The great eisteddfod madrigal controversy of 2009

Always fascinating at Eisteddfods (Queensland or otherwise) is how people interpret set pieces. This year in the choral madrigal section the set piece was Amaryllis, fair as lilies, by Horatio Vecchi ( i think that was his name). Apart from the whole ridiculousness of having choirs of up to about 70 voices singing pieces written for perhaps 4-12 voices the question of interpretation is absolutely key. Given that these pieces were written so long ago, any tempo and dynamic markings are usually later editorial observations to be taken with a grain of salt. This means conductors have to work hard to understand the correct style of madrigal singing. The words of the text and the shape of the melody line as well as the chording and key are what give the clue to how to interpret these beautiful songs. Here we had the story of a poor young fellow pining for his true love who seemed to have rejected him, a sighing, falling melody line, longer note values, and F minor (except for the characteristic Tierce di Picardie major chord at the end). So for most musicians in their right mind, lines like "Ah me, I die if such thy will is" would perhaps suggest a slower, flowing, legato and beautifully shaped rise and fall of the phrases. Lots of sighing, dying and whining...in a lovely way.

Not so, for either the winning choir or the adjudicator. Instead they went for a brisk tempo, lots of staccato, chopped up words and phrases and in doing so turned it into a jolly little ditty. Odd, strange, and oh so wrong. There was indeed much murmuring when the winner was announced, and the Eisteddfod grapevine had it that one of the conductors of the big Ipswich choirs was going to give the adjudicator a well informed piece of her mind once the competition was finished. How I would have liked to be a fly on the wall then.

Our choir didn't come away with any prizes but we held our heads high and gave a good account of ourselves. Indeed, we were judged by many to be very unlucky not to place in the Sacred section where our performance of Moses Hogan's arrangement of Hear my Prayer left the audience with one of those split second moments where you can hear them holding their breath as you have them in the palm of your hand before they realise it's finished and they need to applaud. Standing on the stage you could feel it. That was special.

The ladies chorus also survived The Bluebird, which the adjudicator noted was an especially difficult choice for a set piece and akin to the choristers baring all in bikinis in the naked challenges it set for them. In other words, she was less than impressed with the choice. I knew there was a reason I didn't like it. However the absolute highlight was the Oriana Concert Choir's modern chorus - a slightly funked up, jazzy version of Bridge over Troubled Water. I know, it sounds lame, but it was so absolutely fantastic I could hardly believe my eyes and ears. That was worth the trip to Kawana alone...almost. As my friend from Maryborough noted, it was world class in standard. She did say our Fields of Gold was very beautiful as well, but the Paul Simon number was in another musical stratosphere.

So all in all, a good weekend, but nice to home.