Individuality and homogeneity
One of the most important Hungarian choirs, the internationally respected Purcell Choir, was founded exactly a quarter of a century ago by György Vashegyi.
Now teaching at the Liszt Academy, Gergely Fazekas asked him about the formation of his choir, his ideal sonority and his future plans on the occasion of the Purcell Choir's birthday concert – a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor in the Liszt Academy Grand Hall.
- Do you remember how the Purcell Choir was formed 25 years ago?
- In 1986 I met Helmuth Rilling and visited him on a study tour for the first time in the autumn of 1987 when East Germany still existed. In the summer of 1988, Rilling invited John Eliot Gardiner to Stuttgart to hold a masterclass. At that time, although I had been accepted into the Liszt Academy, I had not yet started my studies, but I took part in Gardiner's Stuttgart course. His own group, the Monteverdi Choir, exerted a tremendous influence on me and when the first semester began at the Liszt Academy, I began thinking that I would also like to create something similar. We gave our first concert on May 1st 1990, on the very day of the first parliamentary session of the new democratically-elected parliament.
Photo: Liszt Academy / Sándor Benkő
- What brings stability to the choir?
- Hungarian choral culture is unbelievably rich, but it adheres to a quite different ideal. What is most important is homogeneity: that each vocal part – and indeed the whole choir – should sing with a unified sound. This means that the singers cannot really rely on their own personalities, so they try to avoid soloistic vocal colour. It is rather like a French park: if it sticks out, it gets chopped down! Please don't misunderstand me, this is not a value judgement, because Hungarian choral life has received considerable international acknowledgement (through competitions and the like), which proves that it embodies fantastic values. But here at the Purcell Choir, following the English model, we believe the active and individual voice is important, as well as the individual responsibility of the musicians. Of course, the activities of individuals must be aimed in the right musical direction, but when this happens, a different kind of homogeneity is created – that resembling an English park.
Photo: Liszt Academy / Sándor Benkő
- And the proof of the pudding is that René Jacobs invited the Purcell Choir to a production in Norway of Bach's B Minor Mass. Will there be similar projects?
- Jacobs was very satisfied with us and we are planning a continuation. In January we will be working with both Ádám Fischer and Philippe Herreweghe, and we have been trying for years to establish some sort of collaboration with Gardiner. Otherwise, we will be performing Bach's B minor mass at The Purcell Choir's birthday concert (April 26th 2015) at the Liszt Academy. We sang it for the first time fifteen years ago, and we believe it is worthwhile showing again what we can do with the piece, especially as we are now on the verge of ‘adulthood’!