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Spring Concert 2010

Ray Jones' review

SITTINGBOURNE ORPHEUS CHORAL SOCIETY CONCERT MAY 8th 2010

An enthusiastic audience of around two-hundred people met in the Sports Hall of the Swallows Leisure Centre on Saturday for a concert presented by Sittingbourne Orpheus Choral Society and Orchestra. The Society, under the baton of its Music Director, Andrew Lowen, was joined by Lees Court Music, a chamber choir of eighteen voices and soloists Andrew Rupp (Baritone) and Penelope Martin-Smith (Soprano).

It was something of a surprise, to this listener at least, to find that the first voices heard were not those of the Orpheus or of the soloists but of Lees Court Music, conducted by Chris Price. Performing “Serenade to Music” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, with text from Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”, the choir displayed good balance, tone, intonation and much expressive singing. The very resonant venue and the fairly large orchestral forces required, made it difficult at times for the words to be clearly heard. This is undoubtedly a group that sings to a very high standard.

The first of the Orpheus items then followed, as the Society was joined by Andrew Rupp and the Orchestra in Charles Villiers Stanford’s “Songs of the Fleet” written in 1910 and very much in the Edwardian style. The four songs making up the piece have text by Henry Newbold and are set to well-contrasted music, at times lively and boisterous and, at others, reflective. The soloist has the bulk of work to do here, and this was well done, with the choir taking the choruses after each verse of the first three songs. In the fourth, “Fare Well”, the choir had more to do and produced a good choral sound and blend of individual parts. One of the acoustic problems with this venue is that it does often produce a noticeable “boom” from the percussion section, which can get in the way of the voices.

Vaughan Williams’ “Sea Symphony” was first performed in 1910 and, with words by Walt Whitman, provided the stirring second half of this concert. The Orpheus was joined by Lees Court Music for this, while Andrew Rupp was joined by Penelope Martin-Smith (Soprano) for the solo sections of the piece, which is Vaughan Williams’ First Symphony in all but name, so symphonic is the writing.

The first of its four movements, “A song for all seas and all ships” provides a broad, sweeping seascape in both the vocal and orchestral scoring. From its fanfare-like opening for brass and voices, this was successfully realised with, for the most part, good choral sound rising clear above the orchestral playing. Both soloists added considerably to the overall effect of the movement in which the sweeping climaxes and subtle changes of tempo were well controlled by Andrew Lowen’s clear and decisive conducting. The second movement is much more atmospheric in style and entitled “On the beach at night alone”, scored for baritone soloist, semi-chorus, chorus and orchestra. The ethereal quality of the writing was well portrayed and the majestic passages for the full chorus were thrilling in their tone, balance and power.

If there was a slight lapse in what was a fine performance of this demanding music it was at the commencement of the third movement; the lapse was brief and all was recovered quickly. “The waves” is fast moving, with continually overlapping part writing that requires the performers to be fleet of foot and wide awake to the ever changing, imaginative and convincing portrayal of a restless sea. The final movement is an expansive portrayal of a rather metaphysical text, using all of the individual musical forces both separately and in various combinations to great effect in broad passages of highly charged choral writing, dramatic passages for the soloists and very effective, bold orchestral scoring. The Tenor and Bass sections of the Orpheus are a little down in numbers at present and this showed somewhat in this movement. However, it was, for this listener, the most moving and satisfying part of the evening; a fitting finale. The soloists acquitted themselves well throughout their extensive passages and the choral singing was at its most thrilling of the evening. The closing passage of quiet, contemplative writing was most effective in the portrayal of the soul’s journey across the vast ocean to reach its eternal shore; a fine conclusion to an excellent concert.

The Society, with its singers, Music Director and concerts, deserves more support in the way of larger audiences for its performances. Sittingbourne should be proud of its Choral Society, which has worked hard to present high quality concerts for over sixty-five years and for which the future looks equally successful.