The ecstasy of love – and a peal of Russian bells

From the outpouring of a girl’s young love as she writes a passionate love letter, to Rachmaninov’s secular choral masterpiece (not forgetting the symphonic ecstasy of a slightly crazed genius), the concert offered by the Cambridge Philharmonic Society in King’s College Chapel on 21st March 2009 is an emotional journey suffused with music of ravishing beauty.

When Tatyana, the young heroine of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, sees the man (Onegin) who has come to visit her estate, she is entranced by him, and in one of the most beautiful arias ever composed, she writes her feelings down in the famous ‘letter scene’. The soprano, Gweneth-Ann Jeffers (noted for her commanding voice and vivid personality) is the perfect interpreter of Tatyana’s exuberant infatuation and hope. The concert will also include the famous waltz scene (with its joyful chorus) from the same opera.

It was Tolstoy himself who described the music of Scriabin as “a sincere expression of genius”, and the composer’s Poem of Ecstasy is a twenty-minute explosion of passion, intricately scored for full orchestra as the music swells and pushes towards its heartfelt conclusion. To call the music ecstatic is to undersell the enormous emotion running through this three-part work in which the composer describes the orgy of love, a fantastic dream and the glory of his own art.

The concert’s main event is The Bells, a four-movement piece based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe (and composed incidentally at the same desk that Tchaikovsky had used when he was in Italy – for Rachmaninov was a great admirer of his former mentor). The Bells mirrors life from birth to death, and through it all pulses the Gregorian chant of the Dies Irae. Rachmaninov always said that it was one of the two favourite pieces he had written, and its awesome choral writing, inspiring solo lines (sung by Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Stephen Richardson and Ben Thapa) and lush orchestration have made it a favourite for all music lovers everywhere.

When Scriabin conducted his Poem of Ecstasy in New York in 1908, he had the orchestra dressed in white to reflect what is thought to have been the first-ever psychedelic light show. The Cambridge Philharmonic Society will not be dressed in white, and there’s no light show, but the effect may well be the same – a swirl of rapturous emotion and musical heaven in one of the most beautiful buildings in Britain. Unmissable.

The performance starts at 8.00pm in King’s College Chapel. Tickets (£20, £15, £12; half-price for children, and students on the door) are available from the Cambridge Arts Theatre Box Office (01223 503333), or at the door.

Notes for editors

For further information including biographies please see our web site, www.cam-phil.org.uk.
If you would like any interviews for your publication please contact publicity@cam-phil.org.uk, giving as much notice as possible.