June 2005
Thame Chamber Choir
Conductor: Roger Moon
Adrian Thompson (Tenor)
Judy Thompson (Piano)
ST MARY’S CHURCH, THAME, 11th JUNE 2005
There is no doubt that Thame Chamber Choir is one of the great successes of amateur music making in the local area. They have grown in number as well as confidence and expertise to a wonderful extent over the past few years, under the patient and quietly inspirational guidance of the Director, Roger Moon. Their latest concert was an ambitious project, a programme of entirely unaccompanied works by 4 key figures in the history of English music. The choir were joined on this occasion by the Tenor Adrian Thompson and his wife Judy whose contributions provided some sublime and immensely enjoyable contrasts from the main body of choral work.
The choir began with six very short Motets or “sentences” by Mendelssohn written from 1843-6 for Berlin Cathedral Choir, using texts appointed for various seasons of the Church’s Liturgical year. It was good to hear Mendelssohn’s choral works alongside Stanford and Parry upon whom he had such an important stylistic influence. The choir was perhaps a little hesitant in some of the earlier movements, but they achieved some fine effects, notably a wonderful diminuendo at the end of Am Himmelfahrtstage depicting Christ’s ascent into heaven, some moments of real intensity in Am Charfreitage (for Good Friday) and a splendid sense of radiant joy in Weihnachten (Christmas Day).
This was followed by The Cloud-capped Towers by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who although influenced by the other composers featured was the first to establish a distinctive “English” sound world. This wonderfully evocative setting of words from Shakespeare’s The Tempest was sung with beautifully clear diction, and the text conveyed superbly. The choir coped extremely well with some challenging harmonic progressions.
More Vaughan Williams followed with the Thompsons’ performance of his well-loved Songs of Travel. As one would expect of a husband and wife team (!) they showed immediately an instinctive understanding and seamless ensemble. Adrian struck a sense of urgency and restlessness from the outset, and displayed great sensitivity both to the text and the harmonic language, employing a wide range of vocal shades and tone. The Infinite shining heavens was truly “ethereal”, and his passion and love for the music shone through.
It was wonderful to see a singer wearing his “heart on his sleeve”!
The choir returned with a convincing and highly accomplished performance of Parry’s Songs of Farewell. Moon was keen to establish momentum in the often “stop-start” My soul, there is a country and this was achieved in a convincing manner, although perhaps at the expense of bringing out every detail in the text. The choir needed a little more conviction to deal with the rather quaint I know my soul by Henry Vaughan. It is difficult not be slightly embarrassed by such lines as “I’m one of nature’s little kings” or “I know my life’s a pain”, but nonetheless there were moments of real pathos. Never weather beaten sail featured superb ensemble and a real sense of musical flow. They could have enjoyed more some of the wonderful harmonic moments in There is an old belief, but in the final two movements, perhaps refreshed by the interval, they truly excelled themselves. There were some moments of real magic in both At the round earth’s imagined corners and Lord let me know mine end as the choir rose commendably to the considerable challenges posed. Moon created a splendid atmosphere of mystery and made the choir enjoy communicating the more exotic pieces of text.
The Thompsons returned with some rather more obscure repertoire in Three Songs by Mendelssohn and FourShakespeare Songs by Parry. Again he created good atmosphere and drew the audience into the music. Crabbed age and youth (probably not by Shakespeare) was carried off with great comic panache, and his passionate interpretation of Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? left all the audience wanting more.
Any fears the choir had about how to follow such an act were quickly dispelled by their dazzling performance of the concert’s concluding work, Stanford’s Magnificat for Double Chorus. There was a sense of great energy from the beginning. Moon remarked how the opening reminded him of Bach’s Magnificat and the choir drew on their recent performance of that work here, with wonderfully light colourful and transparent textures. This work contains some highly challenging key and tempo changes, all of which were skilfully managed, the choir continuing their excellent intonation and ensemble which were apparent throughout the evening. This, together with their customary well prepared and polished presentation made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Oxford Times