THE PENKHULL FESTIVAL  - “MAY WALLEY’S FINEST OUTLET”

 

Incorporating notes and comments by the late respected Sentinel critic Jack Oliver*

Many will consider that May Walley’s greatest gift to the Potteries was The Penkhull Festival of Music.  A few will recall that it actually began in Trentham.

May had been the accompanist to the Etruscan Choral Society from 1940.  She took over as conductor of the mixed choir on the death of its founder/conductor, Harry Vincent, OBE, in 1958.  May led the choir until 1966, achieving much success with them in competitive festivals, notably at Leamington, Rhos and Middlesbrough, as well as making many concert appearances locally.

And it was with the Etruscans that she founded an annual Summer Festival of Music in Trentham in June 1961.  Inspired by her experience and love of the Aldeburgh Festival and Glyndebourne, May hoped to bring a little of their style – as well as good music – to the Potteries.  And the 7thC Parish Church at Trentham with its south door, which could be opened onto the Italianate grounds of Trentham Gardens during the interval, provided the ideal location.

The festivals, providing four concerts on consecutive evenings, served to introduce much music unfamiliar or previously unheard in the district.  They also presented artists of real distinction as well as giving opportunities for some talented members of the Society in solo roles. 

After five years, however, the Etruscans felt unable to continue with the festivals.  This led to May resigning as their conductor and in 1966 she initiated the Penkhull Festival series with the Bedford Singers. 

Under May Walley’s training and leadership, the Bedford Singers had been notably successful previously in competition.  Miss Walley specialised in the field of unaccompanied choral music and thus maintained a strong local tradition.

Her abilities in a wider sphere were recognised in her direction of a Massed Choirs Concert at the City of Stoke-on-Trent Festival of Music in 1965 in the Victoria Hall, Hanley.  On that occasion she conducted an ad hoc chorus, drawn from local societies, with the Manchester Mozart Orchestra and soloists in a performance of Michael Tippett’s “A Child of Our Time”

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She also organised and trained the chorus for a performance of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony under Albert Rosen during the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle Festival in 1974; and undertook a similar task for a performance of Berloz’s symphony ‘Funebre et Tromphale’ at a Havergal Brian Memorial Concert with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra in Hanley in 1973.

She and her singers have also been heard in some Handelian oratorios, notably ‘Soloman’ and ‘Messiah’, choosing in the latter to break away from “dragging traditional” tempi!

May Walley’s musicianship, dedication and enthusiasm found their finest outlet in the Festivals at Penkhull.

These were her idea.  She has provided the inspiration and the driving force. When ill-health forced May to retire in 2005, aged 94, she had arranged and directed 40 festivals at Penkhull. 
The series of annual festivals at Penkhull provided a valuable addition to the cultural life of the City.  Introducing much unfamiliar and worthwhile music, in particular widening the range of music heard here and at the same time presenting a number of artists, singers and instrumentalists of distinction, many of whom would have not otherwise been heard in Stoke-on-Trent.

The artists have included:
• Alfreda Hodgson and Sandra Browne (contraltos)
• James Bowman (counter-tenor) with Robert Spencer (lute)
• Ian Partridge (tenor), Brian Rayner Cook (baritone)
• Philip Jenkins, Keith Swallow and Yonty Solomon (piano)
• Janet Hilton (clarinet), Osian Ellis (harp), Julian Lloyd Webber and Timothy Hugh (cello)
• John Wilbraham (trumpet), Rosemary Furness (violin)
• The Lindsay and Sartori String Quartets
• The Trio of London, the Borean Wind Ensemble, the Jaye Consort of Viols, the early Music Consort with the late David Munro.
The festivals consciously gave a platform to young, up and coming and home grown talent.
Composers whose choral work has been performed by the Bedfords at Penkhull included many being heard for the first time in the district.  Among them were:
• Bernstein – ‘Chichester Psalms’;   Barber – ‘Hermit Songs’;   Copland – ‘In The Beginning’
• Havergal Brian – ‘Psalm 23’ and part songs;   Richard Rodney Bennett
• Britten – ‘Behold The Lamb’, ‘Ceremony of Carols’, ‘Gloriana Dances’, ‘Missa Brevis’, ‘The Burning Fiery Furnace’, ‘Noyes Fludde’ and many more
• Bruckner – Mass in E Minor;   Dvorak – ‘Requiem Mass’ and ‘Sabat Mater’
• Faure – Requiem and Messe Basse;   Haydn – ‘Nelson’ Mass
• Stravinsky – ‘Cantata’;   Verdi – ‘Four Sacred Pieces’
• Villa Lobos – ‘St Sebastian Mass’;   Telemann – ‘Cantata’

Programmes also featured shorter pieces, part songs and sacred music by composers from Areadelt and Byrd to Maw and Williamson by way of Bach and Handel; and early Spanish church music, music of the Tudor composers, as well as Holst, Vaughan Williams, Gardner, Joubert and Sieber.
On his retirement as Sentinel critic in 1987, in recognition of his guidance and advice over the years, the choir paid tribute to Jack Oliver by making him their first and only Honorary Vice-President.  In an acceptance letter, Jack wrote: In my retirement I shall be able to look back at the remarkable contribution which Miss Walley and the Bedford Singers have made to music in this district and I hope to have the opportunity to hear their future performances and to enjoy them, freed from the constraints of press deadlines.

* Compiled by Robert Dulson using notes written by Jack Oliver in 1977 which were given to May on his death.

 

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