COMMISSIONED by the Crouch End Festival Chorus to write a choral work for performance this year, David Bedford turned to the text of Arthur C. Clarke's 1955 novel The City and the Stars as the basis of his choral setting.
Clarke contributed a new narration that introduces each section, and participated in the performance, reading it on film. The problem with the text, and thus with the work, is its obscurity - to anyone not familiar with the novel. Dealing with the future history of mankind some millions of years ahead, and the creation of a vast Galactic Empire, it leaves the listener struggling to make sense of its time zones and where exactly we are at any one point. References to experiments and catastrophes are also baffling.
Despite its obscurity, Clarke's text is not exactly poetic either, though Bedford does well to disguise the fact in generally idiomatic word-setting that gives the chorus plenty to get its teeth into. The CEFC rose to the challenge, not least in the section where the world is ravaged by something called 'The Mad Mind". Here the chorus and orchestra are
required to make a cacophonous din, while a saxophonist (the uninhibited Paul Dunmall) goes spectacularly berserk and everybody is strafed by rampaging coloured lights.
The final section, a visionary Epilogue and Prologue, contains the most expressive writing in the work, and conductor David Temple and the Crouch Enders showed as much sensitivity here as they did energy and commitment elsewhere.
If Bedford reaches for the stars, there are stratospheric experiences too in Carl Orff's perennial favourite, Carmina Burana. High-lying soprano lines in the semi-chorus, coloratura for the soprano solo and cruel tessitura for tenor soloist impersonating the roasted swan were all negotiated successfully (Lynda Russell and Huw Rhys-Evans the fine soloists). Baritone Keel Watson was stretched beyond endurance at the Court of Love, but elsewhere made a brave stab at a testing role.
There was lusty singing from the main chorus, a commendable contribution from the Winchmore School Choir, and generally reliable playing from the Salomon Orchestra. The light show returned, the stage bathed in green for In Springtime, in blue then red for On the Green and various colours thereafter. Provided one was not looking for subtle symbolism, it did no harm and may have enhanced the experience for some.
Thanks to the The Times for this review.
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