Reviews
Concert : Saturday 10th December 2011; with the Choir of Hertingfordbury Cowper C of E Primary School
It's not just Gareth Malone who can inspire men, women and children to sing - you only had to hear Saturdays Christmas concert given by Hertford Choral Society and the choir of Hertingfordbury Cowper Primary School to realise that. Musical Directors Derek Harrison and Katie Neilson's imaginative seasonal choices made for a thoroughly enjoyable programme without a "turkey" in sight!
The indispensable Nicholas Robinson provided brilliant accompaniments on piano and organ, augmented by the accomplished trumpet soloist Paul Mayes. Even suffering from a bad cold , Paul was every inch a star performer, blowing us all away with his own variations on "Angels from the Realms of Glory" and Harry James' "Concerto for Trumpet". It was a masterclass in trumpet virtuosity.
Compere Roger Mullis contributed much more than a good-humoured commentary. The Chelsea scarf he presented to Arsenal fan Nicholas Robinson was accepted with only slight protest, but Nick had the ladies of the Chorus on side with the bright red scarves they were wearing.
Joining with Derek Harrison , Roger sang in a counter-tenor duet of Purcell's "Sound the Trumpet" to the surprise and delight of the listeners.
Katie Nielson's 24 strong choir from Hertingfordbury Cowper Primary School tackled their adventurous and jazzy programme with confidence and a great sense of fun - especially in Sheep, Sheep Sheep. Their recorder players added a special atmosphere in "Midnight" and the "Christmas Cake" they "baked " with HC went down very well indeed. I wish Katie had been my music teacher at school.
It is always a pleasure to hear the many strengths of the Choral Society. Harold Chaplin's lyrical solo in Rutter's "Down in yon forest" chimed with the gentleness of this harmonious work. My only wish was to have been able to hear this and some of the other softer passages of the night with greater ease. By contrast Hilary Laidler's reading in "Another 12 Days" was full of feisty, hand - on-hip attitude. Don't buy her socks this Christmas!
The Chorus was in good form, singing descants with the Audience carols, punching out rag-time rhythms and ending with the powerful staccato lines of "Sir Christemas". A great performance from individuals from our own local community.
New members are always welcome. Call David Benson on 01920 872056 if you are interested in joining . You'll find a warm welcome at rehearsals at Sele School on Tuesdays at 7.30pm .
Concert : Saturday 12th November 2011; with the Chameleon Arts Orchestra
Hertford Choral Society's concert in All Saints' Church on November 12th was described as an "eclectic" journey and, my goodness, it was - choral and instrumental music from the 16th and 20th centuries,stopping on the way in 1736 and 1885.
The choir, with the brass and percussion of The Chameleon Orchestra, began with 5 Renaissance songs and dances that suited the acoustic well. After a nervous start, the singers produced a splendid climax to the final verse of Arbeau's Pavane. This tune, made familiar in Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite, provided a tenuous link to the next work by Warlock's friend Gerald Finzi. Finzi's Eclogue for piano and strings is pastoral and melancholic with swells of emotion that were beautifully interpreted by pianist Elizabeth Shepherd. She showed mastery of an entirely different style in Constant Lambert's Rio Grande with jazz, Brazilian dances and abundant flamboyance. Here, the choir made a confident entrance and, skilfully controlled by Derek Harrison, continued to negotiate their way effectively through unexpected turns of mood and style, integrating well with orchestra and piano. Some of Sacheverell Sitwell's words were not clear, but his description of dancing and singing was beautifully delivered. Kate Symonds-Joy, a young mezzo soprano gaining national acclaim, provided the soaring solo.
Bruckner's Ecce Sacerdos combines trombones and organ with taxing choral parts, particularly upper voices, but they coped well and the plainsong Gloria was lovely. Peter Jaekel was the soloist in Handel's G minor Organ Concerto with a sensitively ornamented performance, but the string accompaniment lacked vitality and period style. John Rutter's Gloria ended the programme, demonstrating more complicated and harmonically interesting writing than many of his very popular carols. The choir needed some athleticism and were mostly successful, although sometimes overpowered by the brass. This was a most enterprising concert and a tribute to the innovation of Derek Harrison and
his enthusiastic choir.
Jennifer Hopkins
13 November 2011
Concert : Saturday 25th June 2011; Saxophones and Voices Together; a varied programme with the National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain
Hertford Choral Society teamed up with the National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain to deliver an enterprising, entertaining and hugely enjoyable concert in All Saints Church on Saturday 25th.
