'What Sweeter Music' - Saturday February 6th

Date: Saturday 6 February 2010

What a week this has been, beginning with the magnificent A level recitals on Tuesday evening, and culminating with 'An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan' on Friday as a taster for the JS production of 'Iolanthe', and, last evening, with a concert of choral and instrumental music in Chapel, entitled 'What Sweeter Music', and including, quite unseasonally, the Rutter Christmas piece of that title.

Will Bersey's tenure of office may so far have lasted but a term and a half, but innovations aplenty include last night's combination of music, desserts and wine, and more music. An audience of just over 100, plus performers - soloists, Chapel Choir, the XII, and various ensembles, revelled in a wide range of musical offerings: Mozart to Milhaud, Boellmann to Bacharach, and had the chance, in an extended interval, to sample a wide range of comestibles, kindly provided by wives and mothers!

It was a perfect opportunity for our musicians to gain experience in front of a highly supportive audience, and youngsters like Matthew Roberts, George Inscoe - no strangers to the limelight - and Rachel Crocker - a nervous debutante on clarinet - rose to the challenge with panache! The Chapel Choir opened and ended the show with church music, and sandwiched secular music from the last three centuries.

The XII - the 'cream' of St Edmund's vocalists - once again showed their versatility with settings of the 'Londonderry Air', the Lennon and McCartney classic 'In My Life'. arranged by Thomas Lowen, 'Alfie' (Burt Bacharach), and 'Begin the Beguine'. Seth Scott Deuchar began with a traditional Mozart flute quartet, and then moved on to modern jazz flute, reprising his A level piece, 'Out of the Cool'.

The concert was also an opportunity for the audience to show their generous support for the Stella Rogers appeal, now gathering real momentum; a retiring collection raised the sum of £430.89, plus 20 kroner!, to help the young lady towards more treatment. The next musical treats we can offer you are this week's AS level recitals, on Tuesday at 4.45pm in the Ivy Coleman Recital Hall, and then, after half-term, the return of 'St Ed's Got Talent', on Friday 26th February at 7.30pm, in the main School Hall. See you there!