Gala Choral and Orchestral Concert - March 2008

Date: Friday 7 March 2008

At 10.00am on Thursday March 6th Chris McDade looked a worried man as he came into my office and confided some of his concerns about the forthcoming Gala Concert; by 10.00pm, anxiety had been replaced by euphoria as the audience left the Quire of Canterbury Cathedral, thrilled by what had turned out to be one of the best programmes of the 13 years in which we have been lucky enough to use the Cathedral as the venue for the Gala event.

The audience had in fact been privileged to listen to, and thoroughly enjoy two hours of varied, accessible music, both well-known, and virtually unknown, and reel at the quality of ensembles, orchestras, choirs and soloists.

You name them - they were there: the Brass Ensemble; the Symphony Orchestra; the String Orchestra; the soloists; and the massed choirs from the Choral Society, the Chamber Choir, the Cathedral Choristers (including all the 'probs'), and our very welcome guests from Ashford Friars Prep School, and the Chamber Orchestra.

Charpentier's 'Prelude to a Te Deum' resounded round every corner of the whole Cathedral - I know, I was still 'on the door' at the time! Oliver Jones reprised the Kreisler 'Praeludium and Allegro' which he had offered as part of his A-level recital, and his interplay with accompanist Jacob Barnes was once again magical. Spencer Payne conducted the Symphony Orchestra through an excellently cohesive version of the apparently simple, but clearly complex Overture to Mozart's 'Cosi fan Tutte'. Richard Braddy had discovered a Vaughan Williams Prelude on 'Rhosymedre' for his String Orchestra, and they breathed real life into a 'tender composition'. Benedict Preece and Stephen Roberts then showed what a beautiful instrument the French Horn can be - in the right hands - with a Romance from a Haydn Horn Concerto. When I first met, and taught, Harriet Burns, I always thought that she was a shy and retiring young lady. So she may be, but she is also an absolutely nerveless soprano with a truly beautiful tone. I loved her Gluck Aria -'Che faro senza Euridice'. Suzy Jackson has proved one of our best-ever Sixth Form signings, and she showed why she is a worthy holder of a Performer's Certificate after her stunning delivery of a movement from York-Bowen's Sonata Op.120. York-Bowen? Nicknamed the 'English Rachmaninov' whose final version of this sonata was not published until 2000, and, I suspect, rarely played. Then back to the Symphony Orchestra under Payne, and then Chris McDade himself who conjured up the image of a 'Bacchanale' as the Saint-Saens dance movement certainly brought the first half of the evening to a 'very loud and frenetic' climax!

The second half opened with Jacob Barnes turning to a Chopin Ballade (No.2 in F Major) which he had also offered as part of his A-level recital. The audience was almost hypnotised by the lilting opening melody, before being shocked out of their seats by the sudden crash of the storm, and the power of Barnes' delivery. This brilliance was hard to follow, but the massed choirs did exactly that - and well - in Rutter's 'Mass of the Children'. The interplay of adult voices, children's voices, and soloists - Annalisa Flood and Darragh Hodnett (both precise, clear, and in tune with one another) - was spell-binding, as the five chosen movements from the setting of the Eucharist ended with the heartfelt plea, 'Dona nobis pacem'.

And then there was 'pax', as the audience drifted from the Quire reflecting surely on the sheer quality of musicianship displayed by the St Edmund's School 'family' - pupils, former pupils, parents, staff, and professional musicians - who had combined to make two hours fly by. I usually manage to 'nod off' during the mid-evening. No chance of that yesterday as I, as simply one of a mesmerised auience, revelled in the beauty of good music, well-played, by a totally committed bunch of young - and not so young! -musicians.

Thank you very much, one and all!

All photographs: copyright Thomas Hooley 2008