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Sarah Probert |
Elgar’s Spirit back
from war
SOPRANO Sarah Probert, a member of the Highgate singing family of Proberts, is singing in Gospel Oak on Sunday with the North Camden Chorus at its Christmas concert.
She will be the only soloist in Elgar’s The Spirit of England cantata written during the First World War. The words are drawn from three poems written by poet Laurence Binyon in 1914 when support for the war was at its highest, well before the slaughter in the trenches began.
Some maintain that feelings expressed in parts of the poems are simply too jingoistic in spirit to enjoy. But NCC conductor Ian Gibson, who selected the piece for the choir, says the piece has some beautiful music and poetry that deserve to be performed.
Indeed, Elgar completed his score in 1916 after the trench massacres had begun and his music captures the sadness and desolation of war without becoming maudlin, certainly without the chauvinism that might be expected from the Pomp and Circumstance composer.
The NCC will also sing the Christmas Cantata written by West Hampstead composer Philip Godfrey and first performed 10 years ago by the Islington Choral Society.
The work has plenty of melodies, sometimes of the kind composed by popular composer John Rutter.
It should be fitting company for seasonal carols and performances by past and present students from Camden schools.
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