It cannot go unnoticed that the headline item in this concert, Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man: a mass for peace, was presented as details of the terror attacks in Paris continue to unfold, writes Joshua Goodman.
It was not only this eerie coincidence but also the choir’s confident and sustained performance that made for a truly poignant evening of local music-making at its best.
Schubert’s rambling cantata Song of Miriam made for an ambitious opener, although it was handled with some skill. The tender moments were the most effective and the evening’s guest soloist, Yorkshire soprano Bethany Seymour, brought much needed narrative clarity.
Seymour went on to perform two of Britten’s folk song arrangements, simply accompanied by conductor Geoffrey Lockwood at the piano. Seymour’s voice showed an honesty and openness that is perfectly suited to the songs — even finding that hint of darkness that Britten so subtly imbued into these otherwise rustic tunes.
Later, Lockwood gently led the forces through Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer in a dramatic and effective performance that found an impressive range of light and shade. In the famous O For The Wings Of A Dove, we were reminded that the plangent simplicity of a lament, when performed with conviction, can be a thing of great beauty. This was perhaps the first time the choir and their adept accompanist Malcolm Hinchliffe really moved as one, and set the tone for the rest of the evening.
For the main attraction, an earnest, bold sound carried the Jenkins’s modern classic. Moments of brilliant precision in the Sanctus and the fragile Benedictus — which Lockwood led with real elegance — stand out.
Short works by Mozart and Handel gave the final flourish, the choir showing off bright Handelian colours, boding well for their performance of The Messiah, which you can catch on December 12.
