REVIEW: If music is about communication, then the Orpheus Singers’ concert The Grand Romantics held at St. Catherine’s Church in Ventnor last Saturday was a winner.
The choir was in excellent form and displayed sound musical control under the baton of conductor Philip Fryer.
It was exciting to see the communication between the conductor and the choir, which often produced a result greater than the component parts. The concert was expressive, varied and colourful and much enjoyed by the capacity audience.
The programme began with 2 unaccompanied pieces by Bruckner: Os Justi and Ave Maria. The early climax of the repeated call ‘Jesus’ was spine-tingling and led gloriously into the climactic appeal of the words ‘Sancta Maria’.
Next we were treated to a Schubert piece, Gott ist mein Hirt (God is my Shepherd), a setting of Psalm 23, performed by the women, sung with conviction and with some delightful moments, though intonation was at times a little suspect; and two secular pieces sung by the men, Der Jäger Abscheid (the Hunter’s Farewell), a wistful piece denoting a hunter’s love for the forests of his homeland, and an arrangement of Gaudeamus Igitur (So let us Rejoice) by Brahms, a student song dating back several centuries. The men sang these pieces with a rare combination of gusto and sensitivity.
A high point of the first half was two religious pieces by Mendelssohn, each with a featured solo: Ave Maria, (Hail, Mary) with a tenor solo by Mitch Jones with a rich and bold interpretation soaring above the choir; and Hear my Prayer/O for the Wings of a Dove, with a beautiful and sensitive soprano solo by Kelly Wavell who produced some effortless phrasing and clarity of tone.
The second half featured the wonderful Liebeslieder Walzer (Love-song Waltzes) by Brahms, a secular song-cycle featuring 18 separate love songs on a pastoral theme. Orpheus’ performance was assured and confident, though there were inevitably occasional missed expressive opportunities and some (understandable) difficulties with the complex and rapid German libretto.
The song cycle is rich and varied and features changes in force from full choir to sectional arrangements and a charming solo, Wohl schön bewandt war es (I was fair and contented with my life), sung by Kathy Howells with delicacy and feeling.
It was a pleasure to hear the four handed (duet) piano accompaniment by Michèle Brock and Merryl Spong who played excellently and sensitively together, producing a wide range of textures and interpretations from the lush and almost orchestral to delicate, tinkling accompaniment representing a bird in flight.
The programme closed appropriately with Josef Rheinberger’s Abendlied (Evening Song), set for seven-part unaccompanied choir, which rounded off the whole evening perfectly. The audience, and I, went on our way uplifted and delighted with a truly musical and romantic evening.
Review by Hannah Larkin.
