Saturday 16 July 2005
St Paul's Church, Augustus Road, Wimbledon Park
Summer Concert
Thames Philharmonic Choir
Featuring Kathryn Harries, Soprano

Every year the Thames Philharmonic Choir, under its inspiring director John Bate, rounds off the season with a summer concert which typically features a number of small, lighter items: musical trifles for a summer evening followed by a light supper. But the thrilling and ambitious programme that delighted this year's audience was more of a musical banquet. It featured a veritable feast of operatic highlights of breathtaking emotional range, supported by the stunning soprano voice of international opera star Kathryn Harries, who recently became the Thames Phil's honorary president, and who also holds an honorary doctorate from Kingston University..

Choral items framed the 'English' first half of the evening, opening with Parry's "Blest Pair of Sirens" and ending with madrigals by Kirbye, Wilbye and Tomkins. The interpretations were controlled and committed, richly resonant with an attractive, organic fluency. In between, two contrasting organ pieces by Morley and Vaughan Williams were given sensitive, fluent and assured performances by Stephen Disley, assistant organist at Southwark Cathedral, whilst Kathryn Harries delivered a stirring rendition of Purcell's "Fairest Isle" followed by Madeleine Dring's delightfully indecorous "Song of a night-club proprietress" timed to comic perfection.

But these were merely hors d'oeuvre, whetting the appetite for the all-time operatic favourites that followed, impressively performed in their original tongue. Stunningly clad in a suitably dazzling gown, Kathryn Harries seduced the audience with her beguiling rendition of the Habanera from Bizet's Carmen, engaging the drama with full-hearted support from the chorus. The "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" and "Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's "Nabucco" and "Il Trovatore" respectively, continued the stirring theme. The chorus handled the Italian text with impressive confidence; the infectious enthusiasm of the male voices deserves particular comment. Woven between these choruses, and in complete contrast, Kathryn Harries bewitchingly captured the impassioned, moving eloquence of "Un bel di" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and the poignant agonies of "Dido's Lament" from Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas".

The composer of the next item, Borodin, was by profession a distinguished research chemist who wrote music in his spare time. The popular choral "Polovtsian Dances" are taken from his celebrated opera "Prince Igor". The choir deserves huge credit for performing this in its original Russian language, whose crashing consonants and rich vowels are an essential part of the musical fabric. The resulting percussive crispness and phonetic resonance restored essential authentic spice to the delicious aural chemistry, served with keen relish.

The penultimate work, "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Saint-Saëns "Samson and Delilah" must surely contain one of the most impassioned and exquisite moments in the entire operatic repertoire, and as a result it has enjoyed a certain literary notoriety. In his short story "The Devil's Mode" Anthony Burgess mischievously imagines Debussy fingering "Ah! Réponds à ma tendresse" on an out-of-tune brothel piano. The mistuning transforms it into the opening phrase of "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" - ostensibly changing the course of musical history! Dispelling these teasing distractions, Kathryn Harries' restored the aria's pristine freshness with a spine-tingling performance, leaving few dry eyes amongst the spellbound audience.

The "Easter Hymn" from Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" provided a suitably splendid conclusion to the operatic sequence. Here the sonorous support of Stephen Disley's organ accompaniment came into its own, having contributed subtle underpinning at appropriate moments in earlier items. The formidable contribution of piano accompanist Roger Beeson was particularly impressive. Piano reductions derived from an orchestral original can sometimes be all but impossible to play. Notoriously fiendish examples in this particular repertoire were handled with virtuosic ease. The commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism of John Bate and his team are an inspiration - an unforgettable summer evening for the large, appreciative audience, and an uplifting tonic for our troubled times.

Kevin Jones, July 2005