TARA BRADYvisits the UCD Choral Scholars as they rehearse the 'Messiah'
THERE’S OOMPH IN those rafters. If one didn’t know Freemasons originally built Memorial Hall, the grand acoustics might give as much away. It’s a soft spring evening and the UCD Choral Scholars have assembled to swell the structure’s impressive dimensions with seasonal song. They’ve come from all over campus, from faculties and studies in medicine, veterinary medicine, commerce, agricultural science, psychology and architecture. There are rugby balls and assorted pieces of sports equipment under their chairs. There are bags stuffed with so many books they ought to come with a mule.
There is, evidently, no rest for the high achiever.
“It’s handy from my perspective,” artistic director Desmond Earley tells me later. “There are a lot of skills at my disposal. They are a very motivated bunch and they’re happy to pitch in with organisation and marketing.”
As the scholars gear up for their forthcoming recital with the EU Chamber Orchestra and soloists Cara O'Sullivan, Sharon Carty, Eamonn Mulhall and Brendan Collins, they won't have to worry too much about the sales pitch. GF Handel's Messiahis not only an Eastertime favourite, it is also, by virtue of its history, a national claim.
"Because Messiahwas originally performed in Dublin it has that special resonance for Irish people," says Earley. "Our neighbours like to claim it for themselves because he is buried over there. But it's not an English piece. As a composer Handel is German and Italian with only a few English influences coming through. Think about For Onto Us A Child Is Born. It's an Italian cantata for two sopranos and it starts on a downbeat. An English language composer wouldn't have done that. And we did have it first. Always fun to remind certain people."
This is Earley's second crack at Messiahas a conductor, although he's familiar with the material as an organist and harpsichordist. Despite the ubiquity of the book, there are, he reckons, plenty of pitfalls for the Handel novice.
"The sheen can come off it a bit," he admits. "It takes a lot of great voices to carry it and not every recital can match up. Not everybody has the time and the facilities to get the tight, focused approach that we have. And there are choral groups that dust it off every year just because it's Easter. It can be disheartening to either perform or hear that 'we like sheep have gone astray' approach. Let's all do Messiahagain. You end up with that dead 's effect'. 'For unto ussssss a child is born'."
Rest assured, there will be no inappropriate consonants when this crack team of collegiate chorists take the stage. The score is attended to in the closest possible detail and there are no signs of sheep gone astray in Memorial Hall.
“This music comes alive in the detail,” says the conductor. “The secret is to really look at the phrasings, the articulation and really study the text. Suddenly it’s crisp and enjoyable and fresh. It’s like a different piece.”
He’s not wrong. Even in rehearsals, the UCD Choral Scholars have an impressive handle on their Handel. The notes are individually clear and exact. The parts are precisely weighted to form a golden mean which the architects of this building might have appreciated.
“People forget this music was built from the bass up,” notes Earley. “Nowadays we tend to focus on the soprano parts but the upper registers were never intended to be dominant. Quite the opposite.”
For Earley, a self-confessed Baroque geek and the proud owner of a single register harpsichord, the secret lies in careful reading and dedicated study.
“I was always fascinated by the 48 fugues so I studied organ once my voice broke,” he recalls. “My first teacher Charles Pearson was old school. He wouldn’t allow me to play a piece until I had learned a new technique. By the time I got to UCD to study music, I knew an awful lot of the material. In order to be a musician you have to understand the roots of composition and the text. The text determines where stress comes from. There are very dramatic passages and that drama comes from delayed notes and accents. It’s the difference between ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘How are you doing?’ The emphasis is just as important in music as it is in speech.”
From next year, the UCD Choral Scholars will be a cornerstone in the college’s various blossoming scholarship programmes. There are new deals in place between the sports department and Leinster rugby and, from September, pilot schemes for orchestral scholars and drama scholars.
“The idea of the UCD Ad Astra Academy for Performing Arts is that we want to be able to bring on people with the capacity to be professional musicians and actors while offering the option of an insurance degree,” says Earley. “There’s a real strength in our Choral Scholars. I hit them with an awful lot of music and learning in the first few weeks but I do promise them it will distinguish them from everybody else. If you’ve come through the UCD Choral Scholars, you’ve worked with other disciplines, you’ve worked toward goals, you’ve worked in a group and you’ve worked very hard. There’s nothing you won’t be able to take on.”
He’s not kidding. Those bright young things seem to fly through the bullet-stopping Oxford editions of the score. We don’t suppose they’ll be weeping in the manner of the composer by the end of their recital.
“That is a good story,” laughs Earley. “I’m not sure anyone believes the business about the servant finding Handel weeping because he’d just seen angels. But it’s a very useful image. And given that he did write it in less than 30 days he must have been at least a bit emotional.”
UCD Choral Scholars present Handel’s Messiahat O’Reilly Hall on April 20th and St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, on April 21st; ucdchoralscholars.ie
