RUNNING OUT OF SUPERLATIVES

“Superb.” – “The best concert I’ve been to for years.” – A wonderful evening.” – “Two of the best sopranos I’ve ever heard.”

Just a few of the remarks heard at the end of Gravesham Choral Society’s Mozart Celebration Concert performed to a capacity audience at Rochester Cathedral on Saturday evening.

This was a concert that celebrated two significant dates: it was Gravesham’s contribution to the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of Mozart’s birth and also marked the 25th year of Alan Vincent as the choir’s conductor.

The standard of the performance of the soloists, orchestra and choir did full justice to the significance of the evening and to the majesty of the music.

The evening was graced by two superb sopranos. Emma Kirkby is an internationally renowned soloist and her light vocal dexterity was extremely impressive in both the Solemn Vespers and Exsultate Jubilate. She was joined in the Great Mass in C Minor by Sophie Bevan from the Royal College of Music. Sophie is a star in the making and she performed brilliantly, blending especially beautifully in the soprano duet in the Domine.

The scoring of both choral pieces required relatively brief contributions from the three other soloists but we were left wishing that we could have heard more from Katharine Lewis [mezzo-soprano], David Webb [tenor] and Julian Hubbard [bass].

The orchestra, led by Dan Weatherly, played professionally and sensitively throughout the concert and complemented the choir’s many contributions.
Mozart sets many challenges for all part of the choir, requiring a range that included long, delicate runs through to raw power. Both pieces also included the device of very stark dynamic contrasts with the choir singing a long chord and effectively turning the volume down in mid-stream. Suffice to say that the choir – boasting an impressive group of 16 tenors on this occasion, who sailed up to all their top Gs – met all the challenges extremely capably.

The choir’s successful music-making is the result of much hard work and musical skill. Bringing it all to a peak for this concert was very well paced and was supported very well by the rehearsal accompanist Roger Harris. However, no-one works harder either before the concert or on the actual day than the conductor. The choir is indeed very fortunate to be so ably led by Alan Vincent and the genuine affection and respect for him, as demonstrated both in the generosity of the present and the sustained applause for him at the final morning’s rehearsal in the cathedral, will hopefully continue for many more concerts in the future.

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The choir concludes its summer programme on Saturday 1st July at St George’s Church, Gravesend with a concert that will include Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Ticket and concert details available on the Society’s website www.graveshamcs.co.uk
Richard Gretton

Copyright © Gravesham Choral Society 2006