The community choir of Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire
Physical tickets will be available soon but you can book online now at https://www.trybooking.co.uk/NBV
See also notes if you are a member of the Singers.
We will be performing on Sunday March 31st.
Rehearsals started on Friday January 4th. The program will be:
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A quiz night was held on the Saturday evening of the 16th March at the Long Furlong Community Centre in Abingdon. A simple, home cooked, meal was provided along with a cash bar and raffle.
The event raised £1408.33 in support of our next and subsequent concerts.
This was held on the afternoon of Sunday 20th January at the Matrix with Peter McMullin as accompanist.
It attracted a number of new people besides the regular choir members and was enjoyed by all. We received a great number of valuable tips and had, as promised, a very enjoyable afternoon.
This will be a Handel dominated programme. The date is now fixed for Sunday November the 25th 2018:
The first rehearsal was at 19:30 on Friday 14th September.
We are looking for new singers. We rehearse on a Friday evening in Sutton Courtenay. Rehearsals for our next concert of three of Handel’s Chandos Anthems start on the 14th September 2018. You can just come along but it would be helpful if you were to contact the secretary then we can be sure to have a copy of the music for you.
Haydn Mass in B-Flat major. (Sancti Joannis de Deo or Little Organ Mass) Hob.XX11:7
Mozart Misericordias Domini K222
Mendelssohn Christe du Lamm Gottes
Mendelssohn Te Deum
Purcell Rejoice in the Lord alway
Saint-Saëns Ave verum
Saint-Saëns Quam dilecta, Op.148
Camille Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio: Op 12
Jean-Philippe Rameau Hymne à la nuit
William Byrd Ave Verum Corpus.
Benjamin Britten Cermony of Carols: Op 28
Camille Saint-Saëns Fantaisie for violin and harp: Op 124
We received the following appreciation from one audience member:
I have been to a number of concerts given by your excellent group and I find that once again my worst fears were confounded. Every time I’m impressed with the difference of your programme selection. For example, the Bonocini ‘Stabat Mater’ and the wildly different Zelenka ‘Miserere’ were two concerts I enjoyed enormously. As someone who regularly attends choral concerts I have a sense of relief when I don’t have to listen to yet another mass or requiem by Bach, Mozart, Faure or Handel (great composers as they are and mainstays of the choral repertoire.)
To come to a programme of Saint-Saëns and Benjamin Britten therefore is both enjoyable and unusual. The inclusion of the harp and violin ‘Fantasie’ balanced the evening beautifully and created a welcome opportunity to reflect on the sheer diversity of Saint-Saëns’ music. What a find this young and talented violinist Elizabeth Nurse is!
The opening two unaccompanied pieces were well rehearsed and whilst ‘Ave Verum’ is sung frequently the adjoining selection of Rameau’s hymn of lament was an unusual and inspired choice. The choir gave both of these pieces a sense of timing and delivery which started the evening well.
The ‘Christmas Oratorio’ was delightful, the soloists here were well balanced and sung beautifully, with the choir once again well-rehearsed and singing with a sensitivity, especially in the ‘Gloria Patri’, that I found quite moving. The work was new to me, and many in the audience also, and one I should like to hear again.
Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’ I have heard many times before and usually with just treble voices, so it was a great pleasure and surprise to hear the lower registers join in with this arrangement. No doubt there has been much discussion on how to pronounce middle English but my view is that if one sings loudly and enthusiastically enough then nothing is lost in the interpretation, and I did indeed feel “Wolcum.” The icy coldness of the interlude had the audience spellbound and surprisingly breathless with concentration (well done Anneke Hodnett whose playing throughout the evening was to a very high standard) and the whole work was delivered by choir and two soloists to my complete enjoyment.
Thank you, All Saints’ Singers for the concert, the mulled wine and the minced pie. I shall come again!
And Patrick Salisbury wrote:
Dear David,
This was certainly a most successful concert. It was ingenious to devise such a varied programme with accompaniment by an orchestra comprising only strings and continuo but with the addition of a superb harpist. In the event, many of us were introduced to a peaceful Rameau Hymn and a fine Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saens. In the latter, the chorus really came into their own with outstanding contributions by the five excellent soloists
To begin the second half of the programme, it was a bonus to have our new orchestral leader Elizabeth Nurse joining the harpist Anneke Hodnett in a wonderful performance of Saint-Saen’s beautiful “Fantaisie”. Inevitably, Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” provided the climax to the concert; here the choir sang with accuracy and understanding, employing subtly contrasted dynamics. Again, the presence of a dedicated harpist must have given them that extra incentive to excel. Although one might say that, in this concert, the choir did not have as major a role as might normally be the case, their contribution was always well prepared and carefully presented.
Altogether a most enjoyable occasion, a view obviously shared by the larger than ever audience. I do hope Sebastian Thomson will stay with us!
With very best wishes – Patrick
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