‘Christmas celebration’ - Saturday 9 december 2017
The Maesbury Singers returned once again to the beautiful Church of St Mary in Batcombe to perform their annual Christmas concert. Each year the choir aims to provide something for everyone and this year was no exception.
The first half of the concert consisted of works for harp, string orchestra, soloists and choir. Written just two years before Gerald Finzi’s death in 1956, In terra pax skilfully juxtaposes words of Robert Bridges (which are set for the baritone soloist) with the familiar Christmas passage from St Luke (set for the soprano soloist and chorus). With a childlike serenity of style, the work unites all its feelings, images and familiar events into one simple, shapely musical narrative.
Alongside the Finzi, The Maesbury Singers performed Ave Maris Stella by contemporary British composer, Cecilia McDowall. McDowall has been described as ‘another of the new generation of highly communicative musicians who favours writing which, without being in any way facile, is brightly cogent, freshly witty and expressive in its own right’. An apposite work for performance in a church dedicated the the Virgin Mary, the piece’s outer sections are tranquil settings of the ancient Latin Marian antiphon Ave Maris Stella, while the more turbulent central section uses words from Psalm 106. Acting as a sort of musical buffer before and after the central section, there are two hauntingly beautiful recitatives for solo soprano, using the words of Psalm 26, The Lord is my Light. Ave Maris Stella bears the dedication pro pace and the beautifully tranquil choral and instrumental writing, which pervades the whole work, gives it an almost mystical aura.
The second half of the concert followed our standard and much-loved formula of a cornucopia of seasonal music (including carols for the audience), interspersed with readings that ranged from the serious to the hilarious. The musical items range from John Rutter’s beautiful setting of Robert Herrick’s poem ‘What sweeter music’ to a toe-tapping setting describing the Three Kings’ journey.
The concert was a great success and succeeded in the choir’s aim to provide something to delight everyone!