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Welcome Back ‘Messiah’
At one time Doncaster heard Handel’s Messiah every year and more than once in many years. It now relies in that direction entirely on Doncaster Choral Society who nowadays perform it every other Christmas. This year, at Priory Methodist Church (15 December), it was Handel’s turn and unsurprisingly it was a sell-out. And the audience had good value for money.
In many performances of Messiah these days, live or recorded, it often seems to be the aim to take it, and especially the choruses, as fast as possible. Admittedly it is likely that Handel and his contemporaries favoured quickish tempi; but some present-day essays are so rapid that chorus and audiences alike run the risk of nervous breakdowns. That risk was not likely in this performance as conductor Alan Eost’s tempi, in the main, allowing his choristers a measure of comfort in projecting this well-loved music and his audience the opportunity to appreciate Handel’s marvellous contrapuntal invention (every bit as good as, if different from, Bach’s in the opinion of this writer at any rate). Balance between the parts was nicely judged and the climactic choruses had the requisite power.
The four soloists, a well-matched team, contributed much, all decorated their vocal lines in the manner of Handel’s period, though not excessively so. Doncaster’s own Alison Hudson (contralto) sang with both poise and warm intensity (she was given “But who may abide”, which is historically correct, and her “He was despised” was memorable indeed). It was a great pleasure to welcome back Martin Hindmarsh (tenor), whose experienced, intelligent singing was particularly notable in his sensitive Passion sequence. Bass Adrian Powter was new to the Society, but I hope we see him again, as his diction and vocal line alike were worthy of high praise and soprano Rebekah Coffey, a powerful and incisive voice belying her slight build and bringing many exciting moments which a slight glitch in “I know that my redeemer liveth” was of relatively little account; she included “If God be for us”, often left out. In this number, however, one might ask questions about the tuning of the solo violin obbligato, but Gordon Truman was a most capable trumpet soloist and generally speaking the accompaniments of our own Boyce Chamber Orchestra, who have always had something of a specialism in 18th century music, had a good sense of period style. The continuo was in the able hands of Ron Law (organ) and, when not exercising the baton, Mr Eost, on harpsichord.
Orpheus
Doncaster Choral Society in Vivaldi and Rutter
Doncaster Choral Society’s first concert of the season (Priory Methodist Church, 17 November 2008) was a double feature, presenting two canticle settings, respectively from the early 18th and the late 20th centuries. The latter was John Rutter’s Magnificat, albeit with two non-liturgical insertions, which is easy on a listener’s ear and makes use of considerable and characteristically well digested popular music idioms. It is, however, by no means easy for a choir to sing, but, that said, the Society performed it with great spirit and devotion; the accompaniment, as always with Rutter, is full of persuasive orchestral colour, much relished on this occasion by the South Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. Rutter also supplied a very grateful role for his one soloist, here the soprano Andrea Ryder-Smith, who sang Et Misericordia and Esurientes, both with the choir, most beautifully (incidentally, the Esurientes sequence always seems to me to draw the best out of whichever composer, from Bach, and even before him, onwards, who has down the years set those words.)
Miss Ryder-Smith had been heard before the interval in the more famous of Vivaldi’s two settings of the Gloria; in this the two alto soloists were Karina Lucas and in the duet Laudamus Te, the Society’s Chairman Sue Dumican. All three, in their relatively small contributions, did well; the chorus (the whole evening was a big sing for them) would have surely delighted their conductor Alan Eost with their alert singing and good sound – they were well backed up by the SYSO, who had begun the evening with a tidy, crisply phrased account of Handel’s Concerto Grosso, Opus 3 No. 5, from an attractively fresh set of concertos, sometimes, though misleadingly, styled “oboe concertos”.
All told, this was a splendid start to the Society’s 2007-2008 season, to the remainder of which I shall look forward eagerly. The sad demise of the Priory Concerts series means that the activities of the Choral Society and also those of the Boyce Orchestra (who will accompany the Society’s next concert, Messiah, in December) are now even more significant than they have been previously. The Choral Society’s unremitting search for ever-higher standards is of the greatest importance for good music in the town. The Society will have been pleased at the size of the audience, good for a November concert.