This latest exploration in a succession of imaginative pairings showed its great strengths in the opening number. Handels’ Zadok the Priest was lively, crisp and bounced along with a tremendous sense of life and joy. The following transcription of Bach’s Fugue in G Minor was a foot-tapping/head-nodding dance.
The Saxophone Choir brought some of their ‘party pieces’ including exhilarating renditions of ‘Dick Barton – Special Agent’ and Mozart’s Magic Flute overture, an impressively choreographed treatment of Bohemian Rhapsody and a luscious treatment of Ketelbey’s Sanctuary of the Heart.
We were also reminded of a local connection in Simon’s Mangrove Groove a piece commissioned for Simon Balle School by the Choir’s composer in residence Roger May.
HCS treated us to a very well prepared and clear rendition of two movements of Elgar’s Bavarian Highlands and a well controlled rendition of Morten Lauridsen’s Dirait-on. For me the upper voices rather outshone the gentlemen in terms of expressive lyricism and delivered pin point accuracy of tuning. The same could be said of the spirited rendition of Chilcott’s Singing by Numbers thought the gents redeemed themselves in the well executed slides during Cruet MacNightshade (words by Spike Milligan!).
The one piece that did not come off for me was Elgar’s Spirit of the Lord. The rich sound of the Saxophone Choir meant the ethereal opening and closing were far too solid and earth-bound – with the Saxophone Choir never really managing to achieve a true pianissimo and drowning the singers on occasion.
Nevertheless this was a very worthwhile exploration of the scope of an unusual collaboration and well worth hearing – as evidenced by the vivacity of Bernstein’s West Side Story and the final Over the Rainbow with a (conscious?) tribute to the late and great George Shearing in the final harmonisation.
The concert deserved and received a standing ovation.
More please!
Martin G Penny
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Concert : Saturday 2nd April 2011; DYSON Agincourt and JENKINS Stabat Mater; All Saints’ Church, Hertford
CHORAL CONCERT DELIGHTS.
Full marks to the Hertford Choral Society for their adventurous Spring Concert programme performed at All Saints Church on Saturday night. A large and appreciative audience warmly applauded the Choir, the Brandenburg Sinfonia, soloist, Katie Bray and conductor, Derek Harrison, who admirably directed resources. Derek’s introduction of Agincourt to the audience greatly helped the audience to grasp the work new to most.
Dyson’s Agincourt , composed in 1956 Petersfield Music Festival, began the concert. The Cantata includes settings of five linked prologues from Shakespeare’s Henry V and concludes with the rousing Agincourt Hymn – “Our King went forth to Normandy”. Although there are echoes of Elgar, and his contemporaries, the work has surprising originality, rich harmonies, excellent orchestration and glorious choral writing. In short it’s music which deserves to be better known, and this admirable performance will help to give Dyson and ‘Agincourt’ its rightful place in the British Choral tradition.
There were many rousing moments – the images of war, the excitement of battle preparation, and the finale. The ominous and bleak night music, the men’s choir’s “we band of brothers” and the Agincourt Hymn were particularly effective.
Karl Jenkins’ ‘Stabat Mater’ (2008) is a relatively new work in what might be described as a fusion-populist style. The heart of the text is the Latin C13th poem with other texts from English, Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew . There are clearly identifiable cultural idioms in the music too – chants, single and two-note fanfares, middle eastern scales, melodic decoration, and instrumental sonorities (especially from percussion and Cor anglais).
In Katie Bray’s rich alto voice we see a rising star. Her range is wide, and she has real tonal depth to her low register. Her singing of a simple Arabic Incantation from the west door (accompanied only by the quietest bass drone) was deeply moving. The Lament (by Carol Barratt) was sung from the conductor’s podium. The idea of using the soloist from different parts of the church and in procession, as in ‘Now my life is only weeping’, gave interesting sound perspectives to the performance.
The final movement, ‘Paradisi Gloria’ conveyed the images of judgement day, with strong rhythmic impetus, the piling up of rhythmic and melodic patterns, together with fearful horn blasts. It seems that the work not only gave a view of the early Church in a Middle Eastern setting, but it also gave insights into universal religious experience across the centuries and across cultures. Like ‘Adiemus’, there is little doubt that Stabat Mater will become a very popular choral work. The Brandenburg Orchestra gave both stylish support and leadership in these two varied works. While, at times the orchestral sound swamped the choir, they helped to increase the choral effort in reaching a very high standard. Problems in balance relate more to the positioning of the choir and the orchestra and the church acoustics. It serves to emphasise just how badly off Hertfordshire is for an acoustically designed concert hall.
To all concerned – BRAVO!
John Kitchingman
HCS is a Registered Charity, number 276220
Photographs © Paul Long Photography