Simon's posting Westminster Abbey, Carolyn Sampson reminds me to write a review of a concert I went to at Westminster Abbey, mainly to hear Carolyn Sampson - I had booked the ticket after I had been alerted by Simon...
I had booked the ticket, then about ten days before the concert, an email circulated at work, saying that it was about time for a night out. If the concert had been at the South Bank or the Barbican I would have had to decline the drink-up, but the wonderfulness of working at the heart of Westminster Village was the ability to nip to the concert as an interval in the works' drinkies.
I was stunningly underwhelemed by Westminster Abbey as a venue. Indeed I had a rantette on Usenet:
I do not make a habit of going to Westminster Abbey...This evening I had a a £5 ticket, in the Quire Stalls, no view. Fine.In the interval we make to go out. Some silly Jobsworth questions why we want to go out; one woman suggests that she really doesn't want to be treated like a caged animal. Jobsworth insinuates that if we go out we might try and take over empty seats with a view. (I would have been angry if they existed; I would have been willing to pay, but they were all sold out)
I say "I need a cigarette; without a cigarette I can go really quite
mad" Jobsworth gets scared and lets us out. Halfway down the aisle, a woman turns to me and says "You know that man said 'Some people want to have a _cigarette_ during the interval'!" (reminiscent of Lady Bracknell's handbag). Yes, well, what of it? Some other people wanted to pee.I stood in the courtyard and was told to go out the gate. I checked I
would be allowed back in. When the bell sounded for the end of the
interval and I made to go in, another Jobsworth snootily said "Yes?" I said I was going in. "To the concert?" he enquired with utter
condescension and snootiness. I felt like saying "Look, arsehole, I know I am fifty years younger than you , and obviously quite the wrong gender, and I'm wearing a fleece, and carrying a rucksack, but don't you dare condescend to me like that." Instead I just glared. I had a suit on, it wasn't like I really looked a student (perish the thought). I'm tempted to write, 'and I'm not young', but, frankly, that's irrelevant - if someone aged 14, or 9, had paid to be at that concert, they shouldn't be treated the way I was treated.It made me quite angry. I'm going to be snooty. In the Quire Stalls (no view) we didn't clap in between movements of Haydn's Nelson Mass, unlike the corporate people in the £28 seats. I have never been treated with such utter contempt by any venue in my entire life.
People say that Covent Garden is snooty; I have never experienced that - in fact, the staff seem to like common people like me.
There are so many venues round London used for concerts, but the way we were treated by the Jobsworths at Westminster Abbey was just appalling.
I don't know what their problem is; I'm tempted to say, fear of women. I wonder just how much profit they got from tonight's concert.
There weren't even any toilet facilities provided, which is scandalous. I can hold it in, but I have not experienced multiple childbirths nor do I have a prostate, ageing or otherwise, to give me trouble. But when I rejoined my colleagues in the pub and went to the loo before ordering a drink, they all laughed at me.
It is the twenty first century, and it's about time these religious nuts started to understand that we have paid money to be in their sacred venue, and whilst they continue to treat middle-aged women with contempt, they are demonstrating why so many people have rejected Organised Religion.
So it was a good thing that the concert was so enjoyable. It would have been more enjoyable if I had been sat out front with the voices projecting towards me, but I accepted that limitation when I bought a 'Quire' seat with no view.
The performers were:
Carolyn Sampson (s)
Ann Murray (m-s)
James Gilchrist (t)
James Rutherford (bs)
Robert Quinney (organ)
The Choir of Westminster Abbey
St James's Baroque
James O'Donnell
The programme was Handel: Chandos Anthem 'As pants the heart for cooling streams HWV251c; Salve Regina HWV241; Organ Concerto in F, op 4. no. 4 HWV292
Interval
Haydn: Mass in D minor (Missa in angustiis, 'Nelson' mass) Hob.XXII:11
I wasn't overwhelmed by the Organ Concerto, but the rest was delightful. I still haven't worked out what I like about Handel. Logically, he's very predictable and samey-samey, but he just does something for me. I especially liked the Salve Regina.
But nothing like as much as the Haydn. I'm going through a bit of a Haydn phase at the moment. Currently an unfashionable composer, under-rated and underperformed. Possibly not epoch-making, and thus, not leaving the legacy of influence that Bach or Mozart or Beethoven did. But I don't, on the whole, listen to music to go pointy-headed about 'legacy' and 'influence' but to hear the music. If I could only use one word abut Haydn I would use the word 'lyrical'. But that would suggest that I was ignoring that bright clear soundworld.
Carolyn sounded gorgeous, as always. I won't comment on the other singers, because none of them sounded impresive from where I was sitting. But that highlighted phrase is the key - I really was not in a position to judge the fine details and nuances.
Westminster Abbey is a gorgeous building but I suspect I will not be visiting it again in a hurry, unless there's a concert that catches my eye grabs me by the scruff of the neck. Next stop, St John's Smith Square.
