Saturday 14 July 2007
St Paul's Church, Augustus Road, Wimbledon Park
Summer Concert
Thames Philharmonic Choir

At last the sun shone for the traditional summer evening concert and supper of the Thames Philharmonic Choir last Saturday.

Sung and played to a packed audience at St. Paul's Church, Wimbledon, the choir were joined for the evening by Michael Bundy, accompanied ably by their long-standing pianist Roger Beeson, who was joined at pertinent points by Benjamin Costello; the whole evening of course directed by founder John Bate.

The performance consisted of French music, to commemorate Bastille Day, and opened with the rousing Soldier's Chorus of Gounod. This robust start was very much enjoyed by choir and audience, who were barely restrained from singing along.

The contrasting 'Prayer' of Rossini, followed by three solo songs performed by Michael Bundy, was a performance marked by sensitivity and modulated phrasing that added powerful emotion.

The choir then launched into a vibrant depiction of battle: La Guerre by Jannequin; this first of two unaccompanied works was sung with great percussive clarity and fun. Following this, we swung in to a masterfully rich performance by Roger Beeson and Benjamin Costello of two piano duets by Faure and Bizet.

Bundy's freedom of style suited the solo songs of Roussell and Ravel - especially the third, accompanied by absolutely piles of piano notes.

A lightly characterised Poulenc followed, and by contrast the two Toreador excerpts from Bizet's Carmen made for a boistrous finale to a lovely evening. To add a bit of icing, the encore was a medley from Cole Porter - some people were indeed singing by the end! Thank you, Thames Philharmonic!

M N Woodruff, Richmond and Twickenham Times, 20 July 2007