Lichfield Cathedral Chorus’ Christmas concert featured two very appropriate works.
The first, Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, uses Hebrew psalm texts, and is a plea for peace and reconciliation – so appropriate in these challenging times.
Bernstein is probably best known for his masterly musical West Side Story, and there were certainly reflections of that work here in some of the romantic melodies and Latin American dance rhythms.
The vibrant, discordant opening introduced a chorus who were on the ball and responsive to conductor Ben Lamb from the very first notes. They mastered the Hebrew pronunciation admirably, as well as the challenging rhythms, and the sound quality was excellent with a glorious final moment of peace on an appropriate unison note, perfectly in tune.
Occasionally the men’s voices seemed somewhat overpowered, but this was simply through lack of numbers and not their quality.
The calmer central section featured ex-cathedral chorister Josie Sim, who sang magically and effortlessly in a part strongly reflective of her recent role of Maria in West Side Story.
The unusual instrumentation of percussion, harp and organ was similarly vibrant, and Liam Condon as ever found great colour and volume in the chamber organ.
Brass instruments and flute then joined the band for the second work, Bob Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio. Here we were instantly bathed in the calming harmonies of this thoughtful setting of the Christmas story.
Chilcott’s enormous choral experience as both singer and conductor is reflected in the skill of his choral writing, and in this beautiful setting the tenor Evangelist tells the story – the splendidly clear diction of Nick Drew was vital here
Other soloists are cast as the various characters, with the chorus acting as crowd scenes as well as bolstering the audience’s lusty singing of the new carol settings. The chorus also sang movingly in the settings of the Magnificat.
All soloists were well selected for their roles – Josie again floating effortlessly through the words of the angel, Robin Morton a convincing Gabriel, Paul Whitehall a fine Herod, and the very experienced Fran Ambrose and Ailsa Cochrane adding their impeccable skills to the reflective passages.
There was a wonderful consistency about this whole performance – beautifully blended choir with uniform tone throughout all parts and a fine team of soloists. This really felt like a true community effort and a splendid start to the Christmas season.