Guildford Chamber Choir
Registered Charity No. 1074661
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Guildford Chamber Choir Registered Charity No. 1074661 |
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22nd May 2010
Music
for
a summer's evening
A week before this concert no one would have believed that summer was going to arrive so quickly. In fact, as the audience poured into Guildford’s attractively modern United Reformed Church last Saturday the sun was blazing and the temperature hot. And the programme put together by Guildford Chamber Choir under their enterprising conductor Steven Grahl was eminently suitable. The evening was in aid of Skillway, a Godalming-based charity which provides training in manual skills for teenagers who have difficulty with the academic curriculum at their schools, and some of their work was on display in the foyer. The concert, attended among others by Skillway director Humphrey Davis and the Mayor of Godalming, began with two folksong settings by the ever inventive Australian Percy Grainger, imaginatively presented by conductor and choir. John Rutter wrote his charming ‘musical’ The Wind in the Willows for The King’s Singers. The Guildford Chamber Choir did the work much credit: it contains some stunning passages, and the animal characters were superbly portrayed by soloists from within the choir, one of whom (Linda Shepley) mounted to the pulpit for a wonderful depiction of the magistrate. The choir’s depiction of Toad cranking up his car was amazing! Grayston Ives, former Guildford Cathedral lay-clerk and then director of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford, has written some very arresting music. Such are his Shakespeare settings, Songs for Ariel, haunting and descriptive: one could hear the bees buzzing and the waters rolling. Gavin Roberts was the imaginative piano accompanist. Moeran’s Songs of Springtime contain more than a hint of his older contemporary Delius: a selection of them was expertly performed by a smaller group from the choir. The singers caught the contrasting moods and produced a focused, full tone and immaculate intonation. They were joined by Gavin Roberts at the piano and bassist George Parry for the very effective final item: George Shearing’s Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare. These seven songs were delightfully performed, with excellent articulation and attention to rhythm. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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6th February 2010
St
Nicolas
hosts
superb
concert of baroque and classical music
The church was cold and there were no
refreshments after the concert. But it did not matter. The Guildford
Chamber Choir’s visit to St Nicolas Church (temporarily minus its
central heating system) was a roaring success. In aid of the
Parkinson’s Disease Society Guildford, the concert consisted of music
by those masters of the baroque and the classical, Mozart and
Monteverdi. Conductor Steven Grahl had devised the programme so that
the purely instrumental music were interspersed nicely with movements
of a Mozart Mass and then with music by Monteverdi.
The Mozart was an early work, written when the composer was just eighteen, and in the employment of the reformist Archbishop Colloredo who insisted on short, uncomplicated settings of the Mass. After a supremely confident opening from the band, the choir entered with the verve that marked their performance throughout the evening. We were transported into a fresh, early spring. They sang competently throughout, with many contributions, some better than others, from several soloists drawn from its ranks. Particularly lovely was the charming Osanna, a complete fugue fitted into just a few bars, and the touching Agnus Dei, in which solo passages were interspersed with fine choral singing. The two Epistle Sonatas, programmed between the choral movements, were beautifully played by members of Guildford Baroque. A lively and virtuosic performance of Monteverdi’s well-known Beatus Vir opened the second half. The Nisi Dominus and Lauda Jerusalem that followed was remarkable for its elaborate melodic lines, again beautifully executed. The purely instrumental Canzon by Cavalli was a thing of beauty on its own, as was the solo motet Pulchra Es, strikingly descriptive, and full of bold melodic twists, superbly captured by the blending voices of sopranos Georgia Black and Helen Pritchard. But the real tour de force was the final Gloria. Glorious indeed in its virtuosity, its harmonic excitement, and its descriptive bravura, this piece abounds in contrasts between virtuosic solo passages and solid blocks of choral sound. It received a brilliant performance, and, above all, every performer was enjoying it hugely. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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7th November 2009
A
lovely
degree
of
light
and
shade
An unusual and varied programme of
choral music to mark the season of remembrance drew a sizeable audience
to Holy Trinity Church on Saturday evening. They were not
disappointed.
