The Covid Diaries 47: Candlelit Concerts at Southwark Cathedral

A review of a new series of concerts staged in Southwark Cathedral. In which the music was lovely but the social distancing not so great.

And Now For Something A Little Different

Having never been to Southwark Cathedral at all in my ten years of London living, I have now been twice in a couple of weeks. The first time was to see a little free exhibition Treasures from the Thames of mudlarked bits and pieces. It was on to coincide with the publication of Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem (on until 30 November). The second time was to see chamber orchestra London Concertante perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by candlelight. This was the first in a new series of musical evenings with social distancing now in place.

Big disclaimer required now: I am no expert when it comes to classical music. I can describe it for you and tell you what I liked and didn’t like, but will not be able to give you a proper review of how good or otherwise the performers were! What I can do though is start with the programme, which was as follows:

• Mozart: Divertimento in D
• Elgar: Serenade for Strings
• Bach: Concerto for Two Violins
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons

Plus there were a couple of shorter bits interspersed with the official programme, but I’m not sure what they were. Other than that (from memory) one came off a ‘Gypsy Tango’ album recorded by London Concertante.

Southwark Cathedral Concerts: Perfect For Classical Music Beginners

For a classical music beginner, what I liked about the programme was that it seemed quite well-balanced. Something old, something new, and all that. What I also liked was that London Concertante did not assume a lot of prior knowledge. They explained each piece to the audience in terms of its musical value as well as its historic context. In particular for Four Seasons, before each season we had an explanation of what effects Vivaldi was trying to achieve. It was interesting knowing what to listen for: a barking dog, drunken peasants, winter rain tapping on window panes, etc.

I could hear most of what they described, giving me a completely new appreciation for otherwise quite familiar music. I now understand how each of the movements relates to the given season other than just being a bit atmospheric. Other than that, I quite liked the Elgar because I haven’t heard a lot of his work before, and liked the explanation about his continental influences as a Catholic. The Mozart and Bach were perfectly nice, particularly hearing the harpsichord coming through the string parts.

A Beautiful Setting

In terms of the venue, I found good and bad points in having concerts like this staged in Southwark Cathedral. We had purchased mid-range tickets, so were sitting centrally but quite near the back. What I had sort of forgotten or not quite thought of with a church setting is that, unlike traditional concert venues, the floor is flat. Therefore what you get a really good view of is the head of the person in front of you.

Nonetheless by looking around said head I could see what was going on. Plus I could alternate this with looking at the beautiful ceiling and pillars, which you can’t do in a normal auditorium. I did wonder though whether being so far back made some of the music sound a little indistinct. I will consider upgrading myself if I go back in future. In any event, the candlelight part of the evening was lovely. It was so nice to see the cathedral illuminated like that, and the perfect counterpoint to the strings and harpsichord.

Difficulties With Covid Measures

What I thought wasn’t managed quite so well on this evening out was the social distancing. To start with, the process to get in was quite slow. This resulted in rather a long queue with mixed efforts at distancing. The delay was that you first pass someone holding the QR code for the NHS App; and then check in with the next person; before going to see a third person to tell you where your seating area was. I think it may have been smoother if the QR code had been available while queueing, for example, to speed up that first check.

Once inside, seats were in ‘bubbles’ of two, but not very distanced. Perhaps there was technically a metre between rows, but by the time everyone was seated it felt a bit less. It made the odd ‘chin-breather‘ with mask down feel like a big deal. The other thing about having seating areas rather than assigned seats was that you would see someone sit down to try out the view, then change their minds and sit elsewhere. Unsuspecting people would then come along and take the unsanitised seats later on. And finally during the interval there was a lot of wandering about and a long queue for the toilets that was quite near where we were sitting. So overall it wasn’t the most comfortable experience. I think an announcement or two about what was expected of everyone would have gone a long way.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t mind mask etiquette, however, the candlelit concerts at Southwark Cathedral are a nice evening out. They provide a bit of variety in a cultural programme that is still lacking most classical performances. Opera and ballet, for example, I don’t imagine will be properly back until they can stop worrying about social distancing in the orchestra pit and pack the house to ensure they break even. London Concertante are a lot of fun and have a varied repertoire at their disposal. So if you see any events either at Southwark or elsewhere, they come with the Salterton Arts Review’s seal of approval.

On its own merits: 4/5
Implementing Covid rules: 2/5

Various dates, for more details see: https://cathedral.southwark.anglican.org/whats-on/