Orpheus
Pot-Pourri Par Excellence Concert Review 09.06.07 The concert at Priory Methodist Church on Saturday 9 June brought Doncaster Choral Society’s 2006-07 season to an impressive close. This was noteworthy for several reasons. It was the fifth concert of a busy season for the Society; for those with longish memories it does not seem too for back in time to when DDCS, as it then was styled, put on just two concerts a year, in December and March. It was later, calendar-wise, than usual even for a summer concert. And it was something of a miscellany (indeed the Society, making a virtue of necessity, dubbed it "A Musical Pot-Pourri"): no full length choral masterpiece, nor yet a "double bill" but four pieces (plus an instrumental filler) differing widely in intention, period and idiom. For these reasons a large audience was hardly expected and this was in the event the case; that the ‘gate’ was not embarrassingly small is, I think, due, at any rate in part, to the fact that the public is becoming aware of the excellence of the Society’s work under Alan Eost’s thoughtful direction. Those who did attend would not have been disappointed. We began with the unaccompanied motet Totus Tuus, by the listener-friendly Polish composer Henryk Górecki, inspired in part by the rich heritage of Orthodox church music: an imposing, if repetitive, eight minute item enhanced by the balance and smoothness of the chorus work here. Even more recent was Passion to Ascension by the Society’s Hon. Accompanist, Ronald Law, which was being heard for the first time as a complete entity. Described as a cantata but more correctly reckoned as a suite, or sequence, of anthems and direct in its appeal (there was a hint, as often in Law’s work, of jazz-related influence), this explored a variety of emotions with such effective simplicity as to be almost a 21st century equivalent, albeit a briefer one, of Stainer’s Crucifixion, by coincidence also in the Society’s prospectus this year. One was only surprised that its ten sections take scarcely twenty minutes. This is Elgar’s year, indeed this was still Elgar’s week, and due note of this was taken with a performance of his extended anthem Great is the Lord, a work of his nativity (1910) and characteristic in its breadth and emotion. Again the performance was dedicated, moving even; the short bass solo in the middle was taken by Carey Williams, who was also heard in the final, longest composition, Purcell’s festival ode Come ye Sons of Art, one of the finest of the composer’s "occasional" works. Purcell was an acknowledged master of setting solo singers against a chorus in similar material; the three soloists (the other two were dependable soprano Christine Starr and the Society’s Chairman, Sue Dumican, alto) matched the choir in style and accomplishment. Purcell’s choral works are on the short side to make convenient building blocks for a concert, which is a pity as his genius is undoubted. How good to have a demonstration of this; may we have more Purcell in the future, perhaps in 2009 to celebrate his 350th Anniversary? The Purcell was originally and often is now, accompanied by a small orchestra; here we had instead the Leeds organist David Houlder, who was once again a welcome support to the Society throughout the evening. He also contributed, as a further nod to the Elgar sesquicentennial, his Organ Sonata No.2 in G Major, adapted by Sir Ivor Atkins from the Severn Suite, originally for brass band – a late piece (though based on early sketches) in which Atkins left out a movement from the band original but added a cadenza of his own based on the principal theme. Mr Houlder’s positive reading did much for an item having a rare performance in Doncaster in this version. OrpheusStainer's The Crucifixion 31.03.07
Brahms Requiem 10th March 2007
Musick’s Jubilee and St Nicolas: Doncaster Choral Society’s First Concert of 2006/07
Doncaster Cultural Festival 2006 Review
For some years now Doncaster Choral Society has contributed to the
Doncaster Cultural Festival, held this year on Sunday 16th July and
which featured a variety of choral presentations: the juvenile
Barnburgh Spanish Choir, the extrovert offerings of the Quirky
Choir; the delicious miniatures of The Cusworth Singers (twice); and
the Doncaster Choral Society, relishing, as doubtless did its
audience, the benign coolness of the Museum & Art Gallery’s William
Appleby Room.
Concert Review: The Requiems of Mozart and Salieri. Doncaster Choral
Society’s concert at Priory on 11 March constituted its tribute to
the 250th Anniversary celebrations of the birth of
Mozart, with the performance of two settings of the Requiem.
Mozart’s essay in that direction was left unfinished when he died in
1791 and was completed by his pupil Süssmayr, though the exact
extent of Süssmayr’s part in it is still problematical. To say that
Süssmayr is a second rate composer is probably a kind observation,
but the bits of the Requiem which by common consent are his –
the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei – have a direct
appeal which, perhaps shamefacedly, I have always enjoyed, while
recognising they do not have the subtlety of the earlier sections
which are 100% Mozart. Can we say that what Mozart started brought
out the very best that Süssmayr was capable of? However that may be,
the Society, substantially increased in numbers for this concert and
hopefully for future ones, too, gave it, whether Mozart, Süssmayr or
somewhere in between, their fullest commitment, with brisk,
positive, well focussed singing and conductor Alan Eost judging
balance and tempi to perfection. All the problems about who composed
what paled into near-insignificance. The soloists (Nicola Mills,
Cari Searle, Stewart Campbell and our own Carey Williams) made a
well-balanced quartet, being generally heard as such, though Miss
Mills’ radiant soprano had brief solos in the Kyrie and
Agnus Dei and Mr Williams’ solo which led off Tuba Mirum
was impressive. Instrumental support came from Ron Law on the Priory
organ and from Doncaster’s Boyce Orchestra (leader, Jean Fletcher),
the first time for many years that Boyce have played for the Society
and how well they did, realising excellently the fine
instrumentation of the real Mozart bits (clarinets and trombones in
particular). To precede the Mozart in the programme we had the Requiem in C minor by Antonio Salieri (1750-1825), who was said by some to have been jealous of Mozart, though the suggestion that he poisoned him is absurd. The ‘needle’ between them was in my view probably greatly exaggerated; Mozart composed a set of piano variations on a theme by Salieri, which does not exactly suggest enmity. Salieri was not, of course, the equal of Mozart as a composer (though he was better than Süssmayr) but he knew his job and much of his music is worthwhile. I had not previously heard this Requiem but found it well worth occasional revival and an interesting comparison with Mozart’s. The writing for chorus is generally good and it was certainly showed to best advantage by the Society’s well-prepared singing. Again the orchestration furnished many interesting and enjoyable moments, oboes and strings particularly prominent and again Boyce did well as did the soloists, heard as a quartet on three occasions in a piece similar in length to the Mozart. So, a fascinating pairing devotedly executed.
PLS
Saturday 10th December 2005 - 7.00pm
MESSIAH
Handel
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