The following review of the concert in King's College Chapel on 19th November 2005 was written by Prof. James Barber, who was Master of Hatfield College, Durham, from 1980 to 1996. It first appeared in the Hatfield Record for 2006. Reprinted by permission.

Hatfield and Verdi at King’s

King’s College, Cambridge is renowned both for the beauty of its Chapel − one of the finest buildings in England − and the excellence of its choir. At Christmas in particular all the world listens to the angelic voices of the choir boys as they sing to tell of Christ’s birth.

“Yes”, do I hear you say, “but what is that to do with Hatfield?” The answer is that in November 2005 Hatfield made a significant contribution to a performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in King’s Chapel. By chance I saw a notice announcing that the conductor was to be Gerry Cornelius. Surely, there could only be one conductor named Gerry Cornelius? And so it proved to be. Gerry had been the Hatfield organ scholar between 1987-90. He had started his career conducting at Durham both in college and the university. It soon became clear that Gerry had something extra. What “it” was, was impossible to explain, but whenever Gerry conducted − whether it be the college choir or the larger university orchestra − the sound, the tempo and the general performance of the players improved. Gerry achieved this not by bullying or harsh words but with humour and kindness; plus a deep knowledge of and sympathy towards the music.

Fortunately his talent was recognised, for on graduating from Hatfield he was awarded the prestigious Henry Wood conducting prize at the Royal Academy of Music. It was shortly after he’d completed his training at “the Royal” that I’d last seen Gerry. We met by chance on a cold winter’s night in Guilford High Street where my wife and I were visiting one of our sons. We had a drink and a yarn about Hatfield, during which he told us that he was on his way to Cyprus to conduct the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. I’d not seen or heard of him since then until I saw the notice about the Verdi Requiem. In fact it was not surprising that I’d heard nothing, for he’d spent four years in St Petersburg developing his conducting skills under the supervision of a 90 year old Russian Master.

Discovering that Gerry was to conduct was surprise enough, but when I took a flyer home, my wife noticed that the Bass soloist was Tom Barnard − another Hatfield man. Tom came to Hatfield a year after Gerry − and the last time I’d seen him was when he came to sing in Durham Cathedral − more than ten years ago. My clearest memory of Tom, however, was at a concert staged for parents, when he and Michael Bracegirdle sang the famous duet from Bizet’s “Pearl Fishers”. It’s a well known piece which I’d heard several times, but never have I been so moved by it as when those two young men sang it that night. Now Tom is a member of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, where he sings regularly in addition to individual performances like that in Cambridge. He lives in Kent and is the proud father of a boy and a girl. And to round off Hatfield’s contribution at King’s − Peter Haselden, who had been a prominent member of the choir in his day, had heard of the concert and breezed in from Paris, where he now lives, to sing in the choir.

To return to Verdi: I know the requiem reasonably well [having once sang it in as a member of a choir which was fortunately so large that my false notes were obliterated]. Verdi’s is the most dramatic of all the requiems, and Gerry made the most of it. It was magnificent. From the first gentle, haunting bars to the thunderous finale he had us enthralled, and he had the orchestra and the choir in the palm of his hand. In the splendour of it all a series of tingles ran up and down our spines.

Part of the splendour came from the four young soloists whom Gerry had assembled. They sang with clarity, and also great passion, fully capturing the spirit of the requiem. Tom was in excellent form, using his wide ranging and melodious Bass in a fine display. Similar praise could also be heaped on his fellow soloists. The clarity of the tenor, the richness of the Mezzo-soprano; and the Australian soprano whose voice, combining beauty, clarity and power − soared into the chapel’s high vaulted ceiling.

Well done Verdi; well done Gerry; well done the choir and orchestra, well done the soloists, and well done Hatfield.

James Barber

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