Thursday, December 20, 2012

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR


CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR
Chelmsford Singers in Chelmsford Cathedral
15.12.2012


A Christmas present from the Singers to the City, gift-wrapped in sparkling candlelight.
Spectacular it certainly was, thanks in large measure to the contribution of Westminster Brass, who gave us some splendid arrangements of seasonal favourites, from a medieval Pat-a-Pan to Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, with party poppers obbligato.
They also played magnificent fanfares for Hark The Herald and O Come All Ye Faithful, in which the audience joined. We were also cajoled into the much more challenging Rutter arrangement of I Saw Three Ships, and then Wenceslas and The Twelve Days of Christmas.
The brass players, and percussion, were to the fore in the central work – Rutter's Gloria, with soloist soprano Beverley Lockyer, and beautiful playing from Jacob Ewens, this year's Organ Scholar. The Singers, under their new director, James Davy, gave a nuanced, energetic performance; they shone in three contrasting Peter Warlock carols, and in the gentle "wild card" – Sund's A Child Is Born, sung in the original Swedish.
A shmaltzy "White Christmas" and "A Merry Christmas" rounded off an enjoyable evening, innovative and refreshingly varied.
More innovation for Christmas 2013, when we're promised Duffy and Manning's Manchester Carols.

No comments:

Post a Comment