Arts desk review traces of the white rose
We’ve received a five star review from The Arts Desk for our recent performance of Traces of the White Rose for Britten Pears Arts.
“…the balances were exactly right (★★★★★). Many of the German pieces in the first half reflected Scholl’s frequent observation that “music softens the soul”, from Clara Schumann’s “Abendfeier in Venedig” to Mauersberger’s Psalm 39 setting, and back to Bach and Schutz. But the tougher way was seeded in Cecilia McDowall’s deliberately uneasy blend of words by Edith Cavell and Seán Street. And the grit in the oyster came between letters from prison – fathers to wives and the children in whose future they believed, the young White Rose folk with a more desperate, isolated yearning to stay strong – in the shape of Philip Moore’s Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You could connect these to the world of War Requiem: the keening minor seconds of “Morning Prayers”, the tritones of “Prayers in Time of Distress”, the tortuous way to major triads – but they had very much an identity of their own.
The killer blow came with each strain of Ethel Smyth’s part-song on the chorale tune to “Komm, süsser Tod” as photographs of the White Rose participants appeared slowly, one by one, with dates to drive home how short were the lives of many of them. But what a legacy.