Romsey Choral Society
|
From the Romsey Advertiser.... |
"It was a unique experience for a large audience in Romsey Abbey when for the first time Romsey’s two largest Choral groups combined with the boys of Romsey Abbey Choir in a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion as the opening concert in the 2006 Music in Romsey series.
The Romsey Choral Society, The Romsey Singers and the Abbey boys totalling some 100 singers, together with an impressive team of six professional soloists and the Chameleon Arts Orchestra, enabled David Truslove, Director of The Romsey Choral Society and the evening’s Conductor, to elicit a performance of drama and quality from the assembled forces. Bach’s detailed and musically complex masterpiece was sung in English, enabling the audience to fully comprehend the story of the events leading up to Christ’s Crucifixion, and participate in singing (in two instances on this occasion) the well known Chorales in their native tongue, as intended in the first performance of the work at St Thomas’s Leipzig in 1724.
Mark Wilde (tenor) was an outstanding Evangelist. As the story unfolded his sense of drama and emotion combined with an easy clarity of tone anchored the evening’s performance. Stephen Foulkes whose bass voice brought both dignity and stature to the role of Jesus ably supported him. Cecilia Osmond an engaging and pure soprano, Ian Wicks, a highly gifted tenor - and also conductor of The Romsey Singers - and Jimmy Holliday an impressively focused bass, all delivered their solo arias with aplomb. Perhaps the pathos and sheer wonder of the Passion story however was perfectly encapsulated by the effortless singing of David Hurley, the counter- tenor soloist, and the highest voice of ‘The King’s Singers’, particularly in his solo ‘Have mercy, Lord, on me; regard my bitter weeping’ This, along with the unaccompanied Chorale, ‘ Be near me, Lord, when dying’ hauntingly sung in whispered tones by the responsive combined Choirs, also produced a detectable sense of poignancy. The Chameleon Arts Orchestral players and Chamber Organist acted as a perfect foil for the Choirs diction and emotional involvement, in their technical fluency, as each responded to David Truslove’s total and clearly defined direction throughout the performance.
The reflective pause, followed by prolonged applause, before the interval and conclusion was a fitting tribute to the spiritual and musical performance of this masterpiece."
Michael Rowland