Craig Jessop has done some remarkable concerts since becoming music director of the American Festival Chorus in Logan. In the past he’s led his ensemble in several great choral masterpieces, including Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
This weekend he’s got French repertoire in his sights.
On Friday he’ll be leading his singers in two well known and stunning works: Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.
Craig Jessop
“I’ve conducted both several times, but this will be the first time I’m doing them in Logan,” Jessop said in a phone interview with Reichel Recommends.
While both are distinctly French in their harmonic language, putting the two works together on the same program offers some interesting contrasts, Jessop said. “No two pieces can be more unlike. There is a sassiness to the Poulenc, but there are also moments of supreme beauty.” These divergent aspects make the work appealing. “It’s one of my favorite pieces.”
Jessop said that Poulenc’s sacred music isn’t very spiritual — at least not in the way one expects music written to a liturgical text to be. “But what you find in the Gloria is the whole human experience, all the pain and joy of being alive.”
In many ways the Gloria has the same kind of child like wonder at God’s creations one finds in the music of Olivier Messiaen. Both composers expressed their feelings towards religion in a deeply moving, yet unique, way. “Poulenc had a profound religious experience when he went on a pilgrimage to the abbey at Rocamadour, France, where there is a shrine to the Black Virgin,” Jessop said, adding that the visit made a lasting imprint on Poulenc and on his sacred works. To Jessop that’s not a mystery; he understands why. “I was there [at Rocamadour] and sat in the same chapel. The statue is quite primitive in design, but it’s quite amazing.”
Fauré’s Requiem goes in a different direction and is, in Jessop’s opinion, “sublime and reassuring.” It’s a work that the maestro has wanted to do for a long time. “It speaks to me,” he said. He is especially taken with the Agnus Dei. “It is so healing. There is so much hope, love and assurance for the soul of the departed in this movement. I love it. It’s what I want sung at my funeral.”
Joining Jessop and the choir will be soprano Jennifer Welch-Babidge and baritone Darrell Babidge.
The orchestra for the concert is made up of faculty members from Utah State University, along with a number of freelancers from Cache Valley and Salt Lake City. “My stipulation for doing this concert was to have a professional orchestra,” Jessop said. “I’ve been blessed to have many musicians who have been loyal to me for many years. I’m very grateful for that.”
A week after this concert, Jessop will direct a performance of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion in Logan. “It’s going to be a small choir of 20 singers,” he said. Twelve of the singers are USU students and eight are from the American Festival Chorus. And with two exceptions, the solo parts will also be taken by students. “It’s important to feature these students,” Jessop said. “I’m very proud of these kids; they’re doing a tremendous job.”
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: Poulenc’s Gloria and Fauré’s Requiem, American Festival Chorus, Craig Jessop, conductor
- Venue: Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan
- Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. March 27
- Tickets: $12-$20 general, children 8 years and older admitted, no babes in arms
- Phone: 435-752-0026
- Web: www.americanfestivalchorus.org
- ALSO: J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, with 20-member choir consisting of USU’s choral singers and American Festival Chorus, Craig Jessop, conductor, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 85 E. 100 North, Logan, 7:30 p.m. April 3, free (suggested donation is $10).