Choristers up close - Martin Hodson MBE
Martin Hodson MBE
Music Director: 1979 – 2015
Baritone: 2016 – present. Music Director Emeritus
How did you come to join Risca Male Choir?
In my early years as a musician, my vocal leaning was towards mixed choirs, solo work and operatic performances. I had worked frequently as an accompanist to choirs and vocal soloists and at that time was having piano lessons with the late Lyndon Hugh in Rogerstone, organ tuition with Robert Joyce at Llandaff Cathedral and vocal coaching with the late Gerald Davies at the Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.
In my early 30s I became accompanist to the famous Pendyrus Male Choir under the direction of Glynne Jones MBE. It was a short stay, but one that taught me much about working with men’s voices: Glynne had a great relationship with his choir and his rehearsals were always instructive and great fun! His repertoire was also one that appealed to me, with a good number of contemporary compositions, particularly by Welsh composers.
Early in 1979 I was approached by committee members of Risca Male Voice Choir (as it was then) with a view to enlisting me as its conductor following Alwyn Humphreys’ move to conduct Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir.
We met in The Darran pub and the late and much lamented Gerry Pritchard, who was then chairman, had the job of twisting my arm.
At the time, I wasn’t really interested in accepting that position, but said that I would help out until a new MD could be found.
The first session I directed took place at Risca Town Junior School and the choir was working on a male choir arrangement of a mixed choir piece by French composer, Charles Gounod. It was the very dramatic By Babylon’s Wave. The piece really appealed to me, particularly with my love of all things operatic, and I found it easy and exciting to draw as much from the choir as I could.
At the end, the men stood and applauded with great enthusiasm. The chemistry had kicked in and I was hooked.
I had promised to conduct a few concerts that were already lined up, and they swiftly followed, throwing me immediately into the deep end and the regular life of the choir. By this time I had accepted the position of MD, rapidly changing the title from Musical Director to Music Director!! Eventually too, the choir’s name itself changed from Risca Male Voice Choir to Risca Male Choir.
How long have you been with our choir, and what are the things which have helped you stay?
So we can say that the beginning of my time with RMC was in March 1979 and I retired from the role of MD in September 2015, having spent some 36 years in that position. I restarted as a singing member in January 2016 and am still in that position while also acting as accompanist, conductor, concert coordinator and in other roles when needed!
43 years with the choir sounds like a long time, but it’s gone quickly and I have never tired of being a part of what is a remarkable group of musicians.
My years with RMC have been such a pleasure for me: as MD, I’ve been able to conduct a huge range of styles and genres and have been astounded at all the things we’ve achieved musically. The reason I’m keen to stay as a singer is that the men are an amazing bunch of musicians who always want to achieve. Sometimes, working with them can be frustrating and difficult, but get through that, and the end result can often be mind blowing. They’re fun to be with, and over the years I’ve made so many good friends. I can tell you it will be very hard to leave when the time comes for me to do so.
What music do you particularly enjoy singing and why?
I’ll sing, teach, and conduct virtually anything I’m called on to do. My penchant is always for the more serious style of composition, and maybe pieces that are challenging. But there have been SO many pieces I’ve enjoyed both as a conductor and now as a singer.
Let me start with a few pieces that I wish I’d known about when I was MD. Robat Arwyn’s Afonaf Angel and Caradog Roberts’s Gwinllan a Roddwyd are two such items that I find completely satisfying, with their differing moods, melodies and harmonic patterns. Both composers have written so well for men’s voices.
Then my mind is a jumble of hundreds of items that I’ve enjoyed teaching and conducting over the years, sometimes maybe only once! Out of the jumble comes Bristol Roads, an amazing a cappella piece by Welsh composer Mervyn Burtch. Mervyn was a great fan of RMC and composed music especially for us. Bristol Roads was originally written for Glynne Jones and his Pendyrus Male Choir, and we performed it maybe 3 or 4 times, with Mervyn in the audience on at least one of those occasions. It was a piece I chose to include at my retirement concert in 2015.
Another work that comes to mind, and one that we only performed once, was Ständchen by Schubert. It’s written for men’s voices, mezzo-soprano solo and piano, and we sang it at the annual concert in 2004 with Welsh singer Leah-Marian Jones. You can hear it on Mining the Archives Volume 2. It’s a beautiful achievement all round and was performed without a rehearsal with our soloist!
Then there’s all those Disney songs, songs from the movies, show songs and lovely winter music. Let me pick out some favourites from those annual shows. From Disney, I can go the distance; from the Movies, Nella Fantasia; from the Shows Bring him home; and from Winter Wonderland, Still, still, still and Carol from an Irish Cabin.
Have you had any memorable musical moments that gave you pride and satisfaction?
In short, YES! Most emphatically YES!! My 36 years with RMC have been some of the most productive and active, dare I say, of any male choir. The pages of our website will reveal all our major achievements. (Search “ABOUT” – “Awards and Accolades”) for the list.