Guildford Chamber Choir’s programme, given in aid of Guildford Samaritans, began with Jonathan Dove’s striking motet Ecce beatam lucem in which the bold confident lines of the voices were offset by splendidly rippling arpeggios from the organist Gavin Roberts. He in turn played two evocative pieces by Herbert Howells. His Master Tallis’s Testament abounds with modal inflexions from an earlier age and sounded most attractive: in contrast the Paean was exuberant and joyful. Both pieces received splendid performances. While he was organist at Guildford Cathedral Philip Moore composed his Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for a locally-based vocal quartet, but this work has transferred well to the choral medium, even if the very opening cries out for the timbre of a counter tenor voice. This is not to denigrate the excellent contributions made by the soloists Georgia Black, Tessa Forbes, Michael Clark, and Simon Phillips. Conductor Steven Grahl steered the choir expertly through the many unusual harmonies in the three movements, and interpreted Bonhoeffer’s poignant words with a lovely degree of light and shade. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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21st February 2009
Musical
skills
combined
in
superb
St
John
Passion
It was a treat to hear Bach’s great St John Passion, composed near the
beginning of his Leipzig years, with forces substantially similar to
those which Bach would have used. The performers were the 30-year-old
Guildford Chamber Choir and the venue Guildford’s acoustically
magnificent Holy Trinity Church.
The opening choral outburst ‘Herr, unser Herrscher’ was direct, confident, and forceful. But the thirty singers were just as excellent in the complex fugal passages that make up several of the short interjectory choruses. For this is a dramatic work, with the chorus frequently acting as the crowd participants, and whether defiantly negotiating with Pilate or screaming for the death of Jesus they were strong on accuracy, description, and excitement. Every so often in Bach’s Passions the familiar (to the first audiences) chorales punctuate the drama: these were imbued with a lovely rise and fall. The soloists were top class. Tenor Simon Wall, standing in at short notice for the indisposed Nathan Vale, was vocally careful initially, but soon got into his stride with some expressive singing: his big role was not only to narrate the Gospel story but also to sing the substantial tenor arias, which he did to perfection. Particularly effective was ‘Erwäge’, accompanied superbly by two muted violins, an effective substitute for Bach’s stipulated viole d’amore. Thomas Guthrie gave a fine account of the Christus role, mostly recitatives and ariosos. Soprano Charlotte Mobbs lent a clear, pure timbre to her solo arias, and James Laing’s countertenor voice was simply thrilling. Bass Ben Davies produced some lovely phrasing in his arias, and also played a dramatic Pilate. From within the choir Georgia Black, Michael Clarke, and Peter Terry provided sensitive singing in supporting roles. Many demands are made by Bach on the instrumentalists, and Guildford Baroque acquitted themselves magnificently: the flautists Guy Williams and Andrew Crawford were particularly impressive as was cellist Gabriel Amherst and viola da gamba player Imogen Seth-Smith. This wonderful performance was held together marvelously by conductor Stephen Grahl, accompanying on the organ during the recitatives, and by the harpsichordist Stephen Bullamore. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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29th November 2008
Gloria!
The Guildford Chamber Choir concert last
Saturday, Gloria! included a
mixture of choral music, mostly for double choir, the Wren Brass
Ensemble and Organ. The choir was skilfully conducted by Steven Grahl.
From the very start the performance promised to be highly exciting with the Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera by Orlando de Lassus, an eight-voice polyphonic work, setting the bar for the whole breath-taking concert. I particularly enjoyed the imitative entry for the words “Crucifixus etiam ...” though the organ could have been slightly louder, the timbre chosen being masked by both the choir and brass. The mass was interluded by Sonata Pian' e Forte for brass by Giovanni Gabrieli where contrasting dynamics created a freshness, combined with impeccable co-ordination. The second interlude was La Padovana by Lodovico Grossi da Viadana. A slight glitch was skilfully turned into a demonstration of utter control of the situation which did not mar the performance but actually heightened it. The second half was entirely dedicated to music by John Rutter, startaing with the Hymn to the Creator of Light, which is harmonically atypical for Rutter. This effective piece was rendered very well, the performance making one feel in awe as it so accurately portrayed the subject of the Hymn, God, especially in the wonderful echoing acoustics of Holy Trinity Church, Guildford. Next came the exciting and technically demanding Rutter organ duo, Variations on an Easter theme, for which Gavin Roberts was joined on the organ by Steven Grahl in an exuberant rendition, providing a showcase, not only for the performers, but also for the instrument itself in all its glory. The concert ended with an excellent performance of Rutter's Gloria! The exciting loud brass punches were well balanced by a powerful choir. Some percussion touches and the high register of the organ added a shimmer to the piece. It was thrillingly performed and an excellent finale to a wonderful evening. Anthony Bonello for the Surrey Advertiser |
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17th May 2008
The
English
Pastoral
Tradition
Music by two of the principal composers
of the
English Pastoral Tradition, Ralph Vaughan Willliams and Herbert
Howells, formed
the mainstay of the Guildford Chamber Choir’s concert in Godalming
Parish
Church last Saturday.
Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor is a demanding piece in that it is written for two choirs and a solo quartet. But the thirty-strong Guildford Chamber Choir managed it capably, with sensitive treatment of the plainsong-like themes, a good control of dynamics and some wonderful tonal qualities, not to mention some splendid singing from the solo quartet, drawn from the Choir's ranks. This piece, written by an agnostic composer, sounded entirely convincing. Its movements were interspersed by pieces written by Vaughan Williams's younger contemporary Herbert Howells. The psalm setting Like as the Hart received an exceptionally moving performance in which the yearning phrases were beautifully shaped by the choir under conductor Stephen Grahl, while Gavin Roberts provided a very sensitive accompaniment on the church's fine pipe organ. Roberts excelled again in Howells's charming backward glance to the Elizabethan age, Master Tallis's Testament. All forces joined together in a splendid unison Hymn to St Cecilia set to words by the late Ursula Vaughan Williams. The more astringent style of Benjamin Britten’s music provided a wonderful foil for the visionary words of the eighteenth-century poet and mystic Christopher Smart, who wrote Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb) while he was in an asylum. Britten’s setting reflects the words wonderfully, with a veil of mysticism over the whole. This was well reflected in the choir’s performance, with great sensitivity and an excellent response to the work’s very varying moods. Four different soloists made splendid contributions, describing in great detail the antics of, for instance, Smart’s cat and mouse. Gavin Roberts played the complex organ part brilliantly. Three attractive songs by Vaughan Williams, including the incomparable Linden Lea, received a very skilful performance from a group of 12 singers drawn from the choir, and this delightful evening, held in aid of the Meath Epilepsy Trust, ended with a radiant performance of the Vaughan Williams’s O clap your hands. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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23rd February 2008
Programme
of
French
Music
Holy
Trinity
Church
with
its
splendid
acoustic
was
an apt venue for the
Guildford Chamber Choir's latest offering under their conductor Steven
Grahl.
The concert was presented in aid of the local charity Equipment for Disabled Children (EDC) whose chairman Christine Ward gave a brief talk about their work. The programme, devoted entirely to French music, opened with Gabriel Fauré's enchanting Cantique de Jean Racine which evoked lovely warm tones from the 30-strong chorus and sensitive accompaniment from Gavin Roberts on the organ. Less avant-garde than some of his contemporaries, Pierre Villette excelled in his music for choirs: his Hymne à la Vierge contains some stunning chords that were well focussed by the choir, and included a lovely soprano solo sung by Sarah Armstrong. Maurice Duruflé's music is shot through with plainsong. His Quatre Motets are all quite different, and the choir caught these differences admirably, from the respectful praise of Ubi caritas to the mystic reverence of Tantum ergo. Gavin Roberts' performance of the same composer's Prélude from Suite caught the mood of this haunting piece aptly with appropriate choice of registrations. Olivier Messiaen's Diptyque is an early work, but it still displays the wonderful modal quality of much of his later music, and it received a convincing performance from Mr Roberts. The choir excelled themselves in the same composer's best known motet O sacrum convivium. Restrained and beautiful, Fauré's Requiem was the main item in this concert. This was a performance of exceptional quality from its bold chordal opening to the ethereal sound of perfectly tuned sopranos in the closing of In Paradisum. There were convincing solo contributions from choir members in the Pie Jesu (Helen Pritchard), the Offertoire and Libera Me (Peter Terry), and a thrilling choral sound in the Sanctus. Each movement was skillfully shaped by the conductor Steven Grahl, and, in an accompaniment later arranged for full orchestra, organist Gavin Roberts contributed an admirable range of colours. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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10th November 2007
Exploring
what
influenced
Bach
There
is
nothing
like
a
good
solid
Lutheran
chorale
to put a concert on to a sound footing. There were
plenty of these in the Guildford Chamber Choir’s
concert at St Nicolas’ Church in Guildford on Saturday November 10 in
aid of CHASE. Entitled "Bach
and Before", the concert set out to explore
the influences on the music of the great Leipzig Cantor.
The programme began, appropriately enough, with one of these splendid chorales, Jesu, meine Freude. This lovely motet develops the theme in many different and striking ways, interspersed with more dramatic settings of the Biblical text (Paul’s letter to the Romans). The sense of drama and conviction came over strongly in the choir’s performance under their conductor Steven Grahl, and nicely underpinned by the cello playing of Jennifer Janse and the organ playing of Stephen Bullamore. Bullamore then gave a strong and colourful performance of Dietrich Buxtehude’s Mit Fried und Freud which gives the melody all kinds of twists and turns, and concludes in a key far away from where it began. Bach’s Cello Suites must count among the most sublime of his pieces, and Jennifer Janse gave a fluent and moving performance of the Suite in G major. The influence of his Italian training came through clearly in Heinrich Schütz’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The German text is subjected to much imitation and interplay between the two choirs. But most striking of all was the intense homophony of the Nunc Dimittis, which found the choir producing the lovely blended textures for which it has become famous. Jennifer Janse added life and sparkle to her performance of the Sonata in D major by Telemann. But it was back to Bach for the final item: a scintillating performance of the motet Lobet den Herrn. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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10th
February 2007 Guildford Chamber Choir excels
in American programme
The Guildford Chamber
Choir, under its conductor Steven Grahl,
continues to go from strength to strength. Last Saturday at Holy
Trinity Church they excelled
in
a
programme
of
entirely
unaccompanied
music
by
American composers and composers influenced by that country.
The opening item, the Negro Spirituals from Tippett’s A
Child of our
Time were particularly apt
in view of this year’s commemoration
of the
abolition of the slave trade two
hundred
years
ago.
They
received
a
sensitive
and
very moving performance, enhanced by solo contributions
from within the choir.
Unusually attractive solo songs were performed by Amanda Pitt, a singer of great talent and astonishing vocal quality. Especially memorable was Rebecca Clarke’s stunning setting of Masefield’s The Seal Man in which Steven Grahl provided sensitive support at the piano. She also performed striking songs by Samuel Barber and the quirky Charles Ives. Steven Grahl moved to the organ, only briefly frustrated by a cipher, for a virtuoso performance of one of Ives’s earliest pieces, his somewhat long winded Variations on ‘America’. Aaron Copland’s Four Motets clearly carry the influence of his teacher Nadia Boulanger: they are experimental, attractive, and for the most part effective. The choir excelled themselves in these, maintaining perfect intonation. The cantata In the Beginning is a robust setting of the Creation story, and was skilfully performed, the choir providing an appropriate contrast to Amanda Pitt’s glorious voice. During the interval Pete Brayne, Chief Executive of the YMCA, spoke persuasively about the beneficiary charity the Life Change Fund, which helps provide hope for desperate or destitute young people. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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25th
November
2006
Guildford
Chamber Choir
Mozart Anniversary Concert
Every composer’s
anniversary brings an opportunity to
bring
unknown
music out of the woodwork. The Guildford Chamber Choir’s Mozart
anniversary concert given in St Nicolas Church, Guildford, last
Saturday under their new conductor Steven Grahl was no exception. That
such remarkable music by the master should have been kept under wraps
for so long is inexplicable.
I refer to the Vesperae solennes de Dominica of 1779, which for many years have lived under the shadow of the often-performed Vesperae solennes de Confessore, written shortly afterwards for Mozart’s demanding and irascible employer Salzburg’s Archbishop Colloredo. The later work contains many marvels, such as the incomparable Laudate Dominum which had earlier in the evening received an immaculate performance from Brazilian soprano Celeste Gattai. But the Dominican Vespers are far more adventurous, in tone colour, in key schemes, and in choral writing, even if they lack some of the polish of the later version. The Laudate Dominum requires the soprano soloist to attain a top D, vibrantly executed by Miss Gattai. The choir gave a vigorous and expressive performance of this little known score, accompanied skilfully by the Guildford Chamber Orchestra, a newly formed band of which we hope to hear much more. Celeste Gattai was at her exuberant best in Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, in which her interpretation of the central recitative was particularly fine. Here, too, there was wonderful ensemble from the accompanying band. Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai, appropriate for the venue, is another rarely performed work. No routine setting this: it bursts into a stirring Crucifixus and a wonderfully emotive Agnus Dei. Here, and elsewhere, the choir excelled themselves and the team of soloists served the work well. Mezzo soprano Carris Jones blended well with tenor James Edwards, who despite being unwell performed very creditably, and bass Andrew Kidd. The concert was in aid of the charity Age Concern and deservedly drew a full house. It was sponsored by Hart Brown Solicitors, as a tribute to the late Kenneth Brown. Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |
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19th
November 2005
Israel
in
Egypt
Guildford Chamber Choir's 25th Anniversary Concert Since its formation in
1980 the Guildford Chamber Choir has delighted audiences with
authoritative performances of music both familiar and unfamiliar. For
their 25th anniversary gala concert in Holy Trinity Church, given in
aid of the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, they chose one of Handel’s more
unusual works, Israel in Egypt.
The
work
is
unusual
in
that
it
begins with a long succession of
admirably descriptive choruses, and the second half, an exuberant song
of praise, is a commentary on what has gone before, rather than a
continuation of the plot.
In the dramatic choruses describing the plagues with which the Lord punished Egypt, the chorus, which included many founder members, caught every mood. They drew the utmost from every unexpected chromatic turn and twisting melody, revelled in remarkable harmonies, and uttered the dramatic words with great clarity. Conductor Jeremy Summerly had drilled them thoroughly, and directed with great sensitivity and a nice sense of pacing. The great final chorus Sing ye to the Lord, with its rallying soprano solo and its lively twists and turns, was particularly impressive. But the earlier chorus The people shall hear, with its remarkable descriptions and amazing harmonies, also received a stunning performance. The work requires six soloists (this is perhaps one reason why it is not more frequently performed). In this performance sopranos Julie Cooper and Rebecca Outram provided an excellent foil for one another in their duet The Lord is my strength and song. Countertenor David Bates sang with verve and finesse, and tenor Andrew Tortise with a wonderfully rich voice got the work off to a rousing start. In the celebrated duet The Lord is a man of war the two bass soloists George von Bergen and George Humphries excelled themselves in virtuoso and beautiful singing. The 25-strong Royal Academy Consort provided excellent support and it was particularly gratifying to hear the trombones racing around the lower choral parts. As well as a good flexible string sound, there were fine contributions from oboes, bassoons, and trumpets. This was an uplifting concert, performed to a full house. We can say confidently, here’s to the next twenty-five years! Shelagh Godwin for the Surrey Advertiser |