Saturday 11 July 2009
The Barn Church, Kew
Summer Concert
Thames Philharmonic Choir

The annual Summer concert by the Thames Philharmonic choir under conductor John Bate took place on Saturday 11th July at The Barn Church, Kew - and whilst the weather was not particularly suggestive of the strawberries and cream treat to follow the music, the sweetness of the sounds made up for the absence of sun.

It is the choral tradition which has sustained our native music throughout those periods of history which have given rise to the description of England as a “land without music”. This concert juxtaposed the choral music of two periods during which it blossomed to perfection: the years of the seventeenth century in which Purcell directed the music at the Chapel Royal, and the period of the late Victorians and the Edwardians in which composers such as Elgar, Vaughan-Williams and many others set the essentially English poetry of the English romantics using luscious harmony and subtle word-painting.

Of the three part-songs from Elgar’s opus 53 which opened the concert the best-known is probably O Wild West Wind. It was Owls, however, a setting of words by the composer himself, which made the strongest impact, the choir portraying the flitting eyes of the owl as it observes from its eyrie as depicted in Elgar’s short phrases tossed between voices. For Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs the choir was joined by distinguished soloist Heather Shipp, whose sensitive depiction of the words and rich mezzo-soprano voice enabled the ensemble to produce a highly creative interpretation. A present-day setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis by Roger Beeson was not out of place between these Edwardian choral masterpieces; Beeson’s music is essentially English in style; using an extended harmonic language it sets the words clearly and sensitively and is extremely singable.

The second half of the concert was devoted to the music of Purcell – both sacred (here we heard another Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis) and secular. The secular contribution took the form of a clever selection of excerpts from Dido and Aeneas which distilled the essence of the opera into about 20 minutes of ritornelli, choruses and solos. The chorus did full justice to Purcell’s spirited rhythms, and Heather Shipp’s exquisite rendition of Dido’s famous lament must be singled out as a highpoint of the evening.

This review is not complete without a tribute to the conductor and to the two accompanists, Roger Beeson (piano) and Ben Costello (organ). The balance was unfailing throughout; Beeson’s piano playing was musical and Ben Costello made the late nineteenth century organ of the Barn Church sound as sweet as the singing in a historically-aware realisation of Purcell’s sparse original score.