And if you ask me which one I remember as the very best of them all, I must pick out the first major achievement, which was winning the Male Choir of the Year competition in St David’s Hall in Cardiff in 1982. This was still quite early in my career with the choir and we had to win through preliminary rounds in order to get to the final. Our programme contained music by Gounod, Victoria, Verdi and the Beatles’ number When I’m 64 sung with movement! Yes, maybe the first male choir to introduce simple choreography! According to the South Wales Echo, RMC won “…because they produced the most virile sound which was in the best tradition of Welsh male choirs” Nigel Jarrett in the South Wales Argus declared “They’re the best in Wales”.
Then to a couple of performances that will stay long in my memory. The first of them was the full Requiem in D minor for men’s voices and orchestra by Italian composer Luigi Cherubini. I had worked with Glynne Jones on this with Pendyrus Male Choir when they performed it complete, with organ accompaniment. My ambition was to do the same with the orchestral accompaniment.
We learned it piecemeal over a number of years, introducing suitable movements into our concert repertoire, and eventually, on April 25th 1992, we gave the complete performance at the Risca Leisure Centre. We were accompanied by the amateur group, Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a huge achievement and a great success, winning much praise from all who attended the concert. The result was recorded and extracts can be heard on Mining the Archives Vol 1 CD. We also have the complete performance on CD along with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 – The Emperor, featuring choir friend, Christopher Knott, with me conducting.
The other performance of which I’m most proud is that of the cantata, Owain ab Urien. It was written by Welsh composer, David Wynne, and once again, it was Pendyrus Male Choir that had given its first and only performance of which I’m aware. Caerphilly Borough Council approached me to perform the work at a centenary celebration of the composer’s compositions: he had lived in Ystrad Mynach and taught at the (Royal) Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Much of the work is written in 6th century Welsh (by the poet Taliesin), with scoring for Brass Septet and a whole battery of percussion instruments.
The performance was given in the Great Hall of Caerphilly Castle on November 18th 2000 with much success and great acclaim. This was actually the first complete presentation of the cantata, as David Wynne had added a third, middle movement since Pendyrus had first performed it years previously. We have a recording of our performance and when I listen to it, I wonder how we ever learned such demanding music and gave such a professional account of it.
Tell us briefly about your life outside of choir
Life to me is basically all about music! It’s been my job and my hobby and has occupied most of my waking moments. In 1981 I started a mixed choir based in Crosskeys College which went on to sing some of the great choral repertoire, and actually joined forces with RMC to present two of Verdi’s great works, the opera, Nabucco and his gigantic Requiem. I’ve also conducted many music theatre works for local societies and sang lead roles in quite a few as well. I’ve also enjoyed singing song cycles by Schubert and Schumann accompanied by the great Christopher Knott already mentioned.
I was born in Risca and chose to live here permanently. I’ve recently celebrated 44 years together with my husband Tony, and we have two retrievers, Mabyn and Tirion. They’re a great part of our family and they sure get spoiled! Tony has given me the best support possible throughout my busy career, truly The wind beneath my wings. He’s made my life easy by giving me encouragement and never complaining about the amount of rehearsal time, concert time and time away on tours. Maybe he was trying to tell me something!!
Tony’s a great cook, and we have always enjoyed food and wine and entertaining. Together we like reading and watching TV, especially series from Downton to Line of Duty, though I must confess, we’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones!
We own a Victorian cottage (Chapel House built in 1846) in Pembrokeshire, near Newgale Beach, and really enjoy being there as often as possible. We love both our homes and have spent time and money improving them and making sure they are looked after.
In the past, we’ve enjoyed travelling, particularly to California where we have friends of 45 years. Now, we prefer to spend time and resources on our homes: travelling can be such a pain sometimes.
My musical passion is singing, and I pretty much love all kinds of vocal works by a wide range of composers. I still love listening to singers both old and new and would have to have the voices of at least Maria Callas and Carlo Bergonzi on my desert island! I’m always amazed at the beauty and technical ability of our own Dame Margaret Price (from Blackwood), so she as well!! And of course, there are countless others as well.
Favourite choral works and operas include Britten’s War Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. Oh, and dozens of others as well! There’s just not enough time to listen to everything. During lockdown, I spent many hours watching operas and choral works on video channels including all of Puccini’s operas and all of Verdi’s, sometimes in different versions!
A final thought, if you have one
So this is the philosophical bit, but I expect you can tell what I’m going to write about! Yes, you got it, music!
From my previous answers, you will now know that music has been my life. It has given me immense pleasure both as a performer and a listener.
I’ve referred to Glynne Jones more than once in this blog, and he used to say, “A musician is not a particular kind of person, but every person is a particular kind of musician”. And this is a premise that I have kept with me throughout my career. It means that we can all embrace and enjoy music, in all its vast forms, shapes, varieties and styles, whether it be as a performer or a listener, and music can in turn enrich our lives immeasurably.
For me, it has brought into my life many, many friends who share a passion for music, and I really enjoy meeting with those people and sharing thoughts and experiences, and believe me, they’re not all seriously boring and stuffy, but fun and full of laughter as well.
My life has been a particularly fulfilling one, not just because of the music, but beyond that, one that I’ve shared for 44 years with Tony and the many lovely dogs we’ve brought up over those years. If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing! So go get music and enjoy!
