Somerset Chamber Choir

 

About

Concerts

 

 

Home

The Choir

Next concert

Join the choir

Gallery

Site map

Conductor

All future and past concerts

Support the choir

Links

Subscribe or
unsubscribe to mailing lists

Accompanist

Friends Scheme

Contact

Patrons

 

Members

 

www.somersetchamberchoir.org.uk  © 2011 Somerset Chamber Choir  Registered Charity No.1003687  

Patrons: Dame Emma Kirkby and Sir David Willcocks

Somerset Chamber Choir logo - silhouette of Glastonbury Tor and Somerset map outline

Sign up for concert updates
Enter your email address here to receive concert details by email

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works:

Vivaldi

Bach

 

Handel

Credo

Cantata 140: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

Cantata 82: Ich habe genug

Laudate pueri Dominum

Performers:

Somerset Chamber Choir

Devon Baroque

Lorna Anderson

Nicholas Bowditch

Jonathan Gunthorpe

Graham Caldbeck

 

Leader: Margaret Faultess

Soprano

Tenor

Baritone

Conductor

Click here to view the concert programme

Review:

Somerset Chamber Choir's concert in aid of the Somerset Hospice on Sunday, April 14th, was, as ever, a sell-out.

 

True to form, the choir's performances were of the highest standard. Under the direction of their musically alert conductor Graham Caldbeck, Vivaldi's Credo, Bach's Cantata 140 Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme and Handel's Laudate pueri Dominum all received well-disciplined and sensitive readings. Vivaldi's short but telling work for choir and string orchestra launched the proceedings with great energy and drive, although the more reflective moments were taken into account too. Bach’s mighty opening chorus in Cantata 140 found the choir and orchestra in thrilling form: vigorous, blended and alive to the text. The soloists were excellent and were a huge hit with the audience. Lorna Anderson, soprano, and Jonathan Gunthorpe, baritone, sang together beguilingly in the Bach and in the second half Lorna Anderson held centre stage in the Handel, her breathtakingly virtuosic singing stylishly accompanied by the choir. They were joined in the Bach by a choir tenor, Nicholas Bowditch, who sang his short recitative with resounding passion. Devon Baroque (Director Margaret Faultless) played with verve and a strong sense of style throughout the evening: an exciting up-and-coming ensemble.

 

At the beginning of the second half Jonathan Gunthorpe gave a subtle and sensitive performance of Bach’s cantata for solo baritone, Ich habe genug, revelling in the work's beauty and variety and ably partnered by Hilary Stock as the important solo oboe.

 

Perhaps the only complaint about this entire evening's outstanding performance was its duration - it was all over much too soon. Don’t miss the choir’s summer concert in Wells Cathedral on August 3rd when they will be performing works by Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky. Quality music making such as this on our doorstep simply cannot be ignored.

 

Katherine Courts

 

 

Sunday 14 April 2002

Concert in aid of St Margaret’s Hospice

King’s College Chapel, Taunton

kings02_poster_web.pdf