britten’s Saint Nicolas just over a decade ago; what is it about this piece that prompted you to choose it for a repeat performance?
What prompted me to return to St. Nicolas this year was James McLean’s audition two years ago. Every year I hear wonderful singers audition for Pax Christi and every so often something clicks. When I heard James I knew he would be the perfect tenor soloist for Britten’s St. Nicolas.
Q – Is it just a coincidence that your cantata, Winter Nights, which is being premiered at this concert, shares its orchestration with the Britten? (i.e. it calls for the same musicians and instruments, including a tenor soloist)
No coincidence. I wrote the piece for this particular concert. If you had that battery of percussion in front of you, wouldn’t you be tempted to use it? Also, it’s a challenge to programme a concert around St. Nicolas since it is only 55 minutes long, and perhaps other conductors are searching for a companion piece to put on their Christmas concert along side St. Nicolas. Now they have an option!
Q – In the Saint Nicolas, Benjamin Britten has done something quite unusual by including two hymns for the audience, or congregation, to sing. Why did you think he did that?
Britten follows in the footsteps of other great musicians who understood the community they were writing for. Bach’s passions are based on chorales, and Mendelssohn’s St. Paul includes a hymn. Britten’s audience would have been completely comfortable standing and singing a hymn, since they would know these tunes well from singing them hundres of times in church. We know our Pax Christi audience also loves to sing, and in this work they have a chance to become part of the drama. Britten was committed to community music making and he had great ability to compose music for people at all levels. While the music in St. Nicolas is not all that difficult for the chorus, the tenor solos are virtuosic expressions of the modern idiom.
Q – Eric Crozier’s text takes us through the life of Nicolas (270 – 6 December 343 AD), who was to become the patron saint of children (known today as Santa Claus). Among the many legends about his exploits and generosity, that of “The Pickled Boys” is the most macabre. Why do you think Britten wanted it included?
All the legends have a common element in that Nicolas is defying authority and helping out someone who is helpless and in real need. He ransoms young girls who are going to be sold into prostitution, he boxes Arius’ears, he commands nature to still the storm. He may have played up the particular incident of the pickled boys since there are many children and young people performing the score and this allows the boy soloists and the girl’s chorus in the gallery to feature prominently in the action. It is a scene full of tension and drama, with a miraculous conclusion. No operatic composer can resist that.
Q – In ‘Winter Nights’ and ‘Saint Nicolas’, we hear both musical dissonance and moments when traditional harmonies reign. As a composer, when do you choose one over the other?
Britten was criticized by his modernist contemporaries for writing simple music for amateur performers. Some unadventurous listeners today still don’t accept him for being too modern! I admire his work since he uses both idioms perfectly. He uses dissonance, extended harmonies, angular melodies and unconventional orchestration to create tension and dramatic moods, and beautifully crafted, common practice harmony and sweet melodies to touch our hearts.
In an academic environment one might feel pressure to write in an avant-garde style, but I follow Britten’s vision of the “holy triangle” between composer, performer and audience. In an ideal musical triangle, a new piece can satisfy the intellectual needs of the composer, respect the limitations of the performing forces, and move the audience.
Q – The texts for ‘Winter Nights’ came from the 17th and 18th centuries, and from 2010. How and why did you choose them?
My sister “stands on the shoulders of giants.” She is a very intellectual writer and many of her poems allude to classical poetry, or have hidden meanings or riddles, much like the metaphysical poets of the renaissance. My sister always took the time to explain complex poetry to me, and much of my appreciation for English oratorio comes from her thoughtful consideration of the medieval texts of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Wilfred Owen’s poetry in Britten’s War Requiem, Byron, Shakespeare and much more. She suggested I look at James Thomson’s poem The Seasons. The other texts are from Thomas Campion whose lute songs are well known, and the first movement is derived from anonymous folklore about the weather which we all pretend is true.
Q – The third movement is a musical setting of the poem, “Christmas Cattle”, written by your sister, Cori, invoking Thomas Hardy’s “The Oxen.” When you two were children, did you sneak out to the barn at midnight on Christmas Eve to see if the oxen were kneeling?
Yes that actually happened. We were farm kids, but we grew up with a tremendous wealth of poetry, music and literature in our home. We were also children driven by scientific method (we were raised to question what we read) and we felt it necessary to prove Thomas Hardy’s claim. We debated over the results of the experiment, and listeners may be prompted to take the same question home for discussion. What did it mean that some cattle were kneeling and some were not?
Q – You have dedicated ‘Winter Nights’ to Bruce and Emily Burgetz. Regular Pax Christi patrons will have seen Emily’s name in the program many times, but tell us why you dedicated your new composition to the Burgetz family?
Emily has been the driving administrative force behind this choir for a quarter of a century. She was there when the choir was formed and she has presided over 4 artistic directors. She is totally dedicated to the choir and understands how important a choir is in bringing a community together. I couldn’t think of a better anniversary gift than to dedicate a new piece to her. I wanted to recognize Bruce as well. As the “silent partner” behind the choir President, I know he has supported our efforts in many ways over the years.
Q – You were away from Pax Christi last year, traveling and studying as part of your sabbatical from York University. What perspectives did you bring back to your work as artistic director?
My sabbatical was a wonderful gift from York University who is a generous employer, and I am so grateful to Pax Christi for accommodating that year away. The sabbatical gave me perspective on the arc of my artistic life, and gave me a chance to learn from others and to be creative. I composed Winter Nights and my string quartet From a Distant Island during this year of grace. When I travel in Europe and Asia, surrounded by the great works of generations past, I realize how important it is to value and preserve our own history and contribute something new to my community.
Q – This is a big year for the choir; a 25th anniversary and an ambitious concert in the spring. What keeps this choir together?
I suppose it is friendship, shared interests, and a sense that we are contributing to the cultural life of our city. Pax Christi has a reputation for performing works that are just on the fringes of the accepted oratorio repertoire. These works may be accompanied by some challenge or controversy, but indeed that is what art is all about. Art should make us look again at the world we think we know, question it, turn it around and view it, or hear it from a different perspective.
Choral singing is a great physical, emotional, social and spiritual work out. If you find the right group, I think you never ever want to stop singing.
