Archive Page "90th Anniversary Concert"
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90th Anniversary Concert - 18 11 23
The Programme:
Please click on the programme for a better view
The stirring and majestic ‘Zadok the Priest’ began our 90th Anniversary Concert. Its famous opening starts triumphantly, the music ever expanding, demonstrating authority and power as Solomon is anointed King with God’s blessing. The acoustics of St Paul are so good that no detail was lost. The coronation music is full of excitement and is meant to impress. What a way to start- immediately the tone of this anniversary concert in November is gloriously uplifting.
Each movement of our next program item, the ‘Patchwork Mass’ is taken from a different larger work which the choir has already sung and has significance to its members. Each person in the audience and in the choir will have their own personal highlights, some overlapping. For many in the audience, particularly those who didn’t know the work, Karl Jenkins’ ‘Benedictus’ stood out as a beautiful piece of choral music, the soaring notes and repeated phrases calming and yet uplifting.
The more complex pieces such as the ‘Kyrie’ from the ‘Great’ Mass in C which opened our ‘Patchwork’ Mass, Stanford’s ‘Gloria’ in B flat and ‘Dona Nobis’ from the Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach went well. These were new to me and demanding to master; in the performance the tenors sang them almost as one voice so we were very happy afterwards. Our md, Peter is also a brilliant composer and we were thrilled to sing the ‘Agnus Dei’ from his Requiem Mass which he wrote for ADCS; this lovely reflective piece was my personal favourite. Technically this concert was excellent with alto, bass, soprano and tenor sections acquitting themselves very well. A special mention must go to the soprano soloist Veronica Gilbert whose wonderful performance in the ‘Kyrie’ brought us close to tears.
After the break we sang Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ in D. The music is joyous and the audience were very appreciative of this well-known dramatic masterpiece. Thank you to all the soloists, drawn from within the choir, who sang so beautifully: Sue Baines-MacNeill [contralto]; Frances Buckingham [alto] and Vicky Johnson [soprano]. The delightful duet ‘Laudamus te’ sung by Frances and Vicky was outstanding.
Thank you to Alan Gidney for his expert and sensitive organ playing and to our gifted md Peter Brown who showed the ability to conduct from the keyboard during parts of the ‘Goria’!
Thank you to Joyce Clayton, our amazing librarian, who regularly goes above and beyond, sourcing and dealing with all our choir music. Organising this interesting display which details the elements of our ‘Patchwork’ Mass and the significance behind each one for the society was a labour of love.
Happy memories! Thank you for looking back over a previous concert- you are a star for exploring our website!!
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