Tour de France July 2018 – memories

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Extracts from emails sent by soprano Sue Pennington

We had 4 nights in the Loire on the way down. Very quiet, hot. Rode the bikes each day for an hour or two trying to get back into the swing. Then a long travelling day on Tuesday to get us within striking distance of Perigueux. A shady site and we found our first hill to ride up.

On Thursday we  came into the motorhome park in central Perigueux just on the river below the cathedral. A wonderful city with Roman sections and a mediaeval quarter.  The cathedral is sensational.

Friday

On Friday morning we met up with the rest of the Sheffield contingent  and four French choirs for the first rehearsal in the cathedral. The building is huge and the  acoustic is to match. It’s a  very porridge-like sound.

The morning rehearsal in the cathedral was followed by a coach journey of about an hour to a large  village where one of our members has a house. The whole place was en fete for a classical music weekend and we were the main act!  Bunting all over the village and huge banners in the church porch with our pictures on! We rehearsed in the afternoon then had tea on tables under trees in the village square before the evening concert. We sang a whole programme of unaccompanied music most of it very beautiful. Some Parry and Stanford church music along with spirituals from Child of Our Time and Hail Smiling Morn as an encore. Darius played some Bach. It was a great experience to sing in a chamber choir of only 50 or so. We had a good audience and a healthy collection at the end. Very late by the time we got to bed. Still over 30 degrees.

Saturday

Saturday was Bastille day. The morning was free so we rode along the river. There is a 10 mile long cycle track. The 2 pm rehearsal was quite mad. It turns out some of the French choirs are singing only the Dubois. One is singing just the first and last bits. Another mob are singing just in the Brahms. Turns out only we are singing it all! You can imagine the amount of  confusion as hundreds of people tried to work out the logistics.  Even inside the cathedral it was wickedly hot. We stood for 3 hours in  very cramped conditions with echoing porridge all around. There was just time for a shower back at the shack before an evening reception at a grand building in town. Food, wine, beer, speeches, singing. At 11pm it moved down to the river for the bastille fireworks. A impressive display. Another late night. Still  very hot.

Sunday

Jelly legs after the 4 hour standing marathon in the cathedral but looking forward to the day. An easy morning cycling along the riverside bike track then off to the cathedral  for  the afternoon rehearsal.

The city is gearing up for a massive night as France prepare to play the world cup final in Russia. Big screens going up in the streets. Flags everywhere.

The scale of the concert matches the venue. There is a Mass  commissioned  by the city from Dubois to mark the end of the war 100 years ago and rarely performed since. It needs 2 organs, which this cathedral has, plus orchestra and brass group so no wonder it is rarely done. Also on the programme is half of Brahms Requiem and a brass fanfare written for the occasion plus some organ stuff written by Darius. Also we are promised various local military groups marching with banners etc. Of course it coincides with the football world cup final so it might affect audience size. Wonderful soloists. The soprano is from Barnsley.

Inside the cathedral was even more confusion. The final rehearsal of the Brahms sounded more like a first run through.  However, enough people came through good for  the performance to be absolutely splendid. I have never been in the middle of so much sound!

When we came out the city was in uproar. We returned briefly to the bus for a hose down then went back. The streets were clogged with massive crowds of cheering people. The roads were full of cars with 10 or 12 people in each. On the car roofs and bonnets, half hanging out of windows hooting and cheering and flag waving. We found a rather quieter square for a meal. It took an hour to walk back to the camp. We fell into conversation with all sorts of complete strangers.

Around 5 am a huge storm started. Bouncing rain thunder and spectacular lightning. Maybe a  bit fresher on Monday.

A view of the Dubois concert from  the back row

We had a very weak grasp of the logistics of the concert in my area of the stage. The whole experience was full of surprises. We were always present and always standing more or less in the same place on the steps of the stage but around us washed what seemed to be an ever changing cast of other singers.

During each of the 3 rehearsals we introduced ourselves to more new people. At times we were so crushed we could not all open our copies at the same time.  At the final rehearsal, an hour before the performance, an enormous bass appeared amongst us as if dropped from the sky. A giant of a man. He was smiling but silent and immovable. He wiped out any chance some of us had of a view of the conductor. When we next returned to the stage to sing the concert he had gone. Like a mirage.

Although the Dubois was the main event there was also half a Brahms Requiem, a complex brass fanfare, a few readings and some veterans with flags. A packed itinerary. We sang the Brahms first but with only some of the French singers so this was quite  hard going in the porridge-like acoustic. The advantage was that any mistakes became mashed in with the echo. Three good soloists. The soprano was from Barnsley. Next up was the Dubois.

Some of the French singers seemed to have an innate understanding of the choreography which we never really achieved until we watched it happen during the performance.  We sang the beginning of the Dubois from behind the audience with a cast of thousands. During this item France scored in the world cup final and we heard the roar of the fans watching in the streets outside.  There was a fair walk round to the stage for the rest of the piece during which half the singers dropped out. For the final 2 pages we were re-joined by the missing singers. Darius extemporised  on the organ to cover the joins.

Now girls,  the dress code. We were in our usual things, all long and long sleeves. It was 35 degrees. There was  nowhere to change except the toilets of surrounding cafes. We were not looking our best. Many of the French singers re appeared immaculately groomed in chic little black dresses. Lace,  strappy, cool and elegant.

The Dubois mass is scored for 2 organs, orchestra, brass ensemble, chorus and soloists. No wonder it rarely gets an outing. Our performance featured 4 French choirs as well as ourselves.  Perigueux cathedral has the requisite  2 organs. One in the sky played  by Christopher who seems to be something of a local celebrity and and one at ground level played  by Darius who had also written some extra  bits for  Christopher to play. The choral parts are not complicated, sophisticated or musically very interesting but the piece is well suited to be performed in this immense space. Nothing subtle but loads of drama and big moments.

Somehow, out of all the confusion and heat a performance was wrought.  It was imperfect perhaps but just wonderful. An immense privilege to be part of it. Thankyou, thankyou to those who made it happen.

Itinerary

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