Meet Adrian Partington
Your first Three Choirs was as a Worcester Chorister in 1969, moving forward to 2023, you are the Artist Director, what are some of the significant changes you have seen to the festival?
Speaking as a conductor, the principal change between 1969 and 2023 is the size of the chorus. It used to be twice as big! However, the modern choruses are much better rehearsed. There used to be a gap of several weeks in the chorus rehearsal process between the beginning of July (when the schools’ holidays began) and the start of the festival in mid-August! Unbelievable! It seems immodest to say so, but I closed this gap for the 2010 Gloucester Festival- this will be my small legacy to the Festival-and now the chorus rehearsals run continuously into the festival week. The festival is held earlier in the year than it used to be; this is also a great help to the preparation of the chorus.
Going back to 1969, can you remember what you sang?
I can remember with total clarity what was performed in the evening concerts in 1969. The Choristers sang in all the evening concerts; I found the week the most thrilling of my young life. The principal works were: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Janacek’s “Glagolitic Mass”, Elgar’s Gerontius, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Jonathan Harvey’s extraordinary Ludus amoris, some pieces by Luigi Dallapiccola, a commission by Elizabeth Maconchy and so on; it was a fantastic programme!
You’re conducting Elgar’s The Apostles with us this year. It’s a deeply powerful work, filled with drama, emotion, and storytelling. How do you prepare for a performance of such a complex piece of music?
“The Apostles” is a wonderful work! Elgar’s imagination worked without restraint in this piece- the colours and effects are quite astonishing. It is the least known of Elgar’s big oratorios, probably because it is long, difficult and expensive to put on. I am very pleased that this year’s performance will be my third- both the previous performances were with the Philharmonia, and having already known the music as a rehearsal pianist for forty years, I feel quite comfortable with the difficulties of the work, especially its frequent changes of speed and operatic recitatives. To prepare for this year’s performance, I have studied at least one movement every day since early April, and I went to hear Sir Mark Elder conduct it in Manchester a few weeks ago. This was a wonderful performance, and I learned a lot from it.
The Three Choirs Festival has a rich history of premiering major choral and orchestral works, particularly by British composers. Can you tell us more about the legacy of the Three Choirs Festival and its importance in the British classical music landscape?
The Three Choirs Festival I think, has a reputation for being stuck in the world of Elgar and George Bernard Shaw, of tweed suits and morning dress for concerts. In my view, this reputation is wholly unjustified! The TCF has always been forward-looking and has tried to encourage new music and young musicians. It has always commissioned new works: the list of TCF commissions includes Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis, the Finzi Clarinet Concerto, and the astonishing Jonathan Harvey piece, which I mentioned earlier.
This year we are giving the first performances of music by Eleanor Alberga, Ron Corp and Randall Svane, and second performances of major works by Francis Pott, Graham Fitkin, and even Herbert Howells. There is new music wherever you look in the programme, in fact. So I think we actually deserve a reputation as a dynamic, forward-looking festival. We are certainly the only provincial festival that still dares to programme new or unfamiliar large-scale choral works, such as Francis Pott’s astounding a Song on the end of the world this year. This is our real legacy to the musical life of the nation. We need to sell our message better, I think.
What has been your highlight of the festival’s collaboration with the Philharmonia?
My own Three Choirs Festival Philharmonia highlight is having had the privilege of conducting the orchestra at all! I’ve conducted the orchestra about thirty times now, and every concert was a thrill. I would like to mention three performances which particularly excited me: Elgar’s Falstaff in 2013, Shostakovich’s Symphony No.12 in 2017, and Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust in 2019.
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