The Addison Singers’ Christmas concert Reviewed

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Composer Betty Roe reports back on the St John's Church performance

I was choral conductor in my teens and have known of the Addison Singers for many years – indeed, a number of my students still sing with them – but it is only recently that I have been able to get to the concerts.

I was looking forward not just to their performance because this was the first time I’d heard the oratorio and chamber choirs but to the programme because it contains much of my favourite music.

St John’s Church in West Ealing is a spacious, yet intimate, setting for this large choir and orchestra. The substantial audience was able to sit in a half-circle around the performers in a way that made them feel very much part of what was going on.

Vaughan William’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols is an audience-friendly starter but the opening is a challenge to the cellist. On this occasion that exposed opening phrase was immaculately played by one of the orchestra’s young cellists, and really set an atmosphere and standard for the whole evening.

 

Andrew MacWilliams complemented this with his crystal clear opening statement This Is The Truth abetted by the choir who sang with confidence and awareness of the need to balance and support the soloist. Only here and there did I sense a slight lack of co-ordination with one part getting slightly ahead of another but all was safe in the hands of conductor DavidWordsworth.

The chamber choir gave us thoughtfully varied interpretations of Parry’s Three Carols with a lovely blended tone and balance though I would suggest continued work on consonants so that we can hear the words more clearly. John Gardner’s Dancing Day was well integrated - congratulations to all players and singers for making it so exuberant. A Babe was Born by Matthias was fluent and confident with the men blending well in their unison singing, with sensitive organ accompaniment from Edward Kemp-Luck.

Kenneth Hesketh’s piece Sleep Holy Babe with its Three Blind Mice opening phrase seemed a little mild, but it progressed in its structure most productively and generously moving from trebles to tutti and turned out to be a sensitively, well-graded composition which I very much enjoyed, as clearly, did the choir. 

We were privileged to hear the first performance of Richard Causton’s Cradle Song, dedicated to the conductor, a neat setting most beautifully sung with the composer present.

Bob Chilcott’s Twelve Days of Christmas ended the first half. It is a real fun piece, very popular, and very much more difficult than average audiences might think. A splendid first half.

The second half was devoted to St Nicholas by Benjamin Britten, and here the orchestra excelled, sounding really enthusiastic about this wonderful music. Eamonn Mulhall was well equipped vocally and musically to deliver this intense piece with steady tone and intonation but I did feel that much of the time he was over-concerned with the musical content and less with the character. 

Bravo to the lovely girls of the semi-chorus and the boy soloist. The choir gave an exciting, emotional performance of this wonderful piece, taking all the necessary risks to give us the drama of the music. The pianists providing discreet and stable backing – congratulations to Matthew Hough, Edward Kemp-Luck and Janet Obi-Keller. 

 

The next performance by the Addison Singers will be Beethoven’s Mass in C on March 21. First rehearsal is on January 7 at the Polish Centre, Kings Street, Hammersmith. Phone 07531 44960 for details. All welcome.

 

January 15, 